You might have recently heard a buzz that mental health awareness is trending at the workplace. More companies are being attentive to the health and wellness of their team, because healthy employees are productive employees. However, talking about mental health isn't enough. Some business owners and HR directors are taking positive action to support and improve employee mental health and well-being. Since many are working from home full-time or part-time, the provision of mental health services, such as online talk therapy, is becoming more common in the workplace.
It wasn't so long ago that mental health simply wasn't talked about at work. When it was, people often found themselves ignored or marginalized. In fact, employees sharing about their mental health issues has been frowned upon and could put their positions and jobs at risk. Some of these ideas and attitudes continue to linger. It's up to us to make our employees see that we know times have changed. Not only do they have the right to talk about mental health, they should feel safe doing so.
Why is Attention to Mental Health Important in the Workplace?
In January, 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that one-third of large businesses employing more than 5,000 people intended to provide their teams with on-site mental health support and counseling in the near future. While some employers believe they can leave finding mental health support to their employees as something to do in their personal time, this is misguided. For one thing, many employees cannot find the right kinds of support and therapy on their own, or what they find isn't covered by their employee benefits.
Mental Health Challenges Impact Employee Performance
Put yourself in your employees' shoes. Would you be at your most productive if you had mental health challenges that weren't being addressed? No, of course not. Once you consider this, you realize that poor employee mental health will adversely affect your business.
While large companies have been at the forefront of a new mental health focus, this is just as important for small and medium size businesses. Experts have shown that therapy and mental health support boosts not only employee performance and productivity but retention, as well.
Why? It's because of how severely life and mental health challenges can impact your employees' well-being. For example, if stress is adversely affecting an employee's sleep and making them think in a negative way, this will directly impact their performance.
Get Cerebral
Cerebral is an excellent online therapy provider that also delivers your prescriptions to your door. There are providers on Cerebral that are able to prescribe medication as well. If your team members are given any prescriptions, they will be automatically delivered. With a subscription to Cerebral, your team members get regular assessments, Care Counselor appointments, and sessions with their assigned providers, all done completely online.
Once each employee completes the free emotional assessment, they can progress to a meeting with their providers by video or phone call. These professionals will work with your team members to determine an appropriate treatment plan. After that, your employees get acquainted with their Care Counselors. This is their contact point and constant support while they're with Cerebral.
What is MoodConnect?
MoodConnect’s vision is to create healthy, enjoyable work environments where employees and businesses can grow as a team, together. Because a healthy and happy team is productive and loyal to one another. And productive and loyal teams drive successful, fast growing, and profitable businesses.
They are launching a Mood Analyzer and dashboard that will help employers and HR professionals understand how to address the wellness needs of their business. MoodConnect is offering wellness workshops and discussions on Clubhouse right now. Join the MoodConnect Club and listen or contribute to the conversation.
Explore the MoodConnect Wellness Directory
You can find even more mental health and wellness solutions in the MoodConnect Wellness Directory. Not only that, you and your team can find and use this directory's many resources in the diverse areas of yoga and fitness, health services, outdoor/recreation, health products, wellness apps, health services, and finance/business health.
Take some time to explore the Mood Connect Wellness Directory, looking for additional apps and services that may benefit your team. Activities and services offered on the directory, like yoga and meditation, have been proven to promote stress-relief and mental well-being, as well as physical health.
Make sure to check out the MoodConnect podcast. Hosted by Amy Ouzoonian, this engaging and informative podcast features health and wellness discussions and advice. This is a weekly podcast that presents knowledgeable guests and lets you know about relevant events.
The Power of Company Culture
As you make mental health more of a focus in the workplace, keep an eye on company culture and how it impacts things. Sometimes we become so used to a particular culture that we fail to see destructive elements that may be adversely affecting your employees' mental health.
Take some time to objectively evaluate your company culture and consider parts of it that need to change. An example of this might be employees feeling too much pressure when it comes to deadlines. If employees aren't getting enough sleep, this is going to negatively impact their mental health and well-being.
Make mental health and well-being a vital part of your company culture. Giving your team access to a mental health service such as Mood Connect and Cerebral will signal your continued attention to workplace mental health.
Make Online Mental Support Part of Your Employee Wellness Plan
One advantage of online and virtual mental health support is that it can be done more discreetly and privately than other approaches. More and more small and medium-sized businesses are making online mental support and therapy part of their employee wellness plans. When your employees have consistent access to this kind of support, they have a place to turn to when they're experiencing traumatic life events like: financial problems, divorce, depression, and addiction.
Employees accessing therapy and mental health support in the workplace can gain a variety of benefits. Of course, more extensive services that include therapy, like Cerebral have the most to offer. Some of the potential benefits of giving your team workplace mental health and therapy services include:
Better Communication Skills
Online talk therapy and mental health support can improve employee confidence. And when you feel more confident, you are more likely to communicate clearly and say what you truly think and feel. It goes without saying that strong employee communication skills are among the most valuable workplace assets.
Improved Self-Awareness
You have to know and understand yourself to improve yourself. That is why self-awareness is so important when keeping your employees productive and confident. Therapy and mental health support will help your employees engage in deep self-reflection, to gain better self-awareness and self-compassion.
Better Interpersonal Skills
For example, they will be better able to create and maintain healthy boundaries and engage in effective teamwork. If your company is like most and teamwork is an important part of keeping things rolling, help your employees develop better interpersonal skills through mental health support.
Improved Productivity
This is the benefit that gets the most attention from employers, and it's a result of all the other ways mental health support improves your employees' lives. When a person has strong mental health and emotional well-being, they are able to concentrate optimally and maximize their productivity.
It's Time to Give Your Employees Online Therapy and Mental Health Support Access
Bottom line is, mental health support is a necessity for any company. While many large companies are already providing this kind of support, small and medium sized business can benefit from it as well. A healthy team is a productive team and productive team drives a successful business.
Thanks for reading and for supporting our mission to create healthier workspaces. Sign up for our newsletter and continue receiving updates when we post more quality content for you to enjoy!