Getting mental health in the workplace right can be a delicate balancing act for leaders. Protecting their own mental health, while also looking after the mental health of employees – and achieving profitability goals – takes some doing. With this in mind, we consulted two mental health experts to get practical advice for leaders around strategies they can implement straight away and throughout the whole year.
We lead this four-part blog series by considering why CEOs and senior leadership need to talk more about mental health at work. Then we consider the positive impact of boosting mental health throughout the business, followed by expert advice for improving your own mental health. Finally, we offer important advice on how to put the right strategies and support systems in place for your staff.
Mental ill health is the largest cause of lost working days in Great Britain, with stress, depression and anxiety accounting for around 15.4 million lost days. This all results in an estimated annual cost to UK employers from mental ill health of between £33 billion and £42 billion. Can you afford not to take mental health in the workplace seriously?
Life at the top can be lonely. It’s definitely stressful. While business leaders may feel the need to put on a brave face, the high level of responsibility they take on day-to-day can be a risk to their mental health. One study from the University of California San Francisco found 30% of entrepreneurs admitted to struggling with depression. And in the UK, around 50% of respondents to an Institute of Directors survey reported experiencing poor mental health that was partly linked to work pressures.
"One study from the University of California San Francisco found 30% of entrepreneurs admitted to struggling with depression"
But battling through with gritted teeth isn’t the answer. When leaders open up about their struggles, and then invest in emotional and organisational health in the firms they helm, they’re actually embodying good leadership.
So how can leaders take positive steps? Business leaders can struggle with mental health more than anyone else due to their high-stress position, and they may feel the need to keep this private due to worries about investors, board members or employees losing confidence in them. But doing the exact opposite can be a turning point says Kate Hull-Rodgers, Vistage speaker and Director of HumourUs Limited. “When you're struggling with your mental health, the best thing to do is to ask for help. It’s as simple as that. It's not a sign of weakness,” says Kate. Taking a small step towards openness, perhaps with a group of trusted advisers, can be a great start.
Opening up about your own mental health is actually good leadership. Find out why.
Building a workplace with good mental health – of staff and leadership alike – as a key priority raises morale, productivity, creativity, and ultimately your bottom line. We know that work plays a strong role in our mental health and wellbeing. But getting the balance right between good and bad pressure takes skilled leadership. You want a productive workforce but you also want to create a culture where it is OK to admit when there’s a problem.
Productivity is one of the major benefits of a happy workforce with good mental health. Happiness has been found to boost productivity by around 12%. And further research has shown that happy employees have higher levels of productivity, produce higher sales, perform better in leadership positions, and receive higher performance ratings and higher pay. They also enjoy more job security and are less likely to take sick days, to quit, or become burned out.
"Happiness has been found to boost productivity by around 12%."
One of the most practical ways of boosting mental health in the workplace is through training mental health first aiders who are taught how to see the signs of mental distress and help someone who might be struggling. Investing in programs such as those from Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England makes solid financial sense considering that around 70 million working days are lost every year because of mental health, costing Britain between £70bn and £100bn.
But it’s not just about the money. MHFA England report that their program builds employee engagement, loyalty and productivity. In addition, if someone experiencing a mental illness has a line manager who is comfortable talking about mental health and knows what support to provide, or signpost people to, that individual feels better supported and is more likely to be able to continue working successfully. They can also play a critical role in preventing full–blown mental illness.
Lean more about how you can benefit your business by investing in mental health in the workplace.
Leaders are so often worried about their staff, their business, and their board, they very often forget to worry about themselves. This means they need to have the positive habits in place to benefit their mental health, even when things are going well, because it can turn at any time.
Two experts who work with companies around supporting leaders and employees with creating a positive culture for mental health at work are Kate Hull-Rodgers (who we introduced earlier), and Nick Elston, global speaker and creator of #TalkingAnxiety. They recommend some simple ways you can reduce stress and anxiety as a business leader:
Check out this article for Kate and Nick’s full range of expert tips and tactics to help look after your own mental health.
Good leadership also means creating plans and processes in place to prioritise good mental health in the workplace. The worst thing you can do is pay lip service to mental health, but not have the framework in place for staff to use when they need it.
Kate and Nick both advise that if you’re genuinely committed to looking after the mental health of your staff you need to go way beyond a box-ticking exercise on a few days or weeks per year. It needs to become part of your company’s culture.
To do this as a business leader you can:
Check out the full article for Kate and Nick’s in-depth advice on how to put strategies and support systems in place for your staff’s mental health.
When considering how you put in place systems and strategies to promote good mental health in the workplace, it’s really important to think about how stressful moments – from bad one (redundancies) to good but potentially burnout inducing ones (funding rounds or new product launch). It's a difficult job. Here's some more advice from Kate and Nick:
Get more in-depth advice on how to put in place strategies to manage stressful situations with your employees’ mental health in mind.
It is an employer's responsibility to facilitate and provide a safe space for people to open up. But as a leader the thought of providing a well-rounded programme of mental health support to employees can, ironically, be overwhelming.
Through our series of articles, we’ve offered in-depth facts, figures, tips and strategies to equip leaders determined to do their best for their workforces’ mental health. We’ve also delved into the financial imperatives for prioritising investment in mental health.
Our experts both agree that creating a culture of openness – a positive environment where discussing mental health is welcomed and engaged with across the whole year – is key. And this starts with the leaders being open about their own mental health. They also stress the importance of everyone – leaders and employees alike – asking for help when they’re struggling.
Leaders can use a range of practical tools to boost their own mental health – from yoga and medication to visualisation and staying hydrated. Finally, enabling your employees to signpost to resources – ideally by offering mental health first aider training – is one of the most widely accepted ways of offering structured support for mental health in the workplace.