In the realm of workplace dynamics, it is essential to recognize that issues related to mental health do not exist in isolation. Instead, they exist in an environment that nurtures or hinders their growth.
Often, when an employee comes forward with concerns of discrimination, harassment, or bullying, organizations tend to misdirect their focus. Instead of addressing the root causes within the workplace, there’s a tendency to “pathologize” the employee, attributing their distress to personal sensitivity or overreaction.
In some unfortunate cases, organizations may even outright deny any wrongdoing, unfairly portraying the employee as mentally fragile rather than acknowledging the hostile environment perpetuated by the aggressor.
The fundamental key lies in providing accurate education on fostering a mentally healthy workplace culture. Rather than scrutinizing individual employees, we must emphasize transforming the corporate culture and instilling psychological safety principles that promote a harassment-free, diverse, and inclusive work environment.
A comprehensive approach is necessary to promote employees’ mental health and well-being. To ensure a healthy work culture, consider the following steps:
- Education: Examine how your organization educates employees on creating a mentally and psychologically healthy work environment.
- Gap Analysis: Identify gaps in addressing organizational, leader, and employee needs.
- Training: Determine the training required to establish a respectful, mentally healthy, and interpersonally safe work culture. Remember, a healthy environment (soil) leads to healthy employees (flowers)!
For Organizations:
To ensure psychological safety and inclusion for all employees, employers should:
- Implement robust harassment prevention programs (which we’ll discuss later).
- Emphasize Respect and Inclusion through Diversity, Equity, and Sensitivity Training.
- Offer and promote ongoing resources to support the mental health of their employees, such as psychological services as a benefit, Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), and mental health seminars. (We also offer a range of online mental health courses that you may find valuable.)
For Leaders:
Aggressive and intrusive leadership styles pose significant challenges to employee resilience and mental health. Many leaders ascend the ranks due to their technical expertise, which only translates to strong interpersonal skills. To address this:
- Review hiring and promotion practices to ensure that soft skills are given due importance in leadership roles.
- Hold leaders accountable for their management styles and provide appropriate training and resources to support interpersonal excellence.
- Educate leaders on understanding and responding to mental health issues, both in their team members and within themselves.
For Employees:
In tandem with creating a psychologically safe work culture, it’s crucial to support our employees:
- Make resources available to employees for addressing personal and interpersonal issues, whether they relate to themselves, their families, or their coworkers. Such resources include EAP, psychological services, online training, and programs promoting mental health awareness to reduce stigma and encourage service utilization.
