Practical Tools to Build Resilience: What Every Workplace Should Offer
It wasn’t so long ago that mental health and resilience were taboo subjects in the workplace but in boardrooms and breakrooms across the world, conversations on how to manage the day-to-day stresses of life are now firmly front and centre. And for good reason too.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) (opens a new window) estimates that 15% of adults across the globe have a mental disorder of some kind, and in the GCC region, two thirds of the workforce report experiencing poor mental health or wellbeing (opens a new window), with a third showing symptoms of burnout.
What was once something whispered in the quiet corners of the office, has now become a business imperative with an estimated 12 billion working days, and $1 trillion in productivity, lost each year (opens a new window) to anxiety and depression.
As the UAE economy becomes increasingly global in nature, attitudes towards mental health are changing and businesses are adapting to meet the growing need and expectation for workplace support.
An expectation of support
To meet the expectations of 89% of employees who believe their employers should offer mental health support, Lockton hosted a roundtable of business and HR leaders, along with employee wellbeing specialists, to explore what an effective employee wellbeing programme truly looks like.
Attendees agreed there are a range of approaches that employers can take and that the support provided has to be tailored to individual business needs, but there are some tried and tested approaches that have a strong track record of success.
Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) provide a wide range of support, everything from mental health and personal issues to financial planning and legal advice with WHO estimating that companies can make a four-fold return on every dollar invested (opens a new window) in such programmes. EAPs typically include services from a range of providers, so most organisations partner with a specialist consultant to bring the programme together.
Mental health ambassadors are also growing in popularity. These individuals are trained employees who act as a first point of contact for someone who might be struggling, offering advice and support or signposting them to the appropriate, professional resources. They often take an active role in raising awareness of mental health issues and of the support available, and act as a crucial bridge between employees and leadership.
Awareness is key to success
Some employers have chosen to provide regular, or one-off, therapy and counselling sessions to employees, sometimes partnering with an external provider and sometimes recruiting full time, on-site mental health practitioners. Not only do these services provide general support to employees, they have been shown to reduce absenteeism and improve retention (opens a new window).
The experience of lockdown taught every business that huge amounts can be achieved remotely, and since then, a host of apps have emerged offering one-to-one counselling sessions as well as providing on-demand mindfulness and stress management support. Even providing flexible working options can make a huge difference to the wellbeing and productivity of employees who struggle to manage the competing demands of their professional and personal lives.
This small sample only scratches the surface of what is available to employers but raising awareness of the support available is just as important as any tools or individuals a business employ. Attendees at the round table stressed the importance of holding regular workshops and training to ensure employees know what support is available, understand how to access it and perhaps most importantly, are aware there will be no judgement for doing so.
Discussions about mental health and resilience in the workplace may be a common occurrence in today’s business world, but the challenge facing employers now is turning that positive sentiment into practical and reliable support.
If they can do that, not only will they meet the demands of today’s employees, they could start to reclaim some of that $1 trillion lost to poor mental health every year.
