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Updated: 19 October 2021
Mental health issues can have a big impact on your employees, your business and yourself as a business owner. 70 million work days are lost each year1 due to mental health problems in the UK, so putting the right support in place makes sense for financial reasons, as well as for personal wellbeing.
The pandemic has added unique stresses and strains, and there are new challenges as we adjust to new ways of working. In a survey conducted this year, half of workers said they have experienced at least one symptom of burnout and four in ten said that work stress had impacted their personal lives this year alone.
To help you understand how you can provide support for your staff, Spill – the mental health support service for businesses – give their tips on some of the key steps you can follow.
Psychological safety starts with basic good practice when it comes to the structure of work. Clear expectations, reasonable demands, support: all the usual suspects.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) outlines six key areas of work that, if not properly addressed, make us feel psychologically unsafe, stressed out and anxious. They are:
HSE has a great workbook (PDF) that goes through each of these six areas in turn, with templates for employees and their managers to discuss, as well as a load of practical ideas on how to improve in each area.
As a manager, you set the example for others to follow. There are a few simple things that you can do that will allow others to speak up, be more open and ultimately feel more safe and confident.
Interestingly, this is where some employees can feel most psychologically unsafe, as competitiveness, office politics, misunderstanding and passive-aggression can easily crop up between peers who work together — especially in the new remote or hybrid world.
To prevent this, foster as much honesty and understanding as possible. The more honest we are with each other, the more we understand each other as whole people, and the less likely we are to misinterpret actions, feel resentful or competitive, or assume the worst.
The absolute bible when it comes to encouraging honesty and understanding in teams is ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team‘ by Patrick Lenconi. It’s written as a fable, so it’s more readable than the average management book. Here are two exercises from the book, and two more that we’ve also found to be really effective:
Pledges and promises are easy, action is not. It takes work and consistent commitment to create workplaces that are truly psychologically safe.
Track your progress with regular feedback surveys, they’ll also give you early warning signs on any areas that could be a toxic danger zone.
A strong culture can be one of the organisation’s most valuable assets but, if bad habits seep in, it can create feelings of fear among employees and morph into a toxic environment. By measuring psychological safety regularly, and by implementing processes and habits to embed it in your company, you can preserve your culture and keep it healthy too.
Spill is an all-in-one mental health support for businesses, used by Huel, Citymapper Funding Circle and over 450 companies. Vist www.spill.chat for more info.
This is a guest blog from Spill, the all-in-one mental health support for businesses. Over 14,000 employees now have access to therapy and mental health support via their workplaces. Huel, Citymapper and Funding Circle are some of the 450 companies already offering Spill. To find out more about how to protect your culture from toxicity and to take our Psychological Safety Questionnaire, visit our page.
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