How to Measure Mental Health in the Workplace

Supporting good mental health in the workplace is essential for the overall well-being of employees. Everyday jobs greatly influence employees’ lives, and whatever happens in the workplace can also impact their physical, mental, and behavioral health.

The ongoing pandemic and the uncertainties that emerged from it only aggravated the unaddressed mental health issues in the workplace. Therefore, it is important to address mental health in the workplace and find ways to measure it efficiently.

Identifying Mental Health Issues & Challenges in the Workplace

But how do you measure mental health in the workplace? How can you determine the level of stress, depression, burnout, and other mental health challenges and issues?

The complexity of this task asks for a multilateral approach to finding the most suitable solutions.

This is most commonly an assignment of the HR teams and managers. They utilize various methods to identify employees potentially struggling, implement mental health programs, and determine whether they fit their organization.

Implement Mental Health Policy & Develop an Action Plan

A mental health policy aims to support employees’ psychological needs and promote a better mental state. HR teams should ensure that mental health policy is acknowledged as other policies by supporting and protecting employees struggling with mental issues and promoting the overall well-being of employees.

The HR teams should also leverage employees’ feedback data to create a well-developed, structured approach to mental health in the workplace.

Evaluate Employee Experiences

There are many ways in how HR professionals can obtain data and valuable insights into their employees’ well-being, satisfaction levels, and more.

For instance, HR teams can use anonymous satisfaction surveys to measure employee experiences. Such surveys help employers learn their employees’ feelings and thoughts about the workplace, daily tasks, responsibilities, etc.
Also, HR teams should consider obtaining anonymized data from various mental health apps or programs. By using them to measure employees’ mental health, HR teams can get valuable and unbiased data on employees’ emotions, thoughts, and worries. Moreover, these advanced tech solutions are excellent support for remote workers.
Another way of obtaining information about employees’ well-being is through their managers. It’s no surprise that highly effective managers are considered those supporting ongoing and open communication. Employees benefit from this by having someone who cares about the team members and their work-life balance.
Lastly, companies can get valuable insights from human resources data. For example, high employee turnover rates and absenteeism clearly show that things aren’t going well. By utilizing exit interview data to get as much information as needed, organizations can get a clearer picture of the situation within the company and act accordingly by offering appropriate solutions.

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Regular One-on-One Meetings with Managers

Today more than ever, with most employees working from home or on a hybrid work model, there are elevated levels of loneliness, burnout, or self-doubt. Employees feel unseen and think of their contributions as unrecognized and unvalued enough.

Hence, regular meetings with line managers help overcome this feeling of inadequacy and give the team and the organization a sense of belonging.

Furthermore, regular one-on-one meetings with HR managers can also be beneficial for the employees, especially those struggling with mental health challenges and issues.

External Expertise

Having mental health’s individual and sensitive nature in mind is why relying on external experts to evaluate it is a better solution than leaning solely on the in-house HR team. This is also a better solution for bigger companies handling the matter without external help.

Conclusion

Promoting and supporting good mental health in the workplace is a must. Therefore, estimating the current and potential mental health solutions in the workplace is a significant, ongoing task. Employers need to implement a mental health policy or well-being solutions and be sure they have the most beneficial ones for their employees.

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