In Honour of World Mental Health Day
In honour of World Mental Health day this week I am writing to encourage open conversation on this rather difficult and often uncomfortable area of life. But also, one which invariably will spill into our work lives from time to time. Our work lives, where we are expected to exhibit a professional front at all times, be customer service oriented and forever pleasant with a smile hopefully pasted to our faces every moment. What about those moments when it is just not possible? Do you notice if it is so for a colleague of yours?
We often work many years alongside the same people, sometimes in the same small space be it cubicle or office, spending around a third of our life in this compact area with them as we all pass through the milestone moments, both good and bad. Births and deaths, medical diagnoses bad or good, divorce and house moves, we will all experience some such variation of these stages and more.
The fascinating part of this emotional spill over into our work lives is that it is these very life stages that strip away rank and salary. Life does not discriminate between managers and juniors where bereavement is concerned for example and although happy news is contagious, even loss can often bind us to each other.
How we return to work after a death, or following maternity leave can often dictate how we will perform and how invested we will continue to be in that job. Our co-workers are a big part of this, their compassion or lack of can have a tremendous impact on our adjustment. Whether we are aware of each other’s trials and tribulations is often a testimonial to the quality of our relationships at work.
By humanizing our work-places we use our humanity as employers or colleagues to define our company’s culture. We send clear messages about if we truly do care about our fellow humans.
Let’s make no mistake, this is not merely an HR issue. It’s a human issue and I am advocating that it is everyone’s responsibility. Take a mental health temperature check, be still and contemplate how much of your excess energy is spent masking your real emotions and struggles to be able to pull through the 8 hour slog that work becomes when we are simply not ok. Our work places need to accommodate this by acknowledging it, HR can indeed help with flexible options offering people appropriate bereavement leave, discretionary leave or access to unpaid leave if necessary.
HR Departments can also assist by using other schemes which I would say should be standard, anonymous and done at least bi-annually, such as Occupational stress questionnaires to assess mental health at work, analysis of current ergonomics and environmental issues in the work place and how employees feel about such things.
Especially in this post-recession era where only 3 or 4 years ago employment was scarce, wages were slashed and redundancies rampant, acknowledgment from companies that employees have been through a collective trauma, some may have even lost their houses or had to move area, would go a long way to investing in our people.
As an individual business owner or employee, you may not feel you have much to offer this topic or that there is much you can contribute. People’s emotional life is after all private. I would say this: If you cannot think of what to say to that colleague following a bereavement, simply add your condolences and be gentle, no need for more. Get to know your colleagues better and be genuine in getting to know them, assume nothing, think twice before judging. Beyond our work persona is someone who has known suffering at some point, who has known anguish and may still be struggling. Take the time to find out. Our work places are enriched when we have real, sincere and meaningful exchanges with our colleagues, work is less like work and more like somewhere we want to be when we feel we matter to those people we spend so much of life with.
