How to Be a Mental Health Ally for your colleagues

What happens when a Yoga Teacher & Mindfulness Practitioner joins a Software Engineering Company? It is a match! Inês Varela, Employer Branding & Talent Communications Expert, tells her story of how she experienced mindfulness when joining tb.lx. She shares some valuable tips for how other companies can respond to the growing needs of employees for more mindfulness in the workplace.

During the pandemic, I decided to enter the path of self-development and discovered that one of my passions in life is mindfulness and mental health, so I decided to go for a deep dive into these areas. I started my Yoga Teacher Training and took a Reiki master’s degree for Anxiety.

Triggering change and growth inside me also needed a change on the outside, in my daily environment. So I decided to leave my job where I had been for many years and start a new adventure in a company where I had the feeling that it could match the person I became. When I joined tb.lx at the beginning of the year, I immediately felt it was possible to have mindfulness in the workspace. I found out that it was possible to combine these parts of my personal world with my work in Communications.

What is mindfulness at tb.lx?

When starting to work at tb.lx, the first thing I felt was that I was allowed to create my own boundaries regarding working hours and that I received respect for myself as a person, regardless of my role.

When I’m doing my daily work, I am 100% focused on my tasks and always strive to deliver the best outcome possible. And when my working hours are finished, I can be 100% present for my personal life and hobbies. This is only possible with a healthy working culture with trust and transparency. But it goes without saying that everyone is responsible for setting their own boundaries. And if you struggle in doing so, you can ask for help. Your team is there for you.

And what happens when everything is not bright and shiny? Of course, everyone can have a bad day, and it would be the wrong approach to compensate for it with over-positivity. At tb.lx, I felt supported even on personally challenging days. The open environment between peers and leadership made me feel welcomed. There is a safe space to be open and honest and ask for help if needed. At tb.lx I always feel supported, I can thrive and evolve as a person on my good days and my bad days.

It is in everyone’s own hands to challenge themself and bring their “everything” to work, the true and whole self. At tb.lx, you are not only hired for your expertise but also for who you are as a person and the add you bring to the company culture.

Giving the tools for a mindfulness setup

Every company has its benefits to offer to employees, and different people value different benefits. At tb.lx I was happily surprised with the offer of mental health support: a flex budget that can be used for yoga classes, gym subscription, medical expenses (including psychology consults), and even a subscription to meditation apps.

So, for tb.lx, mental health goes beyond the paper. tb.lx provides incentives that employees seek with financial support to find various ways to care for their mental health.

Another thing that got my attention was that the company recently organized a remote session with an experienced psychologist for the second time already, where everyone was invited to join and ask questions about burnout, stress management, and anxiety.

Hybrid work as a tool to improve mindfulness

I must say that what helps me experience the mindfulness setup even more is hybrid work and the flexibility that it brings. At tb.lx we can work from home, from the office, from a café by the beach or, if we want to, even from outside of Portugal.

This may seem little to you, but this gives you two things: the flexibility to organize your working hours and responsibility for your day-to-day tasks.

For example, in my case, I don’t like to have a very strict routine. I like to start my day very early and slow: I do meditation, practice yoga, and enjoy my breakfast without any gadgets. I want to start my day in a very present way. For me, it’s the morning mood that will define the rest of my day.

And sometimes, during the day, I need a longer break just to get some air, refresh my mind, and boost my creativity. But I do not get stressed or feel guilty if I do this. Why? Because I know my team leader trusts me, she gives me space to learn how I work best because she knows that I will get my job done at the end of the day or week.

The possibility of having an office to work from is the cherry on top of the cake for me. I’m a people person and having a workspace that allows me to see my colleagues from time to time, organize a lunch, or simply have a coffee or drink some beers after work helps us not feel so alone in our workday in a remote setup.

Work Rituals can also serve the purpose of mindfulness

At tb.lx, I discovered the power of monthly retros: a team moment, remotely or in-person, to talk about the struggles, achievements, and rituals of the past month. Here I really understood the concept of continuous feedback, which can be given in a positive way, always with the focus to help you grow and evolve as a person, professionally and personally.

Also, tb.lx organizes once in a while in-person events for all of us to meet: Summer Events, All Hands, End-of-year parties, and happy hours. Socialization is the key; it keeps a company’s culture alive. Additionally, we have several groups for activities outside of work that tblxers participate in, for example, a football team, a paddle group, a movie’s club, etc.

What could be the first steps for companies to become a Mental Health Ally for their employees?

Based on my experience in Mindfulness and after experiencing it in a workplace, my advice for companies that are now starting this journey is the following:

1. When making decisions for the company, big or small, never lose sight of how they affect your people. In this way, you start creating a people-centric company;

2. Use surveys to “hear and feel” what is on the employees’ top of mind. But don’t keep those results locked away. Use them to build new working experiences and share those improvements with them. In this way, they will feel heard and part of the company. For example, at tb.lx, we recently shared the results of the experience of “Flow Friday”;

3. Create a safe environment for your employees and make them feel supported in their decisions. How? Support them and challenge them to bring their whole self to work, make them see that people have shiny days and less shiny days and that everything is a learning process;

4. Your team leaders also must help their teams grow as professionals and individuals. 1on1s helps employees to open up compared to meetings in a bigger group;

5. Give your employees the flexibility and trust to create their own work routine during the daily working hours; they will always get the job done. If you can’t trust your employees why hire them in the first place?

6. Establish a continuous feedback culture. Don’t wait until the end of the year for a yearly feedback moment. Giving continuous feedback at the moment is more efficient and helps professional growth. Feedback is not an easy task, but the more you give and practice it, the better. Remember always to use a positive intent. We are humans and not machines;

7. Establish useful tools: Flex benefits, Workshops for Stress Management, Mindfulness Meditation Sessions, and so on;

8. If you are a hybrid company, create in-person events for socialization experiences;

9. Create healthy work rituals for your employee: weekly, retros, team days at the office.

But remember, it’s always the employee’s choice to take these opportunities and embrace them. You cannot force this environment; it must be built step by step. And it is a learning process for both sides.

Bringing your whole self to work

Mindfulness is all about balance and creating a healthy routine. I was looking for it in my workplace, and I found it at tb.lx. I am supported by my team leader and my peers, and for the first time in a workspace, I can bring my whole true self to work.

Using my personal passions and experiences, I organized a meditation for anxiety session for my colleagues. At first, I was nervous because I had never brought this part of my life to work before. In the end, it was a great experience, and tb.lx showed me that I can be myself, I can be Inês when working at tb.lx.

Inês Varela works in Employer Branding & Talent Communications at tb.lx based in Lisbon, Portugal.