If you manage a team, you know the last two years have made a lasting impact on the current workforce. Employees are struggling with mental health challenges at record levels, and the risk of burnout is at an all-time high. In addition, the Great Resignation is creating new challenges for talent acquisition and employee retention efforts. The workplace landscape has changed. Addressing company culture and employee mental health is now essential to finding and keeping high-level employees.
Mental Health America’s Mind the Workplace 2021 report shared startling workplace mental health statistics about the current state of employee mental health and wellness, including:
- 85% of employees agree that their workplace stress affects their mental health.
- 23% of employees experience reduced professional efficacy and cynicism toward their position and coworkers.
- 95% of employees believe their employers need to do more to provide a safe environment for people struggling with mental health challenges.
- The majority of employees surveyed spend time looking for new employment opportunities.
Changes are necessary. When employees struggle with stress, burnout, and mental health challenges, it leads to higher turnover rates, lower productivity, and increased healthcare costs. But it doesn’t need to remain this way.
But it’s not all doom and gloom; there is a silver lining. The MHA report also found that “talking to a supervisor to change stressful things about work was most strongly correlated with the healthiest overall workplace health scores.”
Workplace mental health training for managers and supervisors can help them identify mental health challenges, navigate conversations about mental health, and foster an emotionally healthy workplace culture. To help solve this problem, we are excited to announce our online course Connectivity & Conversations: A Workplace Mental Health Course.
Build a company culture of workplace wellness
Companies with mentally healthy cultures win all around. The company becomes more productive and profitable. However, more importantly, employees are cared for and supported. The positive impact on employees’ mental health and wellness creates a ripple effect in the community.
In this workplace mental health training, Mike Veny provides you with the tools and strategies for supporting employees who are struggling.
The first step to addressing the workplace mental health crisis is assessing your current company culture. The online course includes an assessment you can use to determine what is going well and what areas need to be improved. However, you can’t stop here. Many companies spent the last two years making big promises, and employees are now expecting them to follow through. With your assessment results, you can direct your efforts to create meaningful change.
One area that the statistics say needs to be fixed is providing more support for struggling employees. However, the symptoms indicating an employee is struggling with mental health can often disguise themselves as poor work performance. So Mike teaches you what red flags to watch for and recognize when an employee needs immediate help.
In addition, one of the current challenges employers face is how to tell if an employee is struggling when working remotely. It’s not as easy to pick up on subtle cues when you aren’t seeing the person face-to-face. In this course, you’ll learn what specific signs you can look for in your remote staff to tell when they need support.
Having mental health conversations at work
Once you identify employees needing support, you’re left with the challenge of navigating mental health conversations in the workplace. We know these conversations can be uncomfortable and awkward. In addition, as an employer, you have to abide by laws protecting employees’ privacy and freedom from discrimination. This creates an additional layer to what might feel like an already complicated conversation.
The Connectivity & Conversations course provides an overview of what you need to be aware of when having these conversations at work. In addition, Mike provides a step-by-step plan you can use before, during, and after mental health conversations with employees. This allows you to feel confident while compassionately supporting employees who are struggling. There are also examples of reasonable accommodations you can make when needed for your team members.
Transform your company culture and prioritize employee wellness today
If you are a human resource professional or manager, this course can help you feel prepared and confident when faced with an employee who may be experiencing a mental health concern. In addition, Mike Veny, Inc. is accredited by IACET, which means you can earn CEUs by taking this 1-hour online course and passing the exam (0.1 IACET CEU, 1 SHRM PDC, 1 HRCI Credit).
Connectivity & Conversations is a valuable tool you can use to start making permanent changes in your company culture. It’s one of the first steps you can take toward building trust and improving the wellness of your work community.
If you want to learn more about how to invest in the right mental health training program for your organization, watch our FREE mini-course Workplace Mental Health Training That Gets Results!
