Is Your Workplace Mentally Healthy?
Whilst researching for this week’s blog post, a statistic caught my eye - Workplaces who invest in mental health initiatives see an average return on investment of $2.30 for every $1 spent (Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace: Return on investment analysis, PWC, 2015).
Dollar amounts obviously speak to business owners and managers, but I figured that this also translates to a significant positive impact for employees as well. Given that many of us spend most of our waking hours at work, we should not overlook the importance of a mentally healthy workplace. You may have also heard the report recently that mental health concerns are now the main reason for presenting to a GP, and that mental illness is now the leading cause of sick days and long-term work incapacity in Australia. The statistics on the prevalence of mental illness are widely available, but did you know that if you work in a place with more than 10 people, there’s a good chance that at least one or two people in your team are living with mental illness? Many more of us experience symptoms associated with mental ill health that affect our functioning at work – things like sleep problems, worry and fatigue. About half of us have experienced workplace bullying at some point. The value of a workplace that supports mental health and wellbeing is clear.
So what does a mentally healthy workplace look like? According to Black Dog Institute these are the key features of mentally healthy workplaces:
people watch out for each other and can ask someone if they’re ok
managers and teams understand mental health and openly talk about it
people know about things they can do to build resilience for challenging times at work and at home
staff with mental health concerns seek help early
staff with mental health issues are supported in their recovery.
Working somewhere that promotes mental health and wellbeing has advantages for individuals and the business as a whole, including:
Enhanced work performance and productivity. We perform at our best when we have high levels of psychological wellbeing and job satisfaction.
Improvements for your company’s bottom line. Reduced staff turnover, recruitment and training costs; fewer sick days and presenteeism (being at work but not able to work at capacity); greater productivity and creativity are all good for your business – increasing revenue and decreasing costs.
Improvements to your wellbeing. Work instills us with a sense of purpose, provides social networks and supports, gives opportunities to grow and develop, and helps us achieve in areas of strength - all important contributing factors to our wellbeing.
Helping recovery. For those of us living with mental illness, work can play an important role in helping us recover. Many mental illnesses we see in the workplace are treatable, and in some cases, preventable.
Attracting (and keeping) great talent. Businesses that invest in mental health are more likely to attract and retain the best and brightest. The culture of workplace wellbeing has many flow-on effects to individuals, businesses and the community
We can all play a part in making our workplace mentally healthy for ourselves and our co-workers.
Business owners and managers can check out this resource – Ten Things You Can Do To Make Your Workplace Mentally Healthy. Black Dog Institute also offer a free downloadable toolkit for employers with information about mental health, rights and responsibilities and online resources.
Workers may also find this resource on Workplace Wellbeing from Black Dog Institute helpful.
As individuals one important thing that we can do ourselves to promote wellbeing and mental health in the workplace is aim for a good work-life balance. We’ve all heard this catch-phrase, but here are some tips for what it looks like in practice:
Find a job that suits your personality, coping style and ability to manage stress.
Try online mental health resilience programs. Black Dog Institute recommend rawmindcoach.com.
Become part of something bigger than yourself such as volunteer for a community group or help others.
Do something you love. Think of the things you used to enjoy and make time to start doing one of them again.
Get involved in outside interests that create ‘flow’ (being so immersed in something you lose all concept of time and effort). People get flow from doing things they enjoy or find challenging, like painting, surfing, solving hard puzzles, playing chess or bridge, gardening, bushwalking, building, sport, playing music and cooking.
Exercise often for stress release and pleasure.
Practice mindfulness (being in the moment) to enhance concentration, alleviate anxiety and help sleep. There are lots of resources online to get started.
Try something new that uses something you’re good. For example, if you’re creative, take a new art, sculpting, writing or building class.
What helps us here at Macquarie Health Collective to maintain a mentally health workplace? As well as weekly team meetings, we also have regular ‘drop-in’ times where we can catch up with the boss to talk about whatever is going on for us. Our ‘open door’ policy means that we also turn to each other when needed. We regularly share learning and achievements, not to mention birthdays and cakes (cake is important here). We socialise outside of work, whether it is to celebrate important milestones like our one-year anniversary, or just because. We occasionally stand in the middle of cotton fields pretending we like having our photos taken. But we do it together, and that creates the comradery, sense of inclusiveness and team approach that makes coming to work fun, and which we strive to have flow on to our clients.
OT and The NDIS
28 September 2018
The NDIS Describes their aim as “The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). A new way of supporting people with permanent and significant disability.
The NDIS is designed to give individuals greater choice and control over when, where and how their funded supports are provided”
Occupational Therapy describes their goals as “Occupational Therapy is a client-centred health profession concerned with promoting health and wellbeing through occupation. The primary goal of Occupational Therapy is to enable people to participaWhilst researching for this week’s blog post, a statistic caught my eye - Workplaces who invest in mental health initiatives see an average return on investment of $2.30 for every $1 spent (Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace: Return on investment analysis, PWC, 2015).
Dollar amounts obviously speak to business owners and managers, but I figured that this also translates to a significant positive impact for employees as well. Given that many of us spend most of our waking hours at work, we should not overlook the importance of a mentally healthy workplace. You may have also heard the report recently that mental health concerns are now the main reason for presenting to a GP, and that mental illness is now the leading cause of sick days and long-term work incapacity in Australia. The statistics on the prevalence of mental illness are widely available, but did you know that if you work in a place with more than 10 people, there’s a good chance that at least one or two people in your team are living with mental illness? Many more of us experience symptoms associated with mental ill health that affect our functioning at work – things like sleep problems, worry and fatigue. About half of us have experienced workplace bullying at some point. The value of a workplace that supports mental health and wellbeing is clear.
So what does a mentally healthy workplace look like? According to Black Dog Institute these are the key features of mentally healthy workplaces:
people watch out for each other and can ask someone if they’re ok
managers and teams understand mental health and openly talk about it
people know about things they can do to build resilience for challenging times at work and at home
staff with mental health concerns seek help early
staff with mental health issues are supported in their recovery.
Working somewhere that promotes mental health and wellbeing has advantages for individuals and the business as a whole, including:
Enhanced work performance and productivity. We perform at our best when we have high levels of psychological wellbeing and job satisfaction.
Improvements for your company’s bottom line. Reduced staff turnover, recruitment and training costs; fewer sick days and presenteeism (being at work but not able to work at capacity); greater productivity and creativity are all good for your business – increasing revenue and decreasing costs.
Improvements to your wellbeing. Work instills us with a sense of purpose, provides social networks and supports, gives opportunities to grow and develop, and helps us achieve in areas of strength - all important contributing factors to our wellbeing.
Helping recovery. For those of us living with mental illness, work can play an important role in helping us recover. Many mental illnesses we see in the workplace are treatable, and in some cases, preventable.
Attracting (and keeping) great talent. Businesses that invest in mental health are more likely to attract and retain the best and brightest. The culture of workplace wellbeing has many flow-on effects to individuals, businesses and the community
We can all play a part in making our workplace mentally healthy for ourselves and our co-workers.
Business owners and managers can check out this resource – Ten Things You Can Do To Make Your Workplace Mentally Healthy. Black Dog Institute also offer a free downloadable toolkit for employers with information about mental health, rights and responsibilities and online resources.
Workers may also find this resource on Workplace Wellbeing from Black Dog Institute helpful.
As individuals one important thing that we can do ourselves to promote wellbeing and mental health in the workplace is aim for a good work-life balance. We’ve all heard this catch-phrase, but here are some tips for what it looks like in practice:
Find a job that suits your personality, coping style and ability to manage stress.
Try online mental health resilience programs. Black Dog Institute recommend rawmindcoach.com.
Become part of something bigger than yourself such as volunteer for a community group or help others.
Do something you love. Think of the things you used to enjoy and make time to start doing one of them again.
Get involved in outside interests that create ‘flow’ (being so immersed in something you lose all concept of time and effort). People get flow from doing things they enjoy or find challenging, like painting, surfing, solving hard puzzles, playing chess or bridge, gardening, bushwalking, building, sport, playing music and cooking.
Exercise often for stress release and pleasure.
Practice mindfulness (being in the moment) to enhance concentration, alleviate anxiety and help sleep. There are lots of resources online to get started.
Try something new that uses something you’re good. For example, if you’re creative, take a new art, sculpting, writing or building class.
What helps us here at Macquarie Health Collective to maintain a mentally health workplace? As well as weekly team meetings, we also have regular ‘drop-in’ times where we can catch up with the boss to talk about whatever is going on for us. Our ‘open door’ policy means that we also turn to each other when needed. We regularly share learning and achievements, not to mention birthdays and cakes (cake is important here). We socialise outside of work, whether it is to celebrate important milestones like our one-year anniversary, or just because. We occasionally stand in the middle of cotton fields pretending we like having our photos taken. But we do it together, and that creates the comradery, sense of inclusiveness and team approach that makes coming to work fun, and which we strive to have flow on to our clients.
OT and The NDIS
28 September 2018
The NDIS Describes their aim as “The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). A new way of supporting people with permanent and significant disability.
The NDIS is designed to give individuals greater choice and control over when, where and how their funded supports are provided”
Occupational Therapy describes their goals as “Occupational Therapy is a client-centred health profession concerned with promoting health and wellbeing through occupation. The primary goal of Occupational Therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life.”
NDIS and Occupational Therapy at Macquarie Health Collective are working side by side to enable individuals achieve their goals by looking at the WHOLE person.
Occupational Therapy is encompassed by the person-environment-occupational performance model. This gives an OT special skills and insight when looking at a person and how we help them achieve their goals by looking at all that influences a person.
Read more >te in the activities of everyday life.”
NDIS and Occupational Therapy at Macquarie Health Collective are working side by side to enable individuals achieve their goals by looking at the WHOLE person.
Occupational Therapy is encompassed by the person-environment-occupational performance model. This gives an OT special skills and insight when looking at a person and how we help them achieve their goals by looking at all that influences a person.