A healthy environment at work is essential in today’s tech-driven corporate world, where mental health often takes a backseat amidst the chaos of deadlines, meetings, and endless cups of coffee. This makes it even more urgent to prioritize well-being.
But hey, do not stress about it yet. We have no intention to ruin your mental peace with the intricacy of this topic. Let’s ease things out with a funny tale.
Meet Vikas, a typical corporate worker, on the edge of a breakdown due to limitless demands at work. He aspires to be quintessential and overcome challenges. And when he does, another bigger one is presented. We know you are picturing your own incidents while reading this. Right?
Now meet the yellow stress ball- the lifeline of Vikas, the epitome of environment healthy and clean environment that he uses daily for hours. Yes, it was the yellow rubber foam ball each one of us has used sometime in our lives to squish our worries away.
During an eventful morning, as Vikas was getting ready for another stressful day, he reached his desk drawer to grab the ball. But Horrors of Horrors! It was gone.
Vikas’ panic hormones kicked in. His mental state elevated higher than the WiFi Speed during busy office hours. He searched and searched, but could only find the sarcastic laughter and bemusements of his colleagues.
Weeks of stress-filled periods passed and one day, he found the ball. It had rolled under the desk, camouflaged by the forgotten pile of paper someone threw.
This was the tale of the missing stress ball. This is how a few small things in corporate culture can become a major mental trauma. And it’s even funnier how an object that is used to decrease mental stress can turn into stress itself.
If not exactly, this is somewhat the scenario in today’s corporate culture is nowadays. A small issue can become a treacherous mountain, sacrificing your mental peace for days. The Ball here, can be identified as the small deadlines or a daily task, which can turn down your optimistic guns, make you anxious and even force you to make more mistakes.
Needless to say, it has become so important to create a healthy mental environment at the workspace. This is what this piece of writing is all about.
Why Mental Health Matters for a Healthy Environment?
Supporting mental health at work spaces is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Work-related risk factors can negatively affect mental health. Contrary to this, positive mental health helps the team regain their agility. It makes employees accustomed to challenges, where they are more capable of managing stress and flourishing in their roles. A good state of mental health helps each individual reach his highest working potential.
Furthermore, positive mental health allows you to :
- Express, communicate and recognize your work skills
- Succeed in your role
- Cope up with altering roles and responsibilities
- Boost your resilience towards challenges
- Face and emerge victorious in difficult situations
- Manage stress easily
- Empathize
Risk factors that can harm your mental health and subside a clean environment
Do you know that 12 billion working days are lost each year, globally, only due to depression and anxiety among employees? This equates to a loss of US$1 Trillion in productivity.
Just as shocking as this fact is, it’s equally important to address the risk factors that degrade your mental health. Let’s concisely gloss over them in the content that follows:
Inadequate safety and health policies
Are your employees working in hazardous environments? Is your office subjected to adverse climatic conditions? Is the workspace poorly lit, not ventilated, or over-crowded? These points reflect inadequate safety and health policy in an office. These also lead to workplace accidents and unsanitary conditions.
Poor management and communication
Lack of communication between the management and employees can create a stressful environment. This not only strains the co-worker relationships but also forms a breeding ground for bad politics, leading to more stress.
Pressure of performance
This is perhaps the most common risk factor observed in modern-day offices. Expectations to constantly perform well put unreasonable pressure on employees. This leads to an increase in work hours and workload, sacrificing the mental peace and health of the employees.
Less support for Employees
Managers who do not offer complete resources or are not willing to remove obstacles for their team members contribute to the constant flow of overwhelming pressure on them. For instance, a manager may pressurize an employee by lending a task without any reference material. Also, the practice of continuous strict deadlines, where managers try to put pressure on the team, is highly hazardous.
How to create a healthy mental environment in the workspace
It’s quite simple- do something like we did at the start of this piece-make you smile. As an employer, you are aware that constraints are on the line and every second counts. Deadline and forced pressure cannot be evaded. While this may raise certain issues, a silver lining brings an optimistic approach as well. When employers or managers know that things are in a tight corner, they can easily work on the right approach to minimize stress and elevate employee satisfaction. In a way, managers can predict the scenario and can work to minimize mental pressure beforehand.
Here are a few ideas and concepts that may help:
Relaxation Space
Dedicated quiet and peaceful spaces for employees work wonders in the bustling corporate offices. These give employees a break from their usual work, communicate with colleagues, and an opportunity to unwind and de-stress.
Employee Assistance Program
This is a work-based program that helps employees with professional as well as work-related problems. The EAP is offered to employees at a no-cost measure and addresses issues like new joinee anxiety, wellness, traumatic events, and a diverse range of other issues.
Extracurricular activities
Imagine you are tired at work and suddenly, you get to leave all your work and play a quiz with other colleagues. Won’t it be something refreshing? Extracurricular activities form a stable pillar of a great work culture. These help motivate the employees while giving them a chance to build relationships nurturing a good work culture.
Increments and Incentives
Job satisfaction is an important factor in every successful career. Without consistent increments or incentives, an employee may feel demotivated and downgraded all the time. As an employer, you should constantly upgrade the wages and work duties of your employees from time to time.
Plan of Action- For Employers
For your convenience, we have devised a plan of action with all logical points, that can be implemented to ensure a stress-free workspace culture.
1. Protection From Harm
- Prioritize a good workspace atmosphere
- Allow for adequate rest
- Support and encourage mental support
- Operationalize diversity, norms, policies, Equity, inclusions, etc.
2. Community and Connection
- Create warm cultures of relationships, equality, and belongings
- Help employees cultivate trusted relationships
- Encourage teamwork and collaborations
3. Focusing on Work-Life Harmony
- Provide autonomy about how work is done
- Create flexible and predictable deadlines and schedules
- Differentiate boundaries between non-working and working times
- Increase the employees’ access to paid leaves
4. Recognition within the work culture
- Engage employees in work decisions
- Connect individuals with company goals and missions
- Ensuring a culture of recognition and gratitude
- Providing living wages
5. Growth Opportunities
- Provide quality mentoring and training
- Ensuring relevant and to-and-fro feedback
- Offer clear pathways for swift career advancement
The Bottom line
We are working in a world where an unknown greeting from our bosses gives us tense hours, a meeting reminder decreases our productivity, and multi-tasking days make us feel demotivated. But, if we use our grit and foster a healthy workplace environment, things can turn around for good. Following the tips and insights described above, employers can create a culture where there are plenty of stress balls, laughter is contagious, and each one is valued not just for his work, but for his well-being too. Within the landscape of cut-throat competition, it’s high time that corporate offices and their management rewrite the narrative of office culture.
It’s time to transform the workspace from a battleground of tension to a sanctuary of support.