We were excited to cap off our Mental Health Awareness Month programming with a webinar in collaboration with Kate Marples of Unmind – Reward Gateway | Edenred’s mental wellbeing partner. We were even more excited to see all of the excellent advice that our attendees shared with each other – and with us! So if you weren’t able to attend, we wanted to share some key takeaways from both the presentation and audience discussion.
Stress vs burnout
One of the benefits of having Kate as a presenter is that we were able to learn about two major obstacles to wellbeing: stress and burnout. Participants shared that of the most valuable takeaways from Kate’s presentation was the stress bucket metaphor:
Certain types and levels of stress are normal, and even helpful, while others are detrimental to our wellbeing. How do you really focus on that presentation or interview? Positive stress – or eustress. But as day-to-day stress accumulates, it can overwhelm your system and lead to distress and burnout.
Kate had participants think of this as a bucket. There is room for some stress, but if the bucket starts to overflow, it will lead to longer-term consequences. It is important to then use healthy coping methods (taking a break, going for walks, gardening, meditating, therapy, etc.) in equal measure to the stress that you are feeling.
Simple actions that can make a difference
One theme of participants’ key takeaways was the impact that small changes can have on a larger culture.
One-on-one wellbeing checks
Leaders can start asking about employees’ wellbeing in one-on-one meetings – with an expectation that they aren’t expected to solve employees’ challenges, but start by listening and learning. How are employees doing? What might impact their ability to work?
Especially if they are reminded of the existing EAP resources and benefits on offer, these check-ins can help enhance managers’ comfort and confidence in supporting their teams’ mental wellbeing.
Recognition moments in team meetings
While wellbeing check-ins may be better suited for one-on-one meetings, adding recognition to group meetings meets consistent success. And contributes to wellbeing, motivation and engagement. Our research found that 69% of employees said their wellbeing would improve if they were just thanked more.
Creating a structure for sustained improvement
While small actions can have a larger impact, the power of wellbeing is too great to leave to chance.
Given that 50% of employees would rather have a company that cares about their wellbeing than a 10% pay raise (and that number is as high as 58% in 25-24 year olds), more formal structures will help with longer-term success.
1. Train leadership to remove bias
As a Gen X’er, I remember when it was common to expect “personal problems” to stay outside the workplace and mental health challenges were more stigmatized than understood. It may help your organization address these challenges to train managers on the state of mental health, the impact of poor mental health on business results, and ways to responsibly support employee mental health.
2. Consider wellbeing champions
Whether you look to a formal Mental Health First Aider model to train employees to spot and address mental health issues or have a team of employees that advise the people team on ideas for supporting connection and belonging, listening to employee feedback is an important method for staying ahead of negative trends and as a resource for front-line employees to promote important events and benefits.
3. Make mental wellbeing resources easy to find
While companies can strive to support employees’ basic mental wellbeing, in many cases, the best (and safest) method will be ensuring they have access to professionally trained resources through your EAP and other benefits (like Unmind’s mental health platform). Reward Gateway | Edenred’s clients love building a Benefits Hub into their platform to allow employees to uncover available benefits at the same time they recognize the great work of others.
Finally, if you really want to avoid the FOMO from missing the live webinar, I recommend you look up the practice of “body doubling” to support employee productivity (thanks for the tip, Heidi!).
Learn more about how Reward Gateway | Edenred can help you make your corner of the world a better place to work!