Unemployment Rates (15+) by State and Territory, June 2020 (%)

It felt like overnight that myself and my team transitioned from Recruitment Consultants to Counsellors. The amount of people that we have heard from that have been affected extremely hard by COVID-19 is distressing and quite hard to hear day after day.

So, I wanted to share some insight into what I think can assist both Employers and Employees to work through this tough period in all of our lives.

Employers

Healthy workplaces promote mental health and wellbeing. They are positive and productive and get the best out of everyone in the workplace. Businesses that care about good mental health and wellbeing attract and keep top talent because they’re great places to work. The facts are clear: as well as benefiting employees, a mentally healthy workplace is also better for your bottom line.

• A healthy workplace provides a positive ROI

You can read more in this Research, which has shown that for every dollar you spend creating a mentally healthy workplace can, on average, result in a positive return on investment of 2.3.

These benefits are derived from a reduction in reduced productivity at work, absenteeism, and compensation claims.

• Staff will be more engaged

Investing in creating a more mentally healthy workplace is beneficial to all staff. As a result, employees will be more engaged, more motivated, morale will be higher and staff will be more willing to go above and beyond the requirements of their role.

All of this will add even more to your return on investment and makes for a happier and healthier workplace that will retain good staff.

• Employees are the organisations most important asset

Creating a mentally healthy workplace needs to be as important for organisations as creating a physically healthy workplace. Ultimately, workplace health is a leadership issue, and change must start at the top. Organisational leaders play a critical role in driving policies and practices that promote mental health. They are able to positively influence workplace culture, management practices and the experience of employees.

Employees

Work can make us feel good about ourselves and give us a sense of purpose; it’s an important way to help us to protect and improve our mental health and wellbeing. However, sometimes work and life stress can negatively affect our mental health and our ability to do our jobs.

Many of us spend a large part of our days at work so your workplace and how we go about doing our work has a substantial impact on our mental health.

While much of our working environment is determined by others, individually we can take steps that will help to protect and enhance our mental health and wellbeing.

Below are some strategies for managing your work role.

• Set realistic deadlines and deliver on time
• Take you annual leave
• Switch off your technology
• Flexible working arrangements
• Find ways to reduce stress

COVID-19 has forced all of us to rethink the way we not only work but also live in our “new” day to day lives. Be mindful of what you say to someone and how you say it because no one knows what the other is going through right now.

Stay Safe!