The Wellbeing Of Employees Is Vital

Julie Starr • November 5, 2021



The psyche is an important part of overall health and is therefore also strongly related to the performance of the employees. In order to maintain the mental health of their employees, companies can take various measures. After all,
employee health is vital.

Recognize mental threats

The mental health of workers is always at risk when there are no counterbalancing factors. Situations in which professional tension dominates can be:

  • Everyday working life is tightly timed, the employees are under time stress
  • Unbridgeable differences of opinion
  • Strokes of fate in the private sphere
  • Professional achievements are not recognized and rewarded
  • Unclear task description, under-, and overstrained situation
  • Lack of job security
  • Disrespect among colleagues
  • Oppressive working atmosphere
  • The job cuts into private life
  • Biological and genetic factors (example: predisposition and/or hormonal changes)
  • The initial psychological situation. (Previous illnesses, low self-esteem, lack of frustration tolerance, tendency to perfection)

Employees may signal the existence of one of these scenarios by changing their personality. Or by reducing their work performance. You appear nervous, irritable, and restless. 

Why mental health is worth protecting

If the workforce is mentally impaired, general satisfaction and work motivation suffer. The processing time increases continuously, the quality of the individual work processes decreases. In the long term, it can lead to psychosomatic symptoms. Already now, psychological causes land in third place among the illnesses in the workplace. It is a large problem that shows no signs of slowing. The legislature has reacted to this development. The employer is responsible for analyzing the level of psychological risk in their own company. In addition to the legal obligation, from the management’s point of view, provision is also a question of turnover and fluctuation. 

Definitive basis

The overarching concept of health: The World Health Organization describes health as a state of well-being. Both in the physical, mental and social dimensions. In addition, health is characterized by the absence of health impairments.

Mental health: Mental health is a complex construct of different factors. Such as emotional, psychological, and social integrity. Job satisfaction is another aspect of the expanded understanding of mental health and every business should look into this.

Active health promotion

Mental health promotion is multifaceted and individual in many respects. In this way, health management in the professional context can be oriented towards maintaining mental health.

Prevention work

The idea of ​​mental health protection begins preventively. The working environment should be strategically valuable and health-promoting. This is achieved through an upstream risk assessment and the implementation of measures based on it. The stress factors can be hidden in work organization, workplace design, or current conflict management. Another sub-area is the early detection of work-related illnesses and the positive influence on them. As well as the successful reintegration of employees who have been absent for a longer period of time. 

Knowledge in theory

In many cases, it already helps to sensitize the workforce to the topic of mental health and its connections. This gives them the opportunity to recognize negative developments at an early stage and to understand the processes. For example, anyone who knows the classic bullying structures or the symptoms of burnout can influence them in good time.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a scientifically researched stress management concept. Mindfulness practice can be used in a medical or meditative setting, but also in the form of separate everyday exercises. The advantage of this method is the quick learning and use of the relaxation strategy. If the employee uses mindfulness techniques in stressful phases, they can relax for a short time and reduce their stress. Conscious breathing, mindfulness-based autogenic training or progressive muscle relaxation processes. These can be linked to one another and support this effect. All of these mechanisms focus on present sensations and create a comfortable problem distance. This increases cognitive performance and the reserves of strength are replenished.

Team-building measures

Team building helps maintain the mental health of the workforce by enhancing wellbeing and self-esteem. The focus is on solution-oriented cooperation . Each employee contributes to finding a solution with his or her professional competence. This creates functional cohesion and a sense of social belonging. There is a sense of commitment because the group can only achieve its goal as a team. This bond extends to both the company and the emotional area of ​​perception. For the continued existence of the company, team building is one of the primary resources. This is because it reduces the employees’ willingness to terminate and the associated additional work and costs.

Expert support offer

Auxiliary persons such as coaches and mediators are specially trained to maintain mental health. On request, they support the company seeking advice in terms of risk analysis. And conflict resolution and supervision. They submit suggestions for improving the corporate culture at a suitable point. And have valuable tips ready for the HR department, but also involve employees in the evaluation work. The funding offer can consist of, among other things, active workshops. As well as team-building measures, team leader and/or employee coaching, mindfulness seminars, and verbal advice.

IT support saves time and stress for staff

IT service staff should provide employees with advice and assistance. However, in order to be able to actually implement home office solutions in a meaningful way, it doesn’t necessarily take much. If you, as an employer, do not have the opportunity to equip all employees with laptops, desktop computers and much more in a timely manner. Remote access solutions ensure that your employees can access the company desktop via their private end devices. And use the corresponding programs easily without having to have the corresponding software. And/or hardware at home. However, it is important to have reliable remote support solutions, i.e. IT specialists . These are available to your employees in such cases and who help you set up your workplace at home. In the best case, qualified IT specialists should be available every day, in order to guarantee a smooth workflow. The relevant IT specialists can directly access the employees’ end devices. So problems are resolved in this way before actual damage can occur. 

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