Going Beyond the RUOK Day Morning Tea: 10 Real ways to Maximize Mental Health in the Workplace
- Sophie Firmager
- Sep 13, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 14, 2023
In recent years, initiatives like RUOK Day have gained prominence, shedding light on the importance of mental health in the workplace. While efforts are undoubtedly commendable, they often fall short of creating sustainable change within organizations. The reality is that mental health should not be a checkbox activity; it should be woven into the very fabric of corporate culture. The University of Melbourne conducted a comprehensive survey of 1,400 Australian workers, asking about their experiences at work since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings, published in the 2023 State of the Future of Work Report, reveals Australian workers were in poorer physical and mental health since the pandemic began, with prime aged workers (between 25-55 years of age) significantly impacted, one third of whom had considered quitting.
So if you're genuinely serious about your staff mental well-being and staff retention, it's time to move beyond the RUOK Day morning tea and embrace a holistic approach that fosters a mentally healthy workplace.
The Morning Tea Debacle
Picture this, a well-intentioned leader invites their team for a one-hour morning tea in honour of R U OK Day. They gather around, sharing tea bags adorned with the charity's logo, and deliver a heartfelt speech encouraging everyone to check in on each other's mental health. But here's the twist - despite the genuine intentions, the leader still expects the team to complete their usual workload within the standard workday. The result? Employees stay back late, juggling their tasks and their personal well-being. Unfortunately, this tale isn't far from the reality in many workplaces.
RUOK Day: More Than Just a Tea Party
RUOK is an Australian charity that has made remarkable strides in suicide prevention and health promotion within our community. However, within workplaces, the message often ends with token activities, leaving mental health relegated to a mere checkbox. It's time to recognize that a morning tea alone won't address the complex psychosocial hazards that endanger employees.
Why R U OK Day Alone Is Insufficient:
Overloaded Workers: When employees are swamped with work, they may not have the time or energy to notice a colleague who's struggling, let alone offer assistance.
Lack of Genuine Engagement: Meaningful conversations about mental health should extend beyond a single day of lip service. Leaders need to engage with their staff consistently, both formally and informally. But most don't know how.
Constant Stressors: A workplace filled with psychosocial hazards, such as unclear roles, workplace conflict, or lack of management action to address inappropriate workplace behaviour impacting others, or abrupt changes, can leave employees in a perpetual state of fight or flight, hindering their mental well-being.
Lack of Support: Employees who don't feel valued or supported by their organization are unlikely to support others in need.
Ten Steps to Maximize Mental Health at Work
Collaborative Assessments: Work closely with your employees to understand and manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace. Managers can get to the root cause of workplace stress by consulting directly with members of their team and then working collaboratively with senior leaders and HR to improve policies, procedures, systems or ways of working.
Upskilling Key Roles: Invest in training key roles that play a key role in maximising employee wellbeing, policies and procedures and ways of working. People in health and safety, HR, and leaders, to help them better understand mental health hazards and develop skills in emotional intelligence, supportive leadership, and mental health first aid.
Leadership Training: Train leaders on how to engage in mental health conversations with their staff, help them better understand policies and procedures and their obligations for managing psychosocial hazards at work, understand the possible causes of workplace stress, understand their liability in not managing these issues and not acting proactively to prevent psychosocial hazards, on leadership styles that increase legal risk and leadership behaviours that create psychological safety, how to set reasonable role expectations and keep staff accountable, how to effectively delegate to staff, how to manage interpersonal issues and staff conflict, how to manage workplace stress leave to maximise employee recovery and re-engagement and finally how to create a Personal Situation Plan (PSP) to help them and affected employees manage their mental health in the workplace, how to mitigate bias that relates to those taking stress leave. In reality, we all get stressed at times and just because we struggled at one point, that won’t mean we always will and it shouldn't impact opportunities for development.
Regular Check-Ins: Encourage regular check-ins between employees and their managers, fostering a culture of open communication and support.
Ongoing Learning Opportunities: Provide continuous learning opportunities for key roles, such as regular coaching circles, mental health forums, and continuous improvement opportunities, to reinforce their skills.
Mental Health Literacy: Make knowledge about good mental health common among all staff. Ensure that it's not just outsourced to the EAP service but rather, a topic that can be discussed openly.
Clear Integration: Connect your R U OK Day activities to your broader mental health strategy. Show employees how these initiatives are relevant and not isolated events but part of a continuous effort to support their well-being.
Stress Prevention Programs: Implement programs that address workplace stressors, such as workload management, managing expectations, conflict resolution, mindset management, emotional regulation and intelligence, and effective communication with managers and colleagues. Help employees understand how to identify their stress triggers and communicate this to their managers and understand the process for requesting time-off to rest and recuperate after peak performance periods.
Mental Health Resources: Provide easy access to mental health resources and support, including employee assistance programs and mental health charities and tools.
Flexible Work Arrangements: Offer flexible work arrangements to help employees integrate work with life, reducing employee burnout.
While RUOK Day and similar initiatives play a vital role in promoting mental health awareness, they should not be isolated events. To make a lasting impact on the mental well-being of your workforce, it's crucial to integrate mental health support into your corporate culture throughout the year.
By moving beyond morning teas and taking proactive measures, organizations can create an environment where employees feel valued, supported, and equipped to handle mental health challenges together.
If you'd like professional assistance with devising your Employee Wellbeing Strategy, contact Sophie Firmager on sophie@realisedpotentialgroup.com or book a catch up below.
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