Building a Workplace Culture that Supports Positive Mental Health

Learn what small business owners can do to create an inclusive culture that supports and cultivates positive mental health practices.

A recent survey found that, of the 40% of Americans who hope to start their own business this year, over a quarter (29%) want to do so because of dissatisfaction with their current job. While this may come as no surprise to many entrepreneurs, creating a successful business with a positive company culture — where employees aren’t dissatisfied with their work — is more difficult than it seems.

Over the last few years, mental health in the workplace went from a taboo topic to a priority subject for employers to discuss. Businesses that were able to be flexible, grant their employees the option of remote work, and increase annual leave were praised. Yet, many of these practices seem to have taken more of a back seat as time has passed. It’s no longer enough for a company to simply have policies surrounding mental health – it needs to have a culture that actively supports positive mental health practices.

Creating A Workplace Culture That Prioritizes Mental Health

Creating a positive company culture that prioritizes mental health needs to come from the top. But it’s not just on you — it’s on other leaders in your workplace, too. Check out these focus areas to help create a workplace culture in your company that supports the mental health of you and your team.

Training

When you look at your organization chart, ask yourself if each and every person is promoting a culture of positive mental health support. Do they know how? Everyone could use some training on how to effectively listen and lead with empathy in the workplace. What does this look like at work?

• Have monthly one-on-ones between managers and direct reports dedicated to checking in on mental health and listening to feedback that can be shared with management.

• Hold bi-annual forums and safe spaces for employees to discuss mental health issues, ideally conducted by an external facilitator or consultant.

• Schedule annual training sessions for the company, in addition to position-specific training to help managers lead with empathy.

Communication

While training can help facilitate greater communication among employees, and between employees and their employers, ongoing communication about mental health is crucial if these practices are to be embedded into the culture of an organization.

• Send out monthly anonymous team surveys, which each team leader shares and discusses in a team meeting. These can be in addition to quarterly company-wide anonymous surveys, which leadership can discuss with the company at an all-hands meeting.

• Perform a company culture audit every three years, with help from an external consulting firm. An external consulting firm will conduct their own surveys, speak to employees, and generate solutions for the company on ways to improve culture, including mental health support.

• Offer meditation sessions or group fitness classes during work hours for employees to prioritize their mental (and physical) health during the work day. This communicates to employees that leadership doesn’t expect mental or physical health to only be a priority before or after the workday, but rather should be a part of the daily routine.

Benefits

Last, but certainly not least, ensure that your company has the best healthcare benefits for employees to access. As a small business, it can be difficult to offer the best possible benefits, but this is where organizations like Justworks can help. As a professional employer organization (PEO), Justworks can not only bundle payroll, compliance, and benefits under one umbrella, but they can also use their group buying power to secure more competitive rates for high-quality health insurance and other perks. This means your employees can more easily access the mental health benefits and perks they need.

• Make sure you’re offering employees a robust suite of mental health perks. From memberships to meditation apps like Calm, to teletherapy through Talkspace, to a gym membership stipend — mental and physical health should be a priority for everyone.

• Encourage work-life balance with flexible work arrangements. Even if your team can’t go fully remote, hybrid schedules and flex hours are some other options. Also ensure employees have paid time off, along with sick time, and even mental health days that they can use without question. And, while it’s important to offer these benefits, it’s even more essential that employees are taking advantage of them. Do what you can to help them feel comfortable calling out sick or taking time off when they need to, without worrying about consequences or their workload piling up.

• Respect time off by enforcing policies that double down on boundaries, like refusing to call or text an employee after work hours, or having a buddy system so that a colleague can help answer an employee’s emails while they’re away.

• Consider instituting a financial wellness program. So many employees are stressed or anxious about finances, and often don’t have the tools or resources to budget or manage their money. Try holding an annual financial wellness training, or scheduling a day when a consultant is able to work with employees one-on-one.

Leading Through Learning

As a leader, it’s important to continually take stock of employee health and well-being, especially as your company grows. While at first it may seem easy to cater to the needs of a dozen part-time or freelance employees, it can be easy to lose sight of the employee experience as more and more full-time employees join. In order to keep a pulse on your organization, ask yourself the following questions about mental health at your company:

• What are employees’ most pressing health concerns?

• How comfortable do employees feel expressing their mental health concerns to their colleagues and managers?

• How much do employees know about the company’s mental health benefits?

• Do employees feel supported by their managers?

• What mental health resources are employees using the most?

If you can answer these questions, then you’re an involved and active leader. The moment leaders begin to lose sight of the answers is when they need to get a better understanding of the work environment and experience from the perspective of an employee.

How Justworks Can Help

Justworks is perfectly positioned to help small businesses gain access to better benefits (mental health and otherwise) through its  PEO service offering. In addition to large-group health, vision, and dental plans, Justworks can help you and your team access HSAs, FSAs, fitness memberships, Health Advocate’s employee assistance program (EAP), and teletherapy services through Talkspace. And best of all, you can rely on 24/7 customer support every step of the way.

As your company grows, you don’t need to tackle everything by yourself. Justworks has your back with the tools and support to help your business thrive.