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However, for this effort to be seen as valid and authentic, you need to make sure that you’ re matching your words with actions. Take the time to ask staff how they are thinking and feeling via a staff survey. Don’ t be scared of the results – too many organisations are, and this acts as a barrier to conducting the survey in the first place. It’ s much better to know the current state of wellbeing within your workforce, so that you know where best to focus your efforts. Again, leadership has a real responsibility here to drive engagement with the staff survey, asking employees to complete this and be honest about their mental wellbeing, along with current crunch points in terms of stress and pressure. Make clear to staff that this is all being conducted with the view to supporting their mental wellbeing, allowing them to complete the survey without fear of disclosing this information.
It’ s also crucial to make sure that you have the right support in place, for efforts to feel genuine and for staff to ultimately feel supported in having these conversations without taboo. This begins with ensuring that you have a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme( EAP) in place, which should be confidential and offer employees advice, guidance and complimentary counselling sessions, should they require this. Some of the best EAP options also include services that extend to family members too, which can help to alleviate a lot of the mental pressure that employees might be facing in their home lives. Ensure that staff are regularly reminded that there is an EAP in place, should they need it, to avoid this being a forgotten resource and
THE LAST STEP IN BEING AUTHENTIC ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH CONVERSATIONS AT WORK IS TO MOVE FROM SPORADIC WELLBEING INITIATIVES TO A HOLISTIC, CONNECTED AND YEAR- LONG STRATEGY. www. intelligentcxo. com
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