“Your leg’s broken? Can I get you a sticking plaster? Honestly, I really do care. I want you to be well. I need you to get better. Take the plaster!”
Not helpful is it? Yet, in relation to mental health at work, we hear it time and time again. Businesses rushing in to deliver a sticking plaster to deal with negative attitudes towards mental ill-health and rising rates of stress and absenteeism. It’s time to realise that:
– a quick fix is not the answer.
– ticking a box is not the answer.
– investing in the price of 2 cups of coffee per employee to support their mental health, is not the answer.
Let’s stop and reassess. Even a water-proof sticking plaster’s not going to fix this one, our mental health deserves more.
What we all want, are supportive working practises. This means building, creating and sustaining a caring culture. You can’t do that by sending a few employees on a day’s training and expecting them to be the backbone of support for everyone. That’s not fair – on anyone’s mental health.
The organisations that get it, realise that it has to be driven from the top and delivered across the workforce. It has to be invested in – financially and for the long-term. They know that caring makes sense from a financial, legal and ethical perspective.
What’s especially important is upskilling managers to be confident to have a supportive conversation. This doesn’t mean turning them into doctors or counsellors if they’re manufacturers or administrators. It means ensuring that they can step into these conversations, not away from them; to look out for their colleagues and speak up when they are concerned; to show courage and be human. This is the real action that’s needed to create a mentally healthy culture, one that lives and breathes under the ethos,
“We care.”
This works – just ask the organisations that have started on this journey.
If you really want to engage, if you really want to make a difference, take it seriously. Rip up your band-aids and commit from the heart.
Thanks: Photo by Amin Moshrefi on Unsplash
Latest News
Case Study: Payback was almost instant for Volvo/Rokbak Trucks
Rokbak Trucks, a part of Volvo Construction Equipment, called on Headtorch to help tackle their mental health culture head on – and found that the payback was almost instant. THE CHALLENGE Volvo Construction Equipment is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of construction and mining equipment. Following a heavily subscribed Suicide Awareness event and subsequent […]
Latest News
The Optimist with the Killer Ideas
The man from down under has a smile almost as wide as the Sydney Bridge. When you speak, he listens very carefully to your opinion. When he talks, he communicates a constant sense of optimism. Tim Duggan persists in bringing a touch of bright Australian sunshine to business discussions with a bunch of deceptively unorthodox […]
Latest News
A big thank you to Oriane Georgeac PhD from Yale School of Management for joining us on the Wellbeing Hour last week and sharing her insights on Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace. Some highlights are – Diversity & inclusion, sustainability, and wellbeing – these are non-negotiable, sacred values. Justifying your commitment to them […]
Latest News
World Mental Health Day Event
Building a Mentally Healthy Culture Headtorch and the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (ENEI) are running a free event for World Mental Health Day. We’ll explore: what happens when mental health & wellbeing are made strategic priorities the business case for taking action the workplace mental health journey how to build a mentally healthy […]
Latest News
Peter Kelly Podcast
“If there’s ever a moment when health & wellbeing can make a difference, it’s now.” “The pandemic was the biggest unprepared change for the last 100 years.” “Two tectonic plates colliding – the pandemic and the recession.” … and here’s practical tips to deal with this. Highlights from September’s Wellbeing Hour with Peter Kelly – […]
Problem retrieving data from Twitter
Comments: