If you are a leader in your business and you want to see mental health and wellbeing higher up on the agenda, it’s a very, very good place to start.

Here at govox, we found ourselves nodding at everything in the booklet. There is a link to the publication at the end of this post, but stick with me for a little while if you can, and I promise this won’t take long.

Essentially, taking mental wellbeing seriously in your business consists of three areas:

1. Company Culture.

2. Feedback loop.

3. Demonstrable action.

In reality, each side of the triangle warrants its own post, so if you want to talk more about the topic, email us at hello@fb360.co.uk, and we’ll be in touch to keep the conversation going.

As a brief introduction though, here are a couple of thoughts on each:

Company Culture:

Once you’ve managed to get a slot with your senior team, you’ll need to collectively do a bit of reflection.  

Do you really care about, and want your employees to feel ok talking about their mental health, and do you genuinely want to be there to support your people should they need your help? 

If, after a bit of joking around, the answer is “Actually, not really. I just want them to get on with their job”, then thanks for being for being so honest, thanks for your time, and good luck with everything in the future. *Shakes hands and walks away*

You may want to invest in recruitment and have a plan B for sickness and absence though as you’re likely to have some issues in the future.

If the answer though is “Yes”, then great! You now have the awareness, the attention and the desire of the senior team. To be fair, that is often the hardest part.

The assessment that follows is pretty formulaic, and again, we here at govox can help you with that. You’ll look at role clarity, reward, communication etc. These are the pillars that give employees clarity around what’s expected of them, how well they are doing, and what’s going on in the business. Get these basic bits right, and your employee wellbeing scores will flourish.

Feedback Loop:

This is our bread and butter. You may already have questionnaires or employee information that you capture, and this will be really helpful in understanding your current position.

“We have a great annual employee satisfaction survey” is great, but it is also the modern equivalent of having a bath once a year, whether you need it or not. A lot can change.

Asking your people regularly creates a culture of regular feedback and one of seriously valuing people’s mental wellbeing.

This helps reduce fearfulness and increases the likelihood of hearing about issues early, when they’ll be that much easier to deal with.

The Mind booklet refers to ‘tools’, and it’s these ‘tools’ that we are perfectly placed to help you with. Our easy to access, easy to tailor and easy to share platform enables you to take full scale surveys, or swift regular ‘pulse’ surveys without getting bogged down in a bureaucratic quagmire.

Demonstrable Action:

The process of saying that you’ll do something, and then asking people regularly how they are and if you are delivering on your side of the bargain will make the action planning element of the process that much easier.

By measuring survey responses, aligning them to absence figures and addressing issues specifically raised, you’ll be able to demonstrate a commitment to employee wellbeing, improve employee engagement, and as a consequence, reap the commercial benefits of the higher retention that comes with a healthier, more committed team.

So that, in 750 words, is the bottom line for a wellbeing plan.

Plan. Ask. Action.

If you’d like to talk about any of the issues you’ve seen here today, just email us at hello@fb360.co.uk , and we’ll come straight back to you.

With a respectful and grateful nod to Mind for all the wonderful work they do, please read more about taking stock of the mental health in your workplace here:

mind.org.uk/media/42862/Resource_2_Take_Stock_of_MH_in_your_workplace

Thanks for reading.

Jeremy, govox

hello@fb360.co.uk