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Mental Health & Well-Being

The workplace has an important influence on a person’s mental health and well-being. It’s now accepted that the workplace can affect a person’s mental health on an every day basis, through their interactions and relationships at work. Employers can help to create a psychologically healthy workplace that promotes positive mental health and well-being for everyone. Key elements to address are stressors such as harassment, bullying, work overload or lack of control over work.

Click the tabs for steps you can take.

 

Employers can create a health-supporting workplace through policy approaches.

Develop a Mental Health and Well-being Policy that is appropriate and relevant to your workplace. Such a policy could include:

  • Recognition that a healthy, safe and supportive working environment can positively affect mental well-being, and in turn both creativity and productivity
  • Creating and maintaining working environments that are engaging, inclusive of a variety of ideas and perspectives, and where responsibilities are shared appropriately
  • Treating all individuals with respect, equality and openness
  • Reducing or removing barriers to workers’ participation in personal and organizational development opportunities
  • Create a statement about the organization’s commitment to a workplace that supports mental health and well-being and actions to be taken
  • Ensure workers know about the policy and include it in new employee orientation

Existing programs designed to support individuals include:

  • Individually-directed health promotion and self-help initiatives such as Living Life to the Full and Bounce Back: Reclaim Your Health (Canadian Mental Health Association)
  • Sign up for the Healthy Workplaces workplace health program to access the Healthy Minds Module, which provides education materials, activity ideas and policy suggestions.

Employers can create a health-supporting workplace. Here are some ideas:

  • Use Guarding Minds at Work 2.0: A Workplace Guide to Psychological Safety and Health to assess and address psychological risk factors in the workplace environment
  • Offer employee support for dealing with significant change in management, high staff turnover or changes in working conditions
  • Include psychological support (i.e. counselling services or the services of a psychologist/psychiatrist) as part of the benefits package offered to employees
  • Provide a quiet space or sick room
  • Offer workshops, lunch & learn sessions and training to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of mental illness, and to help managers and employees address workplace stress