How can I ensure the mental health and wellbeing of my employees?
- It can be difficult for employees to adapt to a new work style if they’re used to a high level of interaction with their teams every day.
- Working from home can take its toll on employees’ mental health and wellbeing as this drastic change can cause a feeling of isolation.
- Changing from a public work environment to the confined space of your own home can affect everyone.
- It’s really important for you to look at ways to make sure your people are still happy, productive, motivated and can switch off when the day is done.
Keep in contact
- Hold regular catch ups with you teams and peers using phone or video calls to ensure they are on track and understand the work required and can ask questions or discuss and share ideas.
- Use online collaboration tools such as Basecamp, Trello, Flock to name a few, so everyone can keep track of where tasks are up to and who they’re assigned to.
Schedule regular team meetings
- Try to keep team meetings and catch-ups scheduled in your diaries, but use online programmes such as Skype, Microsoft Teams or Zoom as your way to connect.
- This has a two fold effect:
- It keeps consistency of the normal working week, and that will help keep your business running easier than if regular meetings suddenly drop out of the diary.
- It helps to replicate the ‘buzz’ of the normal work environment, helping people connect and socialise.
Keep in contact with your peers
- Employees can often feel like they’re on an island so by having the ability to surround themselves with colleagues through these social collaboration forums and online video calls, can boost productivity and morale.
- Discuss non-work related topics and catch up on ‘office’ gossip.
- Hold a virtual coffee meeting or lunch break.
- Set up a WhatsApp group or simply pick up the phone rather than sending an email.
Promote a healthy work-life balance
- While you may worry that some employees may take working from home as an opportunity to take it a little easier, in reality, many will feel pressure to work harder, or longer hours, in order to prove they aren’t.
- When working from home it can be very easy to feel tempted to stay at your laptop throughout your lunch or extend the end of the day by a few hours.
- Encourage staff to only work their contracted hours and not to stretch their working day into home life simply because they’re working from home.
- Balance is key.
Take time out to focus on you and your family
- Try to eat breakfast and stop for lunch every day.
- Take regular breaks away from your screen.
- Get some fresh air, even if just out of the window or in the garden.
- Many of us will be home schooling so ensure that there is time in your day to help your children and make use of the amazing resources available such as BBC BiteSize and online activities such as Joe Wick’s PE workouts and Gareth Malone’s Great British
- Home Chorus!
- Share ideas with colleagues, friends and family.
- Do something that makes you feel good such as a walk or run (keeping to social distancing rules of course!),
- Try a new hobby.
- Listen to music.
Provide mental health training and resources
It’s important that your employees know that you support them and communicating this to them can really benefit their well-being.
There is currently an online course available for FREE to all Food Alert customers which covers ‘Wellbeing: Live Well, Feel Great’
You can contact training@foodalert.com for help in setting this up.
Keep Safe and Well – Together we will get through this.