June 2020

Healthy, Happy Heads: Maintaining Your Team’s Mental Health

We’re just coming out of Mental Health Awareness month, and these last few months in particular have been very taxing on our mental health. Many people are having their first real experiences with mental health struggles, so it’s worth checking in with our teams to ensure they’re not struggling with their mental health.

Why is checking in with your team’s mental health important?

Taking on a team to help you grow your business comes with a few responsibilities. One of those key responsibilities is looking after the wellbeing of your team, both physical and mental.

Mental health may seem like something personal, and you as an employer can expect your team to manage their own mental health and to an extent, it’s not unreasonable to expect that. However, a lot of stresses that contribute to mental health struggles can be work related. Particularly right now as people are worried about the incomes, whether or not their jobs are secure and how long this anxiety will last. So there is some responsibility to your team to provide some reassurance.

What can employers do?

There’s a lot employers can do to help their team with mental health struggles, and a lot of those things are quite simple steps that will lead to a happier team.

• Keep you team in the loop: Especially in these troubling times, it’s important to ensure you team are kept updated on the status of your business. Namely, their security in their jobs. Many people are experiencing, seemingly endless, anxiety regarding their job security. So anything you can do to help alleviate that anxiety will lead to a generally happier team.
• Be flexible: As many of us struggle to manage our work/life balance at the moment, offering flexibility with working hours can be a real lifesaver. The benefit of using a cloud based CRM means that your team can access the system at any time. So where possible, allow your team to work their hours at times that best suit them.
• Check in: We’ve previously mentioned that it’s important to ensure your team doesn’t feel isolated at the moment. So  be sure to check in on your team, whether that’s daily (not early!) video calls with the whole team to catch up or optional virtual socials, make sure your team has the opportunity to have some social interaction.
• Don’t be overbearing: On the flipside of checking in with your team, it’s important to not be overbearing. Understand that a daily meeting may cause a lot of unnecessary stress for some members of your team, particularly if they aren’t going to have anything to add to the meeting. There’s a temptation to ask for regular updates on progress when your team isn’t available in the office every single day, however it’s important to show trust in your team. Trust that your team will be doing their best right now, and only insist on regular contact if productivity slips drastically.

Help your team to help you

One of the main reasons you’ll want to help your team keep on top of their mental health is to ensure, not only that they’re happy to work with, but that they’re able to work to the best of their ability. One of the biggest hits to your team’s productivity will be mental health struggles. So, if you don’t want to take that hit, look at ways you can help your team with their mental health struggles when they occur. You’d be surprised how much you can do to help, and there are plenty of mental health organisations out there to assist both employers and employees in this regard.

Want to try a CRM solution that enables you and your team to work flexibly, giving you the space to keep on top of your health? Get in touch for a free demo or browse our website for features.