An HR Guide to Managing Employee Anxiety

Twelve billion working days are lost to anxiety and depression every year. That equates to financial losses of over £825 million. While the average business owner may not have much insight into their employees’ mental health, they’ll likely know what it’s doing to their bottom line.

Fortunately, HR teams are in a desirable position to reduce the impact that anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges can have. You might notice financial and wellness benefits by taking these actions:

Providing Mental Health Resources

HR teams don’t have to notice signs of anxiety, like work disengagement, irritability, fatigue, and declining work performance, before taking action. Instead, you can make mental health resources a standard part of your work packages.

Put materials for New York psychotherapy services, workplace counselling, and general mental health services on workplace noticeboards and Intranets. Establishing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) may also be helpful. When you advertise such services, employees may feel like mental health isn’t a taboo subject. They may then be more likely to ask for the help they need.

Prioritizing Open Communication

Many workplaces develop a ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality regarding human resources with management and the general employee population. Employees can feel like they’re on their own when they have problems. They might even think their management team is out of reach. This can sometimes have a devastating impact on employee mental health.

However, prioritizing open communication might be how your human resources department resolves mental health challenges in the workplace. Hold face-to-face conversations with employees. Get to know the struggles your team is facing. When you speak openly about work performance and workload, you can implement plans to ease your employees’ load.

Focus On Employee Output

Organizations can sometimes spend a great deal of time focused on how an employee achieves their work goals. Instead, they should be focused on employee output. It doesn’t always matter how or where work is completed. The goal is to achieve the desired outcome.

Consider giving your employees more control over their working day. This might mean letting go of the notion that employees must spend a specific number of hours in the office. If they can achieve the same outcomes from home, on the go, or with a more flexible work schedule, let it happen. Your employees’ mental health might improve as a result.

Get to the Cause

Workplace anxiety and stress don’t happen for no reason. Many factors can contribute, like workload, a lack of support, other employees, and poor training. While providing support for employees to manage their anxiety can be important, getting to the cause is equally so.

When you understand the underlying factors, you can devise a plan to solve them. That might involve hiring more employees to share the workload or providing training. You might also consider mediation for strained employee relationships.

Encourage Work-Life Balance

Organizations can be in a challenging position of wanting to improve work output but not wanting to burn out their employees. If they encourage work-life balance, they may think their employees will achieve less, even if they’re happier.

However, studies have shown that corporate programs supporting work-life balance provide better overall productivity. Organizations also enjoy reduced turnover rates, and employees are mentally and physically healthier.

Knowing this, it makes sense to tell your employees to prioritize their wellness. Encourage them to use their vacation days, take breaks, and work flexible hours that suit their schedules. Your productivity levels might thank you for it.

Employee anxiety might seem like an issue your workforce needs to manage themselves. However, organizations can play a leading role. Take some of these actions above, and the benefits might be two-fold. Your employees might enjoy a healthier work environment, and your business might reduce their anxiety-related financial losses.

Source: An HR Guide to Managing Employee Anxiety – HR News