Did you know that nearly half of all Australians will experience a mental health problem at least once in their lifetime? Here are six tools to support a healthy workplace.
In 2022, 52% of serious mental stress claims in Australia were because of work-related issues. These issues included harassment, bullying, work pressure and occupational violence.
One way to improve workplace wellbeing, safety, and performance is to use Dr Martin Seligman’s (2012) PERMAH framework. This evidence-based model highlights 6 factors that help us feel good and perform well at work. Workplace culture can be improved by prioritising these 6 elements.
- Positive emotions: ‘AMP’ up your understanding of stress
A healthy workplace is not absent of stress, but it is one where people know how to manage it. Stress is natural, especially if you run your own small business. Often, it’s our body’s way of trying to alert us that something we care about is at stake.
You can help your workplace ‘AMP’ up an understanding of stress by encouraging your people to:
- Be Aware when they feel stressed, that their body is trying to get their attention by making them feel uncomfortable (sweaty hands, racing heart, tight jaw or hunched shoulders).
- Find Meaning for these feelings by asking them what's happening that's important and may not be going the way they want.
- Prioritise Conversations and/or actions that can positively impact the outcome of what's unfolding. Remember, tiny steps can have a mighty impact because they motivate people to move forward with confidence.
2. Engagement: give strength-focused feedback
High-performing teams share nearly 6 times more positive feedback than average teams, while low-performing teams share nearly 2 times as much negative feedback as average teams. Make giving strength-focused feedback to your employees a priority, and easier and more effective by using the ‘THANK’ method:
- Track: What is the positive impact you’ve seen this person’s work having recently on others? How specifically might they be making work or life easier or better?
- Highlight: What can you see them learning, doing, and/or delivering that is making this positive difference that you value?
- Appreciate: What strengths – the things they are good at and enjoy doing – can you see being used to make this effort and/or outcomes possible?
- Nurture: How can these strengths be built on? How might they avoid overplaying or underplaying their strengths that could help improve their performance?
- Kindle: What support might they need/want and what does this look like?
3. Relationships: build psychological safety
Vibrant workplaces welcome honesty, prioritise learning, encourage asking for help, and support taking risks together. Everyone struggles at work from time to time. Workplaces that normalise the feeling of struggling can promote healthy learning and growth.
4. Meaning: create a giving culture
Encourage a healthy workplace by getting people to invest in 5-minute favours that make a positive difference in someone else’s life by:
- offering to help with a hands-on task
- sharing their expertise (i.e. offering their skills)
- coaching or mentoring others (i.e. teaching someone how)
- passing on favourite resources (i.e. books, podcasts, articles, recommendations)
- supporting a colleague by listening to their struggles and/or successes.
5. Accomplishment: setting and celebrating learning goals
To help your team develop their growth mindsets you can ‘SET’ learning goals:
- Spark your curiosity: Challenge your mind by picking a small learning goal that can make a big difference.
- Experiment: Act on your learning goal within the next 24–48 hours. Remember as long as you show up, give your goal your best shot, and stay curious about the results, you can’t fail.
- Tune into feedback: Measure your progress, seek feedback, and reflect on what you’re learning to move closer to your goals.
6. Physical health: the need for rest and recovery
Vibrant workplaces recognise we are built to swing between periods of activity and recovery. They understand the power of short breaks throughout the day. In turn, this helps people stay energised, healthy and more productive.
Here are some easy ways to add these to your workplace:
- Encourage ‘walk and talk’ meetings/discussions where possible.
- Encourage shared lunch breaks, eating together away from desks or finding an external lunch location.
- Provide exercise cards/posters for quick stretches between tasks.
- Organise fun workplace challenges that encourage activity and involvement, e.g. a sit-stand challenge to see who can hold the position the longest.
- Allow short social breaks like tea/coffee conversations, which help rest the brain and build connections between employees.
More can be found at Business Victoria: Mentally healthy and vibrant workplace
