Mental Health Awareness Week is an initiative led by the Mental Health Foundation to shine a light on mental health. This year’s particular theme is #tohelpmyanxiety and it takes place between 15th and 21st May.

Anxiety is a normal emotion in everyone, but it can be difficult to discuss this in the workplace and get support when its needed. As an employer, there are lots of things you can do to give employees the support they need, both during Mental Health Awareness Week and beyond…

Mental Healthcare

Whether you have the infrastructure and finances available for a fully comprehensive employee assistance programme, or if you are an SME looking to give your employee’s access to a private medical scheme, there are lots of options on the market to suit your needs.

When considering private medical provision, make sure you ask your provider if they cover psychiatric care. The levels of this can vary depending on your budget and what your business actually needs. It’s worth considering how the benefit can be accessed to give it the best possible chance of affecting your employee’s lives.

At CK Group, we offer our PAYE contractors an Employee Assistance Programme accessed via an app/website. From here, our contractors can access online counselling via email or phone, making it accessible across the country wherever they are based.

Financial Wellbeing

In a survey run by the Mental Health Foundation, 10% of UK adults reported feeling hopeless about financial circumstances. If your business does not already have a financial wellbeing policy in place, this is something that you can use to direct your staff to the services (internal and external) that they can access to seek advice and alleviate some of the financial pressures they are facing.

At CK Group our Financial Wellbeing policy acts as a guide for employees to see a quick overview of everything the business has to offer, such as additional paid time off, emergency leave, salary sacrifice schemes, and employee assistance support, to name a few. Just making all the benefits your business already has more visible is a great first step to supporting your team.

Employee Voice

The title of this section is not accurate, as the word ‘employee’ is a generic term for anyone employed by your company and says nothing about their individual identities and perspectives. Creating platforms for employees to be heard (and taking action on what you hear) creates a more inclusive and welcoming environment, and, if done well, alleviates anxiety about those extra parts of our lives not related to work.

At CK Group we have a few employee forums, but most notably is our Diversity and Inclusion working group which meets quarterly. We are currently running our annual (anonymous) D&I survey as a compliment to this group to make sure we get as many views as possible. Listening to your team is the simplest way to know how and where to commit your resources to support them better.

Supporting Connection

There is a very real chance that you don’t get told everything that your employees feel (even with employee forums and surveys). This can be for many reasons, some of which are completely unrelated to how you act as a business. This final tip is about how you can foster connection between your team, to give them safe spaces to express themselves and seek support in their own way. Connections can’t be artificially created, but by making the space for them they can happen organically:

• Make sure employees take their lunch breaks. They may use it to spend time together
• Provide hot drinks. Even the small amount of time it takes to move from your desk and make a drink (and have a chat with a colleague whilst doing so) can help reduce stress and reframe your thoughts
• Suggest initiatives like walking groups to encourage team members to get out of the office. The fresh air and the exercise are great for releasing anxious stress and clearing the head
• Allow pets in the office. This is not as much about connection, but if all your team are comfortable (and not allergic) having a friendly pet around can relax the atmosphere of the office and spark conversation.

We are looking forward to seeing how other businesses are addressing the important topic of anxiety for Mental Health Awareness Week this year.

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