Julie Hughes - Mental Health Day

Today is World Mental Health Day, the focus of which for 2024 is ‘It is time to prioritise mental health in the workplace’. 

This got me thinking …… is prioritise the right word? 

I speak to some business owners and managers who tell me of instances where they have met with employees who are, for example, not performing, to be told by said employee that having such a discussion is ‘negatively affecting my mental health’ but what do they actually mean when they say this?

Many employees are actually talking about stress in these circumstances and stress is a response to something which usually disappears, once the situation resolves. As a business owner, it’s better to proactively look at your business and put things in place to avoid such circumstances. 

So, let’s take a breath, step back and look at the business. If there is a miss match between expectations of a business owner / manager and an employee where mental health has been mentioned, then why is this. 

The openness and directness of certainly the Gen Z workforce for some ‘old dog’ managers is quite alarming! The fact that they are actually telling the boss what is and isn’t acceptable seems unbelievable, however this should be seen as an opportunity to resolve, improve and change  - a positive move from the old days of employees moaning behind your back, creating toxicity through the team and ultimately leaving the role without you ever knowing why they left.

Perhaps these ‘new mental health tricks’ are worth the time and effort required to learn them. 

Back to today and the focus. Rather than prioritise, I believe the message should be ‘It is time to ’embrace’ mental health in the workplace’, embracing it through every aspect of the employee journey, embracing it through all manager / employee interactions, embracing it as it should be, for the benefit of the employee AND the business.