It’s National Mental Health Week from the 11th to the 17th of October, which means employers could use the time to check in on the mental health of their workers.
An article on the Worksafe Queensland website says that a “recent Australian study found Covid-19 has had a negative impact on the mental health of supervisors and worker in many industries.”
Employees who are working from home can feel isolated, so staying connected is paramount. But what can employers do to keep connected? The website The Muse had these nine creative suggestions:
- Reimagine Commute Time
While it’s tempting to roll out of bed five minutes before work starts, instead why not schedule a ‘coffee date’ with a team member – a virtual coffee where you chat directly with them about how things are going for them individually.
- Pomodoro With A Friend
The pomodoro technique is a way to increase your productive time – you set a timer for 25 minutes, work for those minutes, then have 5 minutes off, then go again. Get in touch with your team members and make a game of it.
- Make Video Mandatory
If you’re having a meeting, make sure everyone is there on video – too many non-verbal cues are missed when we can only hear people’s voices.
- Group Video Chat – even when you are all working!
Just hearing someone else’s movements – their keyboard clicking, their phone ringing – can make working alone feel less lonely. Also, it mimics the real world better – you can just talk to someone if you have a question, instead of either sending them a slack or an email or giving them a specific call.
- Share an Apocalypse Meal
While you can’t all go out like you used to for Friday drinks or Taco Tuesday, you can still have a meal and a drink together – just get someone to email a recipe (or a theme) and everyone organises their own food and drinks, and meets online to enjoy them together.
- Have a Visibility Buddy
One of the main problems with remote work is the lack of visibility around milestones and accomplishments. Make sure everyone has a visibility buddy, who is their champion when it comes to meetings. The visibility buddy’s job is to make sure all the accomplishments and wins and brags are heard.
- Bring Your Kid (or Pet) To Work Day
…is every day now. While we strive to be professional, don’t shame anyone who works with the cat on their lap, or the dog at their feet. Or who lets the kids come in and ask questions – after all, the kids are on lockdown too, and we all know how bored they get.
- Improve Your Meetings
Since meetings are constant now, think about what you can do to make them more effective and less boring. Think about things to brainstorm or problem solve, make sure everyone’s ideas and perspectives are heard, and enjoy it!
- Encourage Casual Encounters.
Have a designated “Water Cooler Conversation” slack and encourage everyone to post fun things, celebrity gossip, whatever would normally be talked about around the water cooler. If you’re making a coffee, invite someone else to come with you, and take your laptop into the kitchen, have a chat while the kettle boils. Have a specific ‘meeting’ set up as the lunch table, so when people go on lunch, they can chat to others that are on lunch.
By making sure we keep everyone engaged in our workforce, even when they aren’t right in front of us, we are taking care of one aspect of their mental health – the need for connection. But you don’t need to wait until Mental Health Week to try these suggestions out! Why not give them a go and let us know how they went? Drop us a line in the comments.
