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How to create: Mental health at work
Mental health at work
After reading this article, you will know how to:
- Create job satisfaction in the workplace
- Create evolving group dynamics
- Prevent stress in the workplace
- Create and measure employee satisfaction
So let's start with the joy of work.
Job satisfaction
It is about creating a company culture where there is a desire to learn and continue to learn. The best work is always in the future.
How does the employee develop to become the best version of themselves as a person professionally?
A recent graduate doesn't have experience from day one, but it will come. If you see as a recent graduate that there is a commendable culture in the company, the new graduates will also become part of the culture along the way.
As a manager or HR representative, you can help create job satisfaction based on the following simple process:
- The older you get, the more experience you garner
- The more experience you garner, the more you dare to show who you are
- The more you dare to show who you are, the less you need to prove what you can do
- The result is that the employee renounces his own ego and gives his colleagues space
The essence is: When an employee helps to support their fellow colleagues, a positive dynamic occurs.
It's all about showing generosity towards your fellow human beings and thus also your colleagues. If the employees interact well with each other, a team spirit and job satisfaction arise.
It is precisely in the interplay these working relationships that where group dynamics can arise.
Developing group dynamics
We talk about settling, maintaining and developing group dynamics.
Here we choose to focus on the latter, which helps to create well-being wellbeing in the workplace. Let's take some examples:
| Focus |
As a team to seek dialogue and development |
|
Diversity |
Harness the potential of diversity and learn from Generation Z, who focus on social sustainability |
|
Response |
Listening and giving engaged feedback |
|
Conflict |
Create understanding and insights into different personality types and contribute to learning and decoding communication. Make it acceptable to agree to disagree if that is the solution |
|
Communication |
Develop transparency in relation to wishes and needs. Be probing and inclusive through a sincere dialogue |
In this way, the group will create a dynamic and involving dialogue and a form of cooperation that is trust and development oriented.
The trusting relationships will help to create growth and job satisfaction, as well as a responsibility for colleagues' and own needs.
While job satisfaction is a sure motivation factor, stress is the opposite.
Stress at the workplace
Marie Kingston and Malene Friis Andersen have developed a stress ladder.
The model describes how an employee can go from wellbeing and being efficient on the job, to being burnt out and having severe stress.
The model is based on 5 phases, which are characterised by:
|
Temperate |
Requirements and resources are in balance. There is a high level of activity, a high level of energy and the quality of the work is top notch. Motivation is high. There is professional commitment and a high degree of job satisfaction. There is a sense of control |
|
Heated |
The pressure begins to be felt. The quality is reduced to some extent. There is a tendency towards vagueness and a lack of overview. There is a risk of conflicts in the team. Initial stress symptoms can be: Eating, walking and talking faster, or seeming irritable |
|
Overheated |
Sustained pressure. An experience of lack of competence and reduced belief in one's own abilities. Bad priorities and more errors occur. Stress symptoms: Difficulty sleeping, headaches and stomach aches, lack of energy, numerous worries |
|
Melted down |
The pressure is long lasting. Inefficiency is commonplace and it often involves firefighting. Wellbeing is low and the employee feels low in mood. Sick leave is increasing. Severe stress symptoms: Physical and mental breakdowns |
|
Burned out |
The pressure is massive and long lasting. The employee runs in negative cognitive circles and feels burnt out all the time. There is a markedly reduced ability to work. Result: Typical long term sick leave |
So what do we do to prevent our employees from entering the negative stress spiral?
Prevention and management of stress
The following advice is written in no particular order and can be used as needed.
What is the current stress level??
This point is inherently good to start with. Feel free to use the above stress ladder to find the starting point
What is the balance between requirements and human resources?
What seems stressful? Can some work tasks be eliminated? Can fewer people attend meetings? Can these participants be better prepared, resulting in more efficient, time saving and productive meetings?
Does the company have a stress policy?
How does the company identify, prevent, handle and process stress?
Does everyone know about the stress signals?
It is often a partner, friend, colleague or manager who sees the symptoms of stress before the employee recognises the onset of stress. Stress is easier to handle if the it is detected and handled when the stress is at a low level
Create meaning in the tasks
It is said that 25% of the tasks we do, do not create value. Analyse and remove non value adding tasks
Prioritise tasks
What is important? Can tasks be delegated to student assistants or similar?
Create a workplace assessment
A workplace assessment is about mapping, analysing, prioritising and creating an action plan as well as follow up to, among other things, avoid sickness absence
It's not just new graduates who need a buddy to get to know the company. It can be an advantage to have a joint trustee in the company
Big changes can create stress
Organisational changes and other changes of a significant nature can create stress. How do you prepare to manage this before you introduce the employees to the radical change?
Another way to follow the development of stress in the company is by continuously taking employee measurements.
Employee satisfaction
An employee satisfaction survey can be purchased from companies and the surveys are generally online, which is why employees can answer the questions anonymously and when it fits in with the employee's schedule.
With an employee satisfaction survey, it will show the employees' perception of:
- The workplace
- The work
- Wellbeing in the workplace
The goal is to promote motivation and commitment, as part of creating job satisfaction and an efficient workplace.
You can also easily design an employee satisfaction survey yourself. You can create it according to the following general rules:
- There must be a purpose to each question
- Better a few than many questions
- The questions must be short and understandable
- If the questions are not sensitive, get one or more people who do not work in the company to read and give feedback on the questions before you start your employee satisfaction survey
You can argue that wellbeing in the workplace is about being a skilled manager and being good at recruiting the right employees.
If you want to be (even) better at recruiting, look here: