How charities can support the mental health of employees

How employers can support staff

The good news is that there is plenty a charity workplace can do to support their staff. Here’s a few top tips.

Create an open and supportive culture

Make it clear that your organisation takes everyone’s mental health seriously and encourage people to be open about their mental health, starting from the very top.

Invest in Mental Health First Aid

Just as you’ll have designated first aiders and fire marshals, you can train some of your staff as Mental Health First Aiders. Once you’re all back in the office, they’ll be able to identify, understand, and help anyone who may be experiencing a mental health issue.

Until then, give people ways to contact these Mental Health First Aiders remotely if they need support, and always signpost other out-of-hours support services.

Keep up with one-to-ones

Even if you’re still in regular contact over email or Slack, remember to take the time to speak to your direct reports by phone or video call, too. It’s so much more personal and easier to gauge how someone is really feeling.

Not everyone will enjoy the larger group sessions, much less speak openly about mental health, so check-ins will be important to make sure people have the support they need. Use this time to really listen out for any signs that people are flailing. HSE’s Talking Toolkit is a great resource here.

Take a break

During working hours, encourage people to take breaks away from their screens for exercise and fresh air. We all have distractions to contend with, so allow people a degree of autonomy in managing their own time.

Hold regular social sessions

A daily team call can break up the long days working from home and take the place of regular water-cooler chats in the office.

A slightly longer session over a drink, coffee, or fun activity – perhaps on a Friday afternoon – can be a great way to thank people for their hard work and signal that it’s time to all switch off and relax.

Encourage mixing among staff

This should occur within usual teams and more widely in any organisation. The Randomised Coffee Trials approach could be useful and there are plenty of free tools available to make these easier to run.

Switch off from work

Make it clear that you don’t expect people to be available 24/7. Model good behaviour by not sending or replying to messages outside of core hours, except when absolutely necessary.

Share tips and techniques for mindfulness

There are loads of apps dedicated to physical and mental wellbeing and some enable employers to provide resources to their staff. Look at the likes of Headspace, Be Mindful, Calm for business, and Shine Offline.

Similarly, let employees know they can use smartphones to digitally detox. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? But you can configure your mobile devices to set daily time limits on specified apps, limit notifications, and turn your screen to greyscale to wind down before bedtime. Check out the digital wellbeing tools on Android and iOS.

Make use of resources

Important resources, such as toolkits for frontline workers and a wealth of others, can be found on Mental Health at Work. Ensure you use them and also encourage others to use them.

Be kind

Finally, remember that everyone at work is a human first and foremost. Be honest about your own human struggles and acknowledge those of others. And above all, be kind.