Mental Health In The Workplace & Business Productivity

22nd October 2024

World Mental Health Day took place earlier this month. On 10th October every year, it’s a day that aims to raise awareness of mental health and reduce stigma.

This year, the theme set by the World Federation for Mental Health was, “It is time to prioritise mental health in the workplace”. 

As the workplace plays such a significant role in shaping an individual’s mental health, it’s important to make sure you are creating a healthy environment.

What can affect a person’s mental health in the workplace?

• Human interaction – Negative interactions with others in the workplace can cause the brain to feel under threat, affecting the prefrontal cortex
• Occupational burnout – Stress that takes place over a prolonged period of time and which is not successfully managed, negatively affecting a person’s wellbeing
• Repetitive strain injury (RSI) and fatigue – Colleagues repeating the same movements day in day out can suffer physically 

Improving mental health in the workplace improves productivity

Taking steps to combat these issues not only leads to an improved workplace for your colleagues, it also leads to an improvement in productivity.

• Positive human interaction – Investing in your people to make them feel trusted and well looked after creates an environment where they are more likely to work better. We’ve spoken before about Top Right Thinking and how this impacts business productivity – addressing colleagues with the right balance of trust and challenge drives performance and productivity in the workplace
• Addressing occupational burnout – Pinpoint why colleagues are feeling like this on an individual level. Are their particular skills and strengths being used in the best way? When mapping out a journey of an individual’s task list, can you determine where improvements can be made to each stage? Can tasks be shared across other job roles? Are specific job roles spending their time in the right way? A role study can provide answer to all these questions
• Reducing RSI and fatigue – Optimising your workplace layouts ensures your colleagues are only moving when necessary. Fewer movements means more time for tasks that add value. Minimising movement makes a huge difference as it reduces both tiredness and the risk of developing RSIs for colleagues

When conducting a work study, our expert analysts review numerous factors of a workplace, including layouts and colleague movement throughout the day. Making changes to create a healthier, well-structured environment leads to improved employee well-being and productivity.

Want to find out more? Discover how improving business productivity helps your teams.

Looking to understand more about your business’ operations, and where improvements can be made to improve your workplace – and therefore, your colleagues’ mental health? Contact our team.