What is mental health?
Mental health is a state of mental wellbeing that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and wellbeing that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in.
Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders. It exists on a complex continuum, which is experienced differently from one person to the next, with varying degrees of difficulty and distress and potentially very different social and clinical outcomes.
Why is it important to look after employees at work?
The current and future success of EcoNorth depends on having a healthy and productive workforce. Those employees who feel valued, included and supported will achieve more and be more likely to remain with the company in the long term.
What is Thriving to Work?
Thriving To Work, the UK Government’s independent review for how organisations can better support employees’ mental health, sets out six core and four enhanced standards that companies are encouraged to adopt, including:
Core standards
- Produce, implement and communicate a mental health at work plan to encourage and promote good mental health of all staff.
- Develop mental health awareness among employees.
- Encourage open conversations about mental health and the support available when employees are struggling.
- Provide all staff with a good working environment and promote a positive work-life balance.
- Promote effective people management.
- Routinely monitor staff mental health and understand the risk factors.
Enhanced standards
- Increase transparency and accountability through internal and external reporting on progress.
- Demonstrate accountability.
- Improve the disclosure process to encourage openness during recruitment and making sure support is in place to facilitate a positive employer response following disclosure.
- Ensure provision of tailored in-house mental health support and signposting to clinical help.
How has EcoNorth addressed mental health?
In 2023, EcoNorth devised a Mental Health At Work Plan to be fully implemented over the next twelve months which would embrace the UK government’s mental health standards.
EcoNorth has always had a strong health and safety culture so some aspects of the standards were already in place, such as mental health awareness being embedded in the induction process for new employees through online training, wellbeing being part of regular catch ups between employees and their Line Managers and during team meetings as standard, and employees being encouraged to work sensible hours, take full breaks and to rest and recuperate after busy periods as well as being clear about their workload and availability with the rest of the team.
To build on this solid foundation, additional activities have been implemented. This includes introducing Wellness Action Plans (WAPs), providing reliable mental health information and useful website links on our noticeboard and offering access to a 24 hour employee counselling service. Recruitment /selection/appointment processes have been improved to facilitate disclosure and appropriate support. All Line Managers have undertaken training on how to support someone with a mental health problem in the workplace. We now carry out a mental health risk assessment of the team and a confidential survey of staff satisfaction levels on an annual basis and implement changes as required.
Many actions will be ongoing, for example, EcoNorth will continue to celebrate key dates in the mental health calendar including Mental Health Awareness Week each May. We will be running internal communication campaigns; this year’s focus is on promoting resilience. Social events will continue to be arranged to boost staff employee health, wellbeing and teamwork.
Who is responsible for implementing the Mental Health At Work Plan?
Everyone at EcoNorth has been responsible for successfully implementing our Mental Health At Work Plan and will be responsible for its continuation going forward.
Senior Managers are responsible for reviewing employee wellbeing and monitoring sickness absence across the company. They also play a key role in creating positive change by ensuring reliable processes, checks and action plans are in place which are regularly monitored.
Line Managers are responsible for assessing their employees’ mental health, through regularly 121 meetings, monthly team meetings and annual personal risk assessments.
Employees are responsible for accessing support when they need it and raising any concerns with their Line Manager, HR Officer or other relevant parties, as well as supporting their colleagues’ wellbeing. All employees, irrespective of their seniority at EcoNorth, should aim to achieve a healthy work-life balance.