How to prioritise employee mental health in 2024

What is mental health?

Mental health, now more than ever before, is increasingly becoming a key focus for I&D.

Having a healthy sense of self is inextricably tied with our understanding of our mental health. Mental health is your state of wellbeing, it is the space where you are able to navigate and maintain the balance of your everyday life. The different elements of our mental health are made up of our emotional, psychological and social wellbeing, which means it’s key to our ability to function that we are able to recognise what keeps us well.

For organisations to be champions and sector leading, recognising that different people’s life experiences and identities will take a different toll on their mental health, and knowing how to recognise and respond, is crucial.

Why is employee mental health so important?

Mental health and inclusion

Leading the way for inclusive wellbeing is at the heart of all good practice. As Head of Mental Health & Wellbeing here at Inclusive Employers, I am fiercely passionate about sharing our specialist knowledge to ensure we build healthier, kinder and therefore more authentically dynamic workplaces.

This is foundational to all inclusive practice; without compassion for ourselves and others we lose focus of our core values. We must take an intersectional and anti-racist lens on our approach to mental health. Recognise that people with different lived experiences will respond to life and events differently is a fundamental starting point, and if we don’t build in an inclusive environment, we may well end up doing further harm.

A renewed focus on employee wellbeing in 2024

2024 is seeing a seismic shift in the landscape when it comes to the approach towards mental health in the workplace. Employee engagement and experience is gaining more traction and prominence, which in turn is shining a spotlight on mental health.

We are moving towards a space where organisations are actively working to cultivate a culture of care, compassion, and respect, where employee wellbeing is valued, and individuals are encouraged to prioritise their mental health.

Why do employers need to prioritise employee mental health?

Recruitment and retention

We know that employee turnover has a significant impact on the company bottom line. It’s important to understand the impact of the shift in our intergenerational workforce, younger generations in particular are becoming more aware and vocal in their focus on workplace wellbeing as a key factor that draws them to and keeps them in roles.
Company leaders focusing on employee well-being and incorporating better work practices will reduce the turnover in their industries, simultaneously fast-tracking business growth.

Impact on productivity and feelings towards work

When our wellbeing is chronically being impacted or there are enduring influences on employee mental health, there is a clear correlation in apathy, lack of productivity, and even feelings of resentment. In spaces where mental health is not prioritised we continue to see increased instances of absenteeism.
There is often a misplaced focus on “happy” workplaces as a solution, whereas our focus should be on healthy workplaces. These allow us to take a proactive approach in incorporating the non-linear nature of human experiences into account, when we build our frameworks. When the focus is on fostering a sense of belonging, purpose, and fulfilment among employees, these inherently lead to enhanced well-being and job satisfaction.

Build understanding to reduce mental health discrimination

As determined by WHO, throughout our lives, multiple individual, social and structural factors may combine to protect or undermine our mental health, and shift our position on the mental health spectrum.
Individual psychological and biological factors such as emotional skills, substance use and genetics can make people more vulnerable to mental health problems.

Exposure to unfavourable social, economic, geopolitical and environmental circumstances – including poverty, violence, inequality and environmental deprivation – also increases people’s risk of experiencing mental health conditions. It is only through taking a learned and strategic approach to understanding employee mental health that we can begin to foster inclusion and mitigate mental health discrimination.