COMMENT: During Mental Health Awareness Week it is every employer’s responsibility to reflect on what it is doing to become more responsive to the challenges of mental health, and more effective in its actions as a result, writes Cushman & Wakefield EMEA chief executive Colin Wilson.
We can influence the wellbeing of the people that work for us by committing to specific actions and policy interventions. Following the launch of Inspire – the Cushman & Wakefield response to promoting a more diverse and inclusive workplace – we introduced various initiatives, including training and other awareness programmes.
As we strive to further improve the inclusive nature of our working environment, particularly around mental wellbeing, we are now focusing on our actions and behaviour towards colleagues who may be suffering. If we are in any doubt as to the need for this more emotional engagement, we should consider how we would react if those that are experiencing a period of difficulty were close relatives.
As employers, we are the custodians of the wellbeing of the individuals that work for us – and who spend a large part of their day in the workplace. We are therefore most likely to be the people who are first able to offer assistance and empathy to those requiring support.
Why should the employer take such an active role?
The ecosystem between home and work is a complex one. It can be incredibly supportive and powerful in helping to manage how we feel. However, it is also a potentially fragile combination, blurred further by the prevalence of social media, so that a period of mental ill health arising from either the workplace or home can quickly affect both environments.
As employers, we are the custodians of the wellbeing of the individuals that work for us – and who spend a large part of their day in the workplace. We are therefore most likely to be the people who are first able to offer assistance and empathy to those requiring support.
Colleagues who have experienced periods of mental ill health say that talking with friends, colleagues, family – and even strangers – can be very therapeutic and helpful during difficult times. Indeed, depending on the situation, it can sometimes be easier to talk to a colleague than to a family member.
It leads one to question the structure by which we create opportunities to talk at work. We often fall back on the rigour and process of year-end or half-yearly reviews in the mistaken belief that these “regular one-to-ones” are an acceptable way to create a time to talk. While vital for career discussions, these sessions are unlikely to produce a positive result for wellbeing, since individuals need to talk about their problems as and when those problems arise.
This is one of the reasons that last year Cushman & Wakefield signed the Time to Change Employer Pledge, demonstrating our commitment to change the way we think and act about mental health in the workplace. Our goals are: to raise the profile of mental wellbeing in the workplace; to be more alert to the need to listen; to enable people to feel comfortable in sharing their problems and experiences; and for us all to be more open about mental health – to talk, to listen and to change lives. In 2018, we will also be putting additional focus on making sure we are better trained to detect and manage the issue.
Direct feedback from those who speak with experience suggests that conversations involving empathy and compassion – as opposed to tough love – are the most effective and reassuring when someone is struggling. Creating time for individuals to share their experiences or troubles and to listen to them is a small step, but it is very much better to take that step than not to – or to treat the issue as someone else’s problem.
We are all stewards of wellbeing in our working environment. It is a responsibility that should be taken seriously by all of us as employers and as colleagues.
