Your how-to: Establishing foundational understanding of how diversity impacts mental health
Establishing a foundational understanding of how diversity impacts mental health at your workplace involves recognising and appreciating the different personal experiences, beliefs, and perspectives that your employees bring. This understanding is pivotal to foster a supportive and inclusive organisation where all individuals can realise their full potential.
Diversity in the workplace can include but is not restricted to differences in race, religion, gender, age, sexuality, disability, and socio-economic background. Each of these diverse aspects can have varying impact on an individual's mental health. A person's mental wellbeing can be strained due to issues such as discrimination, ostracism, or lack of understanding from colleagues and managers.
In the context of Australia, the 2013 ‘Workplace Gender Equality Act’ and the 1992 ‘Disability Discrimination Act’ both underline the importance of equal opportunity and inclusiveness in workplaces. Recognising diversity and proactively working to foster an inclusive environment not only helps to comply with these legislations, but also promotes better mental wellbeing of all employees. By understanding and addressing the potential impact of diversity on mental health at your place of work, HR teams can develop more effective workplace practices and policies, aiming towards a psychologically safe and healthy workplace enriched by diversity.
Step by step instructions
Raise awareness: The first step involves informing your employees about the concept of diversity and its potential impacts on mental health. This could include running workshops, circulating informative materials, or organising speakers. Open the conversation, encourage participation and draw attention to the different types of diversity that exist within the workplace.
Training: Provide training on understanding diversity, its impacts on mental health and the importance of a diverse workforce. It's advisable to seek the help of a professional training provider to ensure comprehensive and adequately tailored training sessions.
Encouraging openness: Promote a culture of openness and dialogue around mental health. This can be achieved by hosting wellbeing events, having mental health first aiders and encouraging managers to have regular check-ins with their staff.
Celebrate diversity: Finally, celebrate the diversity in your workplace. This can be done through special events, employee spotlights, or an appreciation day. This not only fosters an inclusive environment but also gives employees a stronger sense of belonging, which can benefit their overall mental health.
Develop a diversity policy: Developing a diversity policy is essential. The policy should be all-encompassing, clearly stating the company's stance towards discrimination and how it plans to foster an inclusive environment. It is also necessary to reference the 'Workplace Gender Equality Act' (2013) and the 'Disability Discrimination Act' (1992) of Australia and ensure compliance.
Support & Reporting Systems: Ensure there are support systems in place for individuals struggling with their mental health due to diversity-related issues, such as discrimination or ostracism. There should also be a clear, easy-to-use reporting system for incidents of discrimination.
Regularly review: Regularly review and update your diversity policy, training materials and support systems. Solicit feedback from your employees about the effectiveness of the policies and procedures. It’s important to keep developing and adapting practices to drive continuous improvements in mental wellbeing in the workplace.
Reflect and Breathe: This step can be challenging, so it's important to take a moment to breathe and reflect. Pause to consider the progress made, the obstacles encountered, and the lessons learned. This reflection will not only help in gaining clarity but also in maintaining a balanced perspective, allowing for thoughtful and deliberate decision-making moving forward.
Use this template to implement
To ensure you can execute seamlessly, download the implementation template.
Pitfalls to avoid
A crucial part of ensuring mental health and diversity are on the agenda is a strong managerial and leadership buy-in - without it, initiatives can fall flat. Ensure leaders and decision-makers are onboard, understand the benefits and are ready to showcase authentic commitment.
We all have unconscious biases, and these can affect diversity and mental health in the workplace significant;y. Avoid making assumptions about individuals based on their background, gender, sexuality etc., as it can have detrimental effects on mental health.
Microaggressions — indirect or subtle acts of discrimination — can be a serious impediment to both diversity and mental health. Creating an environment where these are addressed and challenged is important.
Merely implementing a programme or policy is inadequate without comprehensive training. Neglecting to provide adequate training to managers and employees could lead to misinterpretation, poor practice and could even be counterproductive.
While it's vital to have an inclusive environment that respects diversity, it's equally crucial not to lump people into homogenous groups. Different cultural backgrounds, for example, may have different views on mental health, so awareness and sensitivity are key.
Australian corporations are subject to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) and must ensure that their workplace settings don't promote any form of discrimination. Ignorance of these legislations is potentially costly and damaging.