Your how-to: Launching a simple mental wellness challenge or activity
Launching a simple mental wellness challenge or activity in your place of work is a strategy to promote and improve the psychological wellbeing of your work team. It's about implementing programs, initiatives, or actions designed to enhance mindfulness, reduce stress, and ultimately, boost morale and productivity. These activities could range from group meditation or yoga sessions, to mental-health themed quizzes, or encouraging regular breaks to take a walk during a workday.
In Australia, under the Safe Work Australia Act 2008, employers are required to provide a safe and healthy work environment. This includes mental health. Launching a mental wellness activity not only complies with this legislation but also fosters a positive culture, aids in employee retention, and harnesses a happier, more engaged workforce.
Remember, what may work for one organisation may not necessarily work for another. The key is to tailor the initiative to meet the specifics needs and culture of your individual workplace.
Step by step instructions
Understand the Importance of Mental Wellness Begin by comprehending the significance of mental wellbeing in a professional setting. Get familiar with the Safe Work Australia Act 2008, which necessitates the provision of a safe and healthy work environment, inclusive of the mental health aspects. This awareness will help you appreciate the need for mental wellness activities facilitating a happier, more engaged workforce.
Plan Your Approach: After identifying the needs, initiate planning your mental wellness activity. Whether it's a group meditation, a stress management workshop, mental-health themed quizzes, or promoting regular breaks - decide on what would work best for your team. The choice must comply with the preferences of your employees and coincide with your organisational goals.
Communicate Your Plan: Once the plan is in place, ensure to communicate it efficiently across your entire organisation. Information regarding the nature of the activity, its benefits, date, time and venue should be clearly stated. Encourage people to participate and make sure they recognise the efforts the organisation is making for their mental wellbeing.
Review and Adapt: After the completion of the exercise, analyse its success against the initially identified needs. The feedback aggregated in the previous step would aid this process. If necessary, adapt and make changes for future mental wellness activities, making them more effective and employee-focussed.
Identify Needs and Preferences: Recognise the fact that the effectiveness of these activities can vary across different work cultures. Therefore, strive to understand the unique requirements and inclinations of your team. You may need to conduct surveys, organise meetings or informally discuss to gather this information.
Gather Resources: For each decided activity, examine what resources are required. If you're planning a group meditation, for instance, you might need a quiet space, yoga mats, and an expert to guide the session. Identify all the possible resources and make a list of the required arrangements.
Implement & Monitor the Activities: Post communication, execute the planned activities. Monitor their running and handle any unforeseen hitches on the spot. Post the activity, constructively request feedback from participants to understand how it was received.
Remember that by being patient, consistent and open to feedback, launching a simple mental wellness challenge or activity at your work place can contribute greatly to fostering a positive work culture and a healthy, engaged, productive team.
Use this template to implement
To ensure you can execute seamlessly, download the implementation template.
Pitfalls to avoid
Given the sensitive nature of mental health, participant confidentiality should be a top priority. You must ensure that any data or information shared by participants remains private. Failing this could deter employees from participating and possibly lead to legal implications, particularly under Australia’s stringent privacy laws.
Every workforce is different and it’s essential to identify and understand employee needs in context of mental well-being. Do not implement generic activities; instead, focus on understanding the specific needs within your organisation to ensure your initiative is relevant.
Australia’s workforce is diverse with different cultural beliefs and practices. Failing to consider these differences could result in a generic program that isn’t inclusive or beneficial to all.
Without a well-defined plan and appropriate resources, your initiative could become a one-time initiative that lacks sustainability. Make sure you have an appropriate budget and committed resources to carry out regular activities over time.
Mental wellness programs need to be led by professionals who are qualified in the field. If advice is given by an unskilled individual, it could potentially harm the participant or create unrealistic expectations.
Relying on initial planning alone can often fail to yield desired results. Regular feedback and evaluation are essential for assessing the effectiveness of the program and making necessary improvements.