Work Wonders
Back in late 2021, we decided that instead of chatting to each other about the challenges and triumphs of people management in small businesses, we should invite you to join the conversation. And the Work Wonders podcast was born! Managing people is serious business. We bring you all the latest, practical advice without the pain. The podcast is brought to you by Aster HR https://www.asterhr.com.au/ and your hosts are Angela Gauci and Susan Rochester
Work Wonders
The link between Mental Health, Wellbeing, and Employee Loyalty
In this episode, we discuss employee wellbeing and how it’s linked to mental health and employee loyalty.
We explore the types of wellbeing initiatives companies are adopting, and how these efforts are directly influencing employee loyalty. In today’s competitive job market, loyalty is a two-way street, and investing in well-being can make all the difference in retaining your top talent so we also offer practical strategies for you to enhance or introduce wellbeing programs in your business.
You can find the show notes for this episode here
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Brought to you by Aster HR, the Work Wonders Podcast is hosted by Angela Gauci & Susan Rochester and is recorded at Launch Pad at Western Sydney University.
All information or advice included in this podcast is general, has been developed as a starting point for your business, and should be tailored to your specific requirements. It should not be considered legal advice. We have made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and currency of this information at the time of recording. However, references to things like employment laws are subject to change. For specific advice relating to your business, please get in touch with us.
Welcome to the Work Wonders podcast brought to you by Asta HR, where we simplify the human side of business.
Speaker 2:I'm Angela and I'm Susan, let's dive into today's episode and find out what you've been wondering about.
Speaker 1:In today's episode, we're continuing with the theme of employee engagement and retention, and we're going to spend some time talking about mental health and employee wellbeing and how that might be linked to employee loyalty. As workplaces evolve, we're realising that supporting the wellbeing of your employees is not just a nice-to-have. It's actually essential for maintaining a happy and productive workplace.
Speaker 2:So true, and we're going to explore how mental health plays a key role in overall wellbeing, the types of wellbeing initiatives companies are adopting, and how these efforts are directly influencing employee loyalty.
Speaker 1:So let's get started. This is the Work Wonders podcast. Hi Susan, hi Angela. So we're talking about wellbeing programs. I know we've talked about a lot of programs, haven't we? Retention and rewarding programs, and all that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:So wellbeing is not just about physical health. If we think about it holistically, we're talking about mental and emotional health and social wellbeing as well. You know, in a previous episode we talked about psychological safety. You know we're getting a lot of these things being brought into the workplace and responsibility put onto employers. So, yeah, that's why we're talking about it today. So mental health in particular has become an important part of safety and looking after our staff in the workplace. If employees are struggling with stress or anxiety or burnout even, it's going to obviously affect their performance and how engaged they are and their overall happiness at work.
Speaker 2:And, more than that, whether they're going to want to stay working for you. I suppose True. So, as we all know, the modern workplace can be stressful. There's plenty of statistics about increased workloads, people working longer hours, there's issues with shift work and there's always that precarious balance between your personal and professional life. Yeah, all those things add up to giving people stress. Yeah, I don't know why I'm laughing about it. Maybe that's a nervous laugh, but according to the WHO, depression and anxiety alone cost the global economy over $1 trillion in lost productivity every year. So these are things that we can't afford to ignore.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So we're not necessarily talking about when an employee might already have a mental health challenge that they're bringing to work. Maybe they do, but we're talking about trying to avoid that happening because of a result of work. So it's definitely almost like a work health and safety issue. So when mental health isn't supported, it's going to lead to things like absenteeism, presenteeism, which is, or resent-eism.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a new one. I was just going to say presenteeism is like when someone comes to work with a cold but they're sick, they should be home having a sick day, yeah.
Speaker 2:Or presenteeism, is also when the term first started coming up. When I was first talking about engagement a long time ago, was people showing up for work but not really engaged. Ah right, so they're there. They're going through the up for work, but not really engaged.
Speaker 1:Ah right.
Speaker 2:So they're there, they're going through the motions, but they don't really care.
Speaker 1:Not actually contributing, but what was your one?
Speaker 2:Resentism, okay, yeah, and I think this might be an even bigger issue, as we're talking about cost of living crisis and affordability of everything or unaffordability, and people feeling like, well, I've just got to stick it out this job.
Speaker 1:So that would have an impact on your mental health if you're really resenting being there, yeah, but look, any of these things employees are at work but they're not functioning is sort of what we're getting across there. Yeah exactly, and it can even obviously learn to lead to high turnover rates in some cases. So addressing mental health in the workplace and offering that support is not just a HR issue. No, it's not just up to us, no, something that all leaders should be aware of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. So supporting mental health in the workplace is going to build a culture where an employee feels safe, valued and respected, and this is what we talked about in the episode on psychosocial safety.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the one that was in Season 4. So just a few episodes ago, Season 4, Episode 10.
Speaker 2:So, because mental health is becoming such a big issue in the workplace, it's crucial that we reduce the stigma around it and create an environment where employees can feel comfortable seeking help when they do need help.
Speaker 1:That makes me think of the guest interview that we had with Bill Carson. That was in season five. Okay, yeah, I would recommend, if you haven't listened to it, go back and have a listen to that one. He talked to us about mental health and thinking about it from a different perspective. Even thinking about, you know, mental health as in keeping your health, of your mental state, as you would your physical state.
Speaker 2:Exactly no, definitely worth a listen, so go and find it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so now we know what we're talking about here. Let's dive a little deeper into a wellbeing initiative, because it is mental health, but it's a lot more than that as well, and it definitely links to employee loyalty and engagement. A wellbeing program can take many forms. It might be something like offering flexible work hours to help people do what they need to do to, like you say, balance the personal and the professional life. Or it might be accessing mental health resources, for example, an EAP service or a counsellor. That might be something that you extend to your employees if the work requires that, actually, even if it doesn't require that. True, there might even be physical wellness programs, so you might offer a gym membership or mindfulness workshops or yoga or guided meditation sessions. I've even heard of massages in the workplace as well. You know no massage tables, just at your desk.
Speaker 2:Okay, not on your shoulders.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, massage tables just at your desk. Okay, not on your shoulders. Yeah, so thinking about those sorts of things because, look, I mean we've talked a lot about, you know, things like family and domestic violence, the psychological safety, the respect at work, legislation really what's happening in our communities. It's kind of forcing its way into the workplaces and we're being asked as leaders and employers to really step up and think more about our employees as a whole and taking care of all of them, not just you know what they bring to work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, we can't ignore that anymore. And as well as the broader wellbeing initiatives, which are all going to help people's mental health, there are some specific initiatives that are just as important, or, you might argue, even more important. So they might include, as you mentioned, counselling services or an EAP employee assistance program allowing people mental health days, or what do we call them, a doona day doona day. Yeah, yeah and yeah, allowing people to to declare you know.
Speaker 1:I just need a mental health day. I need a. I just need a mental health day. I just need a day. I just need a break. Give me a bit being safe to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, but also training managers to recognise and respond to mental health challenges. And, as you've heard us mention before, we're also seeing companies incorporate flexibility into their wellbeing strategies. So remote work options as we talked about in the last episode, for example, mental health days I just mentioned, and also compressed work weeks. Now this made me a bit more curious about the four-day work week and how much that is taking off.
Speaker 2:A four-day work week, if anyone's curious, means that people are working four days. Yeah, however many hours, that works out to me usually it's four eight-hour days.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So 32 or it might be 30 or whatever hours a week and getting 100% pay? Yeah, so still getting the same pay, fewer hours, on the basis that they're going to be more productive on those days.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was quite interesting. There was a trial done in 2022 in Australia which included 25, 26 companies and they were across professional services, marketing and advertising and manufacturing. Okay, they all tried four-day work weeks and, from what I can gather, most of them are still doing the four-day work week. Now you may be listening and thinking oh well, you know, big companies can probably do that, you know, if they're an insurance company or whatever, yeah, but my small business can't. Well, funnily enough, the companies included in these trials had between 11 and 25 employees.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's fascinating so it wasn't necessarily the big boys, it's doable.
Speaker 1:Yes, I think it's about expanding our thinking and being open to different opportunities.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean, that's just a side note on one initiative, the compressed work thing.
Speaker 1:That is one great initiative, I think definitely, and it shows employees that their company values their wellbeing and that, in turn, is going to foster loyalty Again. An employee is going to be more engaged, feel valued and want to stay if they're at the place where they feel happy and healthy and all of that.
Speaker 1:So obviously for an employer or a business that's going to lead to less turnover, increased satisfaction in their employees, which leads to better performance, and all those sorts of things. I feel like it's some obvious now. We keep saying it, but this is what we're aiming for, that kind of we look after them, they look after us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and you know once again, you know, it's not just us saying this. There's research to show it. Now, friends at Gallup have been able to demonstrate that employees who feel their wellbeing is supported by their employer are 69% less likely to search for a new job. How did you get into your business? Sometimes it's because you're great at a particular thing or you've got a passion for something and you know that you can do a little better than what other people are already doing.
Speaker 2:Now that you're in business, you've discovered there's a lot more to it than just having the right skills, especially when you've hired a team. You might have learnt the financial skills that you need because you've had, you had to, basically but where do you go to develop the HR and the leadership skills that you need? If you're feeling overwhelmed in managing people and all the other things that come with running a business, we can help you. We'll guide you through the skills you need to feel more confident in leadership. Go and check out the coaching page on our website or schedule a call with us at astorhrcomau. Now it's back to the episode.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's get practical now, Susan. Let's think about some strategies what an employer can do to improve an employee's wellbeing. One of the most obvious things they can do is look at their culture. Employee's wellbeing one of the most obvious things they can do is look at their culture and I think we've said that, bringing the mental health into the discussion, where wellbeing is prioritised for staff. So that starts with leaders, as we always talk about.
Speaker 1:They need to lead by example, but they should also be trained in how to recognise things like stress, burnout trained in how to recognise things like stress, burnout and other mental health issues with their teams. I'm thinking again about people working hybrid or somebody that might be experiencing family and domestic violence. Again, it's been called upon us, as leaders, to go hang on a minute. Do you need to access this support or that help Did?
Speaker 1:you know, you've got that leave or whatever it may be and being tapped into that. We're not expecting leaders to solve all the world's problems, but just being aware to look after a person at work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Because, yeah, this is a relatively new development. Yeah, you know in the past year. We're quite happy for employees to keep a list to themselves and you themselves and keep it out of the workplace, sort of thing.
Speaker 2:But really we're not saying that you have to be into that person's personal life or know a lot about what's going on there, but more about having those regular check-ins and fostering that open communication so that when there's a need for someone to let you know that they're struggling, then they're going to be comfortable to do that and trusting to do that. And that can mean that it's also important to establish peer-to-peer relationships, so encouraging that people support each other. And some companies have even introduced mental health champions, so there might be an employee who advocates for mental health and well-being and they can act as a point of contact for their colleagues. So that can be all confidential, that people know that there's someone they can talk to. And it helps to normalise those conversations about mental health, because if you're having a conversation where saying, well, this is what we're doing, because we recognise mental health is something, is a thing that all of us are going to struggle from time to time when you look at the statistics, right, but making it something that's comfortable to talk about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly Taking that stigma away. Yeah, exactly Taking that stigma away. Yeah, absolutely. I'm just reflecting on a time very early on in my career where a manager was really quite not okay. You know, I felt uncomfortable around the issue of mental health and it's like don't tell me, like you said, don't bring it to work, You're just here to do A, B and C, not tell me about that. And it was almost like they then got that risk adverse to it that they wanted to know when recruiting Does that person have a mental health?
Speaker 2:issue. I don't want to know about it.
Speaker 1:I don't want to hire them if they do, and that was a person that felt very worried about that, maybe because they were not sure what to do. Well, I'm not sure. But yeah, I think it's about, like you said, just trying to break that down and go look, we don't expect you to fix this, just expect you to be a decent human and you know get alongside these people and support them. So work doesn't make it worse and I think that's a really important thing.
Speaker 2:You're not expected to fix it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it might just be that they need someone to listen.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we've talked about flexibility a bit as well, and I think some employees in fact most of them would say that allowing flexible work practices also helps with their wellbeing, Because if you think about the push and pull between personal life and professional life, that can be really tricky, you know, for some people if not all of us, you know and so being able to fit work around their personal schedule. Or you know, I've even heard of people wanting to come in and do a few hours early in the morning, go and have the rest of the day while the sun's up, go to the gym and doing all the things they want to do, and then working some more in the evening. You never know what works for someone, but being open to those sorts of things, as long as the job's getting done, can be something that fits into a person's wellbeing schedule of their own.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're all different, aren't we? And what's going to work for one isn't going to work for all. It's interesting to see how many companies are actually implementing the flexible work policies as part of their mental health strategy, if you like, or employee wellbeing strategy. There's some tech companies I was reading about recently who, as well as being fully remote, also offer unlimited paid time off Wow. So I was watching an interview with the CEO and I wish I could remember which company it was, and he said I employ people to do the job. I employ them because I think they can do the job. I know they can do the job, so why do I have to check what hours they're working?
Speaker 1:I love that. I love it. Just imagine, Susan, if we lived in a world where employees were completely trusted to do the job. Who cares how, when, where you do it?
Speaker 2:Well, just imagine we lived in a world where all employees were trustworthy. Oh yes, that too, as you know we've seen both sides.
Speaker 1:It's all a balancing act.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:But the thought there of, yeah, having that trust in your engaged workplace high-performing team, you know all of the things. Just imagine how easy that would be on a leader once it's running like a well-oiled machine, you know.
Speaker 2:They've got a team that are doing their thing.
Speaker 1:They're happy and healthy because you're giving them what they need. They're giving you what you need.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it sounds good to me. They're loyal and they're not going to leave you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, makes business easier, right.
Speaker 2:Well it does. Are we just dreaming of some utopia? That's never going to happen because of human nature Tell us listeners.
Speaker 1:You're probably thinking that right now.
Speaker 2:What are they thinking?
Speaker 1:Well, we can all dream and I think, look, that's really what we're talking about here. Engagement and retention is something that it's a big topic and it's a lot of different things, and it's looking after people and it's all the things. But the aim of the game here is to make it easier for you to have a high-performing team that will stay there, and everything sort of affects one another in HR, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:So yeah, and I think you know, when you look at doing things like introducing an AAP Employee Assistance Program, if it's a change for you to do things like that or a change to give people mental health days. Change isn't easy, yeah, but it's a way of letting your employees know that you're caring about their wellbeing and mental health. So it might feel a bit awkward and a bit of an investment at first, but the payoffs are definitely there down the line.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think it links back to values as well. You know, this is the values that you have, that you want to look after your people. We're all for that.
Speaker 2:We sure are.
Speaker 1:You know, I've even got an example of a manager who was having to make a position redundant and so the staff member who happened to be in that position was unfortunately out of a job, and so, knowing that that was going to be quite impactful for that person, this manager took the option to prepay for, give the offer to, the option to prepay for, give the offer to the employee to prepay for some counselling sessions.
Speaker 1:After the fact, yeah now you don't have to do that. I mean you can. In this case, this employer saw that that was a valuable thing, wanted to look after this employee and knew that it was going to be tough for them and they took it up and it was actually really beneficial. So it doesn't always have to be just during.
Speaker 2:It can be after, with those sorts of strategies as well. Yeah, and that's a great example because other staff are going to get a sense of what you do for people.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And so there's a wider culture then of creating that supportive environment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and other than that sort of example.
Speaker 1:You might just give resources out to your employees, you know, or you might want to have your managers do a mental health first aid course or things like that as well, to give them the resources they need to feel comfortable to sort of broach these topics as well, yeah, or things like stress management tools and different things for employees as well, to, you know, make them aware of their own mental health as well and keep it positive, yeah. So look to sum it all up, mental health and wellbeing are deeply connected to employee loyalty, and we've talked about some initiatives like flexible work arrangements, access to resources and talking about your culture and de-stigmatising mental health as well. It's about creating an environment where wellbeing is a priority and your staff are looked after.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we encourage you to take a close look at what your company's wellbeing initiatives are. Are you providing the support that your employees need and want? Are there steps you can take to improve mental health and wellbeing in your workplace? So remember that small change in how you support your employees can lead to big improvements in engagement and loyalty.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us today. We hope that you found this conversation around mental health and employee well-being useful. Please do all the things. Don't forget to subscribe if you want to know when the next episodes come out. Leave us a review. We'd love to know what you thought. We'll jump over to our linkedin page and chat with us there and also let someone else know.
Speaker 2:If you know of someone else that would benefit from this info, we'd love you to let them know about us and don't miss our next episode, which will build on this to some extent, where we're investing in retention by employee development and career growth. Until then, remember, prioritising wellbeing is key to a thriving and loyal workforce.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Work Wonders podcast brought to you by Aster HR. Hit the subscribe button now to never miss an episode, and if you'd like to continue the conversation with us, you can find us over at astahrcomau. See you in the next episode.
