Beyond the Wellness Calendar: 5 Signs Mental Wellness is a True Priority in Your Organization

Mental wellness has become a buzzword in many organizations. However, it is essential to distinguish between those that prioritize it as a way of working and those who still treat it as an ‘in-trend employee perk’.

Here are 5 hidden signs to check if mental wellness is a true priority in an organization:

Sign #1: Leadership Role-Modelling

Mindfully conscious leaders prioritize and protect their own mental wellness, openly talk about their wellness struggles, and encourage their team members too. This intentional leadership vulnerability becomes critical in fostering a culture of well-being. If leaders (and their inboxes/WhatsApp’s) are always ‘on’ at their weekends, vacations and family or pet timeout times, it is an unsaid verdict on limited priority for mental health and potential workplace toxicity. The wellness calendar unfortunately has little impact when the lifestyles of leaders epitomize an unhealthy work life balance and integration.

Sign #2 : Policy and Cultural Integration

An organization that truly embraces mental wellness understands that it's not just about offering weekly yoga classes, spa coupons or free meditation apps. Instead, it takes a holistic approach to wellness by integrating it in the systemic policies and processes related to employee life cycle- from onboarding, annual manpower planning, goal setting, L&D agendas, fair pay and benefits strategy, career pathing, D&I initiatives to healthy employee offboarding processes. The true test of a workplace wellness strategy hence decisively lies not in its event's attendance but in its permeability in the system. The real moments of truth regarding workplace wellness often appear in-between the two mental health Friday events :)

Sign # 3: Diverse and Personalised Support Systems

Access to continuous (not event based) and specialized training, coaching and support communities for building mentally healthy and resilient minds can help to reduce stigma and encourage a culture of mental wellness.?Also, while everyone may not be a yoga or a meditation or an app person, everyone still faces daily challenges to protect their personal wellbeing at work. A 'mandatory' team offsite can be rejeuvenating for some while mentally overwhelming for others who rather crave creative solo recharging wellness options. Having a variety of wellness support offerings to choose from is a sign an organization genuinely cares about collective wellness while celebrating individual preferences and spaces.

Sign #4 Fearless Communication Culture

Does your organization really encourage open communication, not just?about mental health but about any opinion? How often do you see a leader is being healthily challenged by the team? How inclusive is a team goal setting or a resourcing exercise which has an undeniable impact on workplace stress levels? A true sign of a healthy relationship is when one is supremely comfortable with someone as they are in their skin. It is also a true litmus test for an organisational wellness culture too. Do people feel mentally safe and respected to bring their natural self, quirkiness, and divergent point of views in their daily meetings? If not, it is very unlikely that a yoga/spa day or an yearly retreat can change it!

Sign # 5 Prevention over Painkillers

Above all, when observed carefully, are wellness initiatives and investments largely geared towards preventing workplace burnouts to happen or offering temporary painkiller relief? It is usually too late to regain engagement of a post burnt out employee through any wellness perks, goodies or an exotic offsite. Companies that strategically prioritize mental wellness recognize very early the criticality of the prevention of mental health challenges in the first place. They would proactively promote reasonable workloads, healthy lifestyles, and supportive workplace camaraderie. 'Stay well' initiatives hence would outnumber 'recharge' events.

Conclusion

While mental wellness events may seem like a good idea on the surface, when executed in isolation, they are often a short-sighted approach to personal and organizational wellness. Companies that truly see mental wellness as a strategic priority adopt a holistic vision of its purpose, breadth and impact.?Workplace wellness, hence, is less about relaxation perks and more about institutionalising human respect.

Respect for people’s presence, work and personal spaces to help them do the best work of their lives.

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I am extremely curious what you think about genuinely improving mental wellness at work? How would you know if an organization or a leader is intentional about it? Let me know in the comments!

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