Mental Health in a Manufacturing Plant

It's loud. Indoors. Monotonous. Difficult to cultivate camaraderie. Rather inflexible. And routine. Is this recipe a formula to exacerbate mental health problems at work? One study by the Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology?says employees working in manufacturing have more mental health problems than the national average - 36% more. Since the employees working in manufacturing environments are predominantly male, they are less likely to talk about mental health themselves. So, what can employers do to keep people healthy and happy on the job without missing work, having an accident, or leaving?

Tip #1: Remind yourself that employee well-being is good for business. Look at the picture above. Looks like a nice yard with a cornhole board game, a gazebo and some picnic tables. Is this someone's back yard? A community park? No, it's a manufacturing plant where hundreds of employees make car batteries for the world's major auto brands. During breaks, our employees can grab some fresh air and play a game or two to unwind and catch up with each other. They can even light up the grill provided by Clarios and make some lunch if it's not one of the days that the supervisors do it for them. A little fun and relaxation goes a long way to help de-stress quickly during a break, especially if there's leader appreciation in the first place making it a friendly environment.

Tip #2: Use the month of May to broadcast all your mental health resources. Make sure to reach out to all your non-wired workers in every way possible. It's the hardest part of the workforce to reach effectively, but as the study mentioned above shows, they are the ones not to forget. Use table tents in the break rooms, posters in the bathrooms, paycheck stuffers, and postcards to home addresses to share all the resources available to your employees and their families. With retention a top priority, you never know which benefit with prove to be most valuable at just the right moment in time.

Tip #3: Whether it's May (mental health awareness month) or not, get everyone talking about mental health all the time, especially your leaders and supervisors. It should be a regular topic at plant meetings, new hire orientations, annual benefits enrollment time, team meetings, and especially at supervisory or leadership training sessions. New supervisors need training to recognize the signs and gain comfort with these important topics so they can connect their employees to resources proactively. That's the best way to remove any lingering stigma and get employees connected to the valuable resources your company offers anyway.

Tip #4: Variety is great for mental health. Cross-training and exposing people to new and different learning opportunities is a great way for people to experience variety at work. Changes like these can help boost people's spirits and show them alternative growth areas to pursue. Anyone feeling stuck in a rut or experiencing depression or anxiety at work can benefit from experiencing a new role. Even a decent worker can become a stellar employee by working with new people, a different supervisor, or maybe even a fresh environment that better suits their temperament.

Tip #5: Show you care. This past week I heard about how close the wildfires got to our plant in Oregon. The fire was within a few miles of our plant, and all of our employees were impacted. The air quality was terrible. The plant closed down. It was eerily quiet and empty while people prioritized their families until the danger passed. During those scary days, the plant manager and HR manager called every single employee every single day. Those were not just mental health calls, those were also physical health calls, family health calls, and property health calls. Those were necessary calls of people caring about people and doing what it takes to take care of one another.

There are naysayers who simply say no to everything: how about a dunk tank? No. How about a BBQ lunch? No. How about we celebrate 3/14 "pie" day? No. How about we grill on national hot dog day? No. It's the first 70-degree day of the year, how about we open up the deck and pull out the picnic tables and extend break by 15 minutes after the most miserable month of cold and rain? No, no, no. We know better and need those "no"s to leave so the rest of us can get back to growing our businesses and holding onto our people. Their mental health and our bottom line depend on it.

About the author: Michele Ellner is Clarios' Director of Talent Acquisition, The Americas. Clarios is the creator behind the world’s best batteries and most recognizable brands including DieHard, Interstate, Duralast, EverStart, Optima, and more. We are the car battery found in most new vehicles including leading brands such as Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.?