Our wellbeing at work

As a user of online therapy I know how important it would have been for me to receive some support from my employer when I experienced mental health challenges. I can definitely say now that my productivity was much lower before I started therapy; and maybe if there was a supporting scheme in place at work, I would have been encouraged to seek support much earlier than I actually did.

I consider that work can help while dealing with mental health issues. It does seem to be more difficult to stay focused, keep the standards and achieve those targets, however it is a factor of destruction when your mind keeps falling into deep, negative thoughts. I was very lucky to have close friends among my colleagues and I could speak about my feelings to them. I am wondering how many of you would open up about such things at work; you are afraid that people might start to speak about it and the last thing you want is to be seen as the weak link of the chain.

I am happy to see that more and more companies do care about their employees’ health and wellbeing, but there is still room for improvement. Let’s think about what we are being asked from day 1 at work: to spread positivity, to be productive and creative, to always go that extra mile. No wonder why we wouldn’t feel comfortable telling somebody at work we experience some mental health issues.

One major step forward would be for managers and team leaders to receive constant training on how to deal with their team members’ signs of poor mental health and how to act around it, but still keep it confidential; that is one important factor you want to be ensured of when telling someone about your issues. And that brings me to the solution I believe companies should consider in order to support employees’ wellbeing: agreement with clinics or platforms that are able to provide professional support, so that the employee can access it directly, without having to report it to any department and without having to browse around for a solution for days, weeks or even months; that is a wasted period of time for both the employee and the employer.

Conclusion? It’s time to think a little bit more about employees’ wellbeing and that will have a direct impact towards the overall company’s productivity. You ask for positivity? Support it!