We focus so much of our energy on physical health - whether it’s making sure we provide fruit in the office, getting our workforce to move more or filling in return-to-work forms following sickness leave, all of our conversations about health in HR are geared towards the body but how much do we talk about the mind?
Mental Health has been on a trend-cycle for the last few years; and that’s great, but if we aren’t separating Mental and Physical Health – are we actually taking it all that seriously?
Taking sick days as an example. How often do we tell our workforce it’s OK to use sickness leave for mental strains as well as physical exhaustion? When your employees returns to work, do we ask them how they are feeling mentally or do we ask for a Doctors note relating to a physical illness? When we look around our offices and see some members of staff clearly struggling to deal with the pressures of work, do we say let’s go for a walk and maybe take the day tomorrow to work from home in the calm of your own environment?
Sometimes, our employees need a day to be quiet. A day to de-stress. A day to unwind and keep up with the social and working pressures they may have kept quiet for months. They need this time to re-set and refresh to be as productive and vibrant an employee as they possibly can. It will help them and it helps you, so should we be offering 're-set days' to our workforce alongside sick days?
Join the conversation about Mental Health Leave, is it a thing and if not, should it be?
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