CREATING A MENTALLY HEALTHY WORKPLACE

Table tennis matches, indoor cricket games, chilling out in a comfy beanbag and an emphasis on connection and social catch ups does not sound like your typical day at the office, however, that is exactly what has been implemented at the Gold Coast office of Blink Finance.

“Creating a positive and welcoming workplace for our employees to come to everyday is very important to myself and my business partner, George Despotovic.” Said Director, Dave Hooper. “At Blink Finance we believe a positive workplace environment stems from openness, transparency and an overall supportive nature.”

With most of us spending more time at work than at home, it is becoming more of a necessity for workplaces to adopt a healthy and safe work environment both physically and mentally and this often starts by creating a positive culture.

Statistics from Australia’s Mental Health Workplace Alliance 2016 revealed that it is estimated that untreated mental health conditions cost Australian workplaces approximately $10.9 billion dollars per year.

Whilst it’s not possible for every workplace to have a table tennis table and a chill out room filled with bean bags to help their staff maintain  positive emotional well-being, there are other methods that Blink Finance have used that is just as influential to their team including engaging the LIVIN Organisation and having our LIVINWell Workplaces Program delivered to their staff.

“Having the LIVINWell Program delivered to our team seemed like a natural progression to further our involvement with
LIVIN.” Said Dave. “The (LIVINWell Workplaces) program was an opportunity for the whole team to come together and focus on mental health, themselves and each other. It was 45 minutes where we were not interrupted by phone calls, emails or anything else work related. The content covered in the program taught us how we can help break the stigma surrounding mental health, gave us tools to
enhance self-efficacy and encouraged us to shared lived experiences with others.”

In addition, the team also engaged in a number of team building and fundraising activities incorporating the LIVIN message which was a great success both in education and motivation for the Blink Finance team. “Having friends, colleagues, family and clients who have suffered and/or suffer from mental health related issues, we loved the idea of being able to contribute to an organisation that supports this with a fresh, innovative and welcoming approach.”

The benefits of creating a mentally healthy workplace not only benefits the personal lives of the staff but also inadvertently results in more productivity for the business itself if the employees feel a loyalty and sense of belonging to their employers and work colleagues.

Some other general tips to create a workplace that promotes mental health include:

• Promote a work/life balance which can be as simple as specifically acknowledging employees that arrive to work early or stay late so it is not portrayed as an expectation of their standard working day.
• Make the conversation of mental health a standard dialogue amongst the company including educating senior staff on possible signs of employees struggling and just making a general effort to ask team members how they are going.
• Make wellness a priority and part of your business culture such as offering staff incentives for looking after themselves with free gym memberships, engaging a nutritionist to come in and speak to the staff, promoting local yoga and meditation classes etc.
• Support employees or work colleagues efforts to seek help if they need it by having a designated HR or staff member who is equipped to either discuss their mental health/personal issues or provide them with list of pre-assigned options for organisations that can assist.  Make it easy for them to speak up!

If you would like more information about our LIVINWell Workplaces Program, CLICK HERE and get your workplace’s mental health on track!

#ItAintWeakToSpeak