Workplace stress remains ‘alarmingly high’, says Jo Werker, CEO at Boostworks, but proactive HR can play a vital role in reducing mental ill health and ensuring employees feel more supported, valued, and connected.
Today kicks off Mental Health Awareness Week – an important reminder for businesses to actively prioritise the emotional wellbeing of their employees. This year’s theme of ‘community’ presents a timely opportunity to take stock of how effectively your workplace fosters a supportive, inclusive, and mentally healthy environment.
Sadly work-related stress remains alarmingly high – with recent studies highlighting that nearly 10 percent of UK adults took time off work for mental health reasons in 2024, costing the UK economy around £57.4 billion each year (Centre for Mental Health, 2024). These figures underline the urgency for companies to proactively tackle mental health at work. So how can organisations make their employees feel more supported, valued, and connected? Here’s a few key areas to focus your efforts on:
- Create a supportive community through recognition
Research from Mental Health UK (The Burnout Report 2024) shows that 81 percent of HR professionals consider manager feedback and peer recognition crucial to creating a supportive environment. These types of programmes boost morale, improve motivation, and enhance a sense of community. In practical terms:
- Provide regular feedback. Establish frequent check-ins between managers and employees to acknowledge achievements and provide constructive feedback.
- Enable platforms or schemes for employees to recognise each other’s efforts and contributions.
- Celebrate personal and professional milestones to reinforce employees’ sense of belonging and appreciation.
- Enable flexible working for better mental health
While the debate around working from home continues, there is no doubt that flexible working arrangements are highly effective in reducing stress and improving mental wellbeing. Employees with flexible working options report better work-life balance, less stress, and increased productivity. Consider a range of flexible working options such as flexible hours, compressed workweeks or job sharing.
- Include mindfulness as an employee benefit
Integrating mindfulness into workplace benefits has proven highly effective in reducing stress and fostering emotional resilience. They also help reduce absenteeism and presenteeism while boosting employee productivity, creativity, and ultimately fostering stronger interpersonal relationships and team cohesion. Consider running guided meditation sessions or workshops, introduce quiet zones and providing subscription access to mindfulness apps for easy, on demand support.
- Building open communications
Open communication significantly contributes to a supportive community, reducing stress by fostering trust. When these channels are transparent, employees feel empowered and supported in discussing their mental health. You can encourage open communications by trying out anonymous feedback tools, running regular town hall meetings where questions are encouraged from employees at all levels. Be sure to provide training for managers too, equipping them with the skills to sensitively handle mental health conversations.
- Invest in employee growth
Career development opportunities significantly enhance job satisfaction and mental wellbeing. Employees who feel their growth is valued are less likely to experience workplace stress and burnout. Look at introducing personalised training plans – tailored to employees’ career aspirations, look at mentoring and coaching options and provide continuous learning platforms.
- Look for employee benefits that reduce stress
Meaningful employee benefits that can be easily accessed, significantly impact mental wellbeing and reduce workplace stress. While benefits and rewards can vary dramatically these are the top three that I’d recommend:
- Initiatives such as financial literacy workshops and discount programmes.
- Health and wellness perks (think health cash plans, gym memberships, and mental health apps).
- Flexible holiday options: Allow employees flexibility in holiday trading and additional leave.
This Mental Health Awareness Week is a timely reminder that when HR teams put these strategies into practice, they’re not just improving policies, they’re building workplaces where people feel supported, connected, and able to thrive. Let’s use this momentum to commit to real and lasting change.
