This year’s World Mental Health Awareness Day focuses on ‘Mental Health in the Workplace’, a theme that couldn’t be more relevant in 2024, as rates of workplace burnout reach alarming levels across various industries.
The pandemic may be behind us, but its lingering impact on how we work— long hours, blurred lines between work and home life, and constant digital connectivity —continues to take a toll.
Workplace burnout, characterised by chronic stress, emotional exhaustion, and reduced productivity, has surged in recent years. According to a Gallup study, over half of the global workforce reports feeling overwhelmed, struggling with mental wellbeing, and experiencing difficulty balancing their personal and professional lives.
World Mental Health Awareness Day 2024 highlights the urgency for businesses to take meaningful action in supporting mental health at work
Companies that invest in mental health initiatives — from flexible work schedules and mental health days, to access to counselling services — are not just supporting individual employees, they’re also enhancing productivity, job satisfaction, and overall workplace culture.
Organisations can help foster healthier, more supportive work environments that create lasting benefits. We take a look at three crucial steps business leaders can take to counter workplace burnout in the next 12 months.
Promoting work-life balance
Implementing flexible work schedules, encouraging breaks, and supporting time off are just some of the ways managers can help employees better manage their personal and professional lives. Statistics show that companies offering flexible work options experience 55 per cent lower employee turnover. It’s been shown to not only reduce stress but also enhance engagement and long-term commitment to the organisation.
WATCH: Our film with Gallup on developing thriving, future-proof workplaces.
While work flexibility can often attract new employees, they don’t guarantee high engagement and productivity. According to Jim Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist of workplace management and wellbeing, these traits are mostly inspired by great managers working closely with employees to set goals, providing frequent feedback, focusing on employee development, and building a culture of accountability.
Leaders can decide on which work flexibility options work best for their employees by involving them in thinking about which options could help improve their lives, he said in an article for the Harvard Business Review.
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Foster a positive work environment
Creating a culture that values open communication, recognises accomplishments, and reduces excessive workloads, are powerful approaches to helping prevent burnout before it escalates.
According to Gallup’s research, our relationship with our manager has a 70 per cent influence on how we feel at work and yet managers spend only 7 per cent of their time managing people. Poor management leads to disengaged employees, which in turn impacts economies all around the world.
“97 per cent of employers think they’re doing a really good job of managing their people, while 69 per cent of employees say they’re experiencing bad managers,” says Pa Sinyan, Managing Partner at EMEA Gallup.
According to Gallup, the key to creating a thriving workplace is to identify individual strengths, and plan how each employee can be helped to progress. Providing regular, constructive feedback and investing in meaningful one-on-one meetings can have huge impact, on top of other initiatives that permit open communication.
One company that has become renowned for its mental health policies is Google. Google has built a reputation for prioritising employee wellbeing through initiatives that promote mental health and prevent burnout. Their TGIF town hall meetings and Googlegeist survey encourage open communication, allowing employees to voice concerns and provide feedback.
The company also fosters a culture of recognition through tools like “gThanks,” which enables employees to publicly appreciate one another’s contributions. To manage workloads, Google implements strategies like ‘No Meetings Weeks’, giving employees uninterrupted time to focus and reduce stress. These initiatives demonstrate how a well-structured workplace can prevent burnout, boost morale, and ensure a healthier, more productive workforce.
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Provide mental health resources
Offering access to counselling, mental health days, and employee wellness schemes to support overall wellbeing and address stress early is key — but beyond making the programmes available; it’s about ensuring employees know that they’re there, and utilise them, and that conversations happen around them, to support and drive action.
In an article for the Harvard Business Review, Gallup’s Jeremie Breicheisen says, “If your wellbeing strategy is based on programmes that few people use, then you have failed to bridge the gap between you caring and your employees feeling cared for. Managers must not only understand what programmes are available, they must also be trained on how to talk to employees about their wellbeing.”
WATCH: Mental Health UK’s Deidre Bowen talks mental health in the workplace
Explore more in our 2024 programme The Future of Work: People, Culture, Tech
