How to create a healthy work environment

Anna Earl and Fiona Edgar outline recent research that gives insights into how HR professionals can create a mentally healthy workplace.

Nearly half of New Zealanders will meet the criteria for a diagnosis of mental illness at some stage during their lives” says Business NZ. According to Ignite Aotearoa, it is “a legal responsibility to manage risks to mental wellbeing and mental health” in the workplace. Research on mental health in the workplace suggests the disruptions to employees caused by COVID-19 have served to heighten awareness about workplace factors that contribute to poor mental health.

Mental health challenges are now the norm among employees across all levels, and more employees are discussing mental health issues at work. Many organisations have sought to address this problem by developing and implementing a range of support mechanisms, including mental health days, fourday work weeks, flexible working hours and counselling services. However, HR professionals should work on two important aspects, if they are serious about creating a mentally healthy work environment: changes to their organisation’s culture and values and developing deeper connections through social events.

Deeper connections

Recent research by Harvard Business School found that developing support mechanisms for mental health is not enough; a re-evaluation of the organisation’s culture and values is also required. For organisational culture to change, everyone in the workplace needs to play a role, not just HR professionals. The challenge for HR professionals is how to go about effectively training their leaders, managers and employees about mental health, thereby fostering a stigma-free culture towards mental health in their organisations. Where this is achieved, a culture of accountability, trust and support is created.

Cultural shift in organisations requires a change in values, and this can come from leaders talking and sharing their mental health experiences with colleagues. HR professionals need to work together with organisational leaders to change workplace behaviour and create an environment in which members are encouraged to talk about their mental health. This openness helps to normalise mental health, and by walking the talk it also shows employees that their leadership lives and breathes the values espoused by the organisation.

Two important aspects need to be worked on: changes to organisations’ cultures and values and developing deeper connections through social events.

Beyond the alcohol

In New Zealand, work social events (eg, after-work drinks, celebratory functions, and business travel with clients and colleagues) are a vehicle often used by organisations to foster collegial relationships and impart the organisation’s culture. In many cases, it is alcohol that provides the ‘social lubricant’ for these activities. Despite the view that drinking alcohol at workplace social events is now actively discouraged, and in some cases expressly prohibited, a 2017 study of New Zealand workplaces found that, in around 70 per cent of workplaces, alcohol was available, and, in some cases, provided and paid for by the employer. Where alcohol is made available, overindulgence can and does occur, which may lead to trouble; a feature that does not bode well for harmonious relationship development or mental health at work.

However, it is not only alcohol at social events that poses a risk to employers’ and employees’ relationship development. Recent research finds the cost of lost productivity attributable to alcoholrelated issues in New Zealand workplaces to sit around

To develop deeper connections in the workplace, social events should not be primarily associated with alcohol consumption; instead the focus should be on meaningful conversations between employees.

$1.65 billion per year. This figure is made up of lost productivity resulting from employees’ presenteeism and, to a lesser extent, their absenteeism, as well as the costs resulting from employers’ handling of these issues.

The most vulnerable worker groups are males who are young (under 25 years) and those working in stressful occupations. HR professionals can help mitigate the risks and harm resulting from alcohol in the workplace by focusing on prevention rather than cure and education instead of punishment. Efforts with the greatest efficacy are multi-pronged (ie, targeting work, home, community and society), multi-faceted and focused on eliciting attitudinal and behavioural change. 1

Far-reaching benefits

We spend a lot of time at work, so this sphere of our lives provides an ideal space to shape and guide attitudes and behaviour. To develop deeper connections in the workplace, social events should not be primarily associated with alcohol consumption; instead the focus should be on meaningful conversations between employees. Mental health is a health and safety obligation for employers. Organisational cultures need to be open, so employees feel comfortable and empowered to discuss their mental health issues and to be educated about why it is important to look after their mental health. Where this occurs, the benefits can be wide-reaching, extending beyond the workplace to families and the community.

Dr Anna Earl (PhD) teaches advanced human resource management. Her main research interests revolve around the relationship between government and multinational enterprises, and the practices of qualitative researchers. Her current research interests are in emerging economies and stakeholder relationships. In particular, she is interested in organisational change under complex institutional conditions, as well as the role of leadership styles and multinational enterprises.

Dr Fiona Edgar (PhD) teaches and researches in human resource management and employment relations. She worked in industry for several years before entering tertiary education. Fiona’s current research interests include strategic HRM and, in particular, how HRM affects employees in the workplace, as well as the relationship between HRM and organisational performance. Her most recent publications explore the effects of employees’ emotions on workplace performance and sustainability in the context of HRM.