The types of benefits employers are providing their staff with have been changing. Employees are looking for non-traditional perks beyond regular PTO and health insurance. Some companies have even implemented mental health days for their team members. There are some benefits to doing so, and you can implement policies to supply mental health days to your employees fairly easily.
Open Conversation About Mental Health
Mental health is often a topic that is avoided, especially in the workplace. It shouldn’t be. One huge benefit of providing your employees with optional mental health days is that you open up conversations about mental health. When people are encouraged to speak openly about when they need a break or a mental health day, they will feel more comfortable discussing problems. Overall, this will help create a more loyal and engaged workforce.
Allows You to Support Your Team
Offering mental health days for your employees allows you to support them better too. They will feel appreciated and, again, be more loyal and engaged. Your retention and productivity rates will improve because you’re giving them the support they need.
Emphasizes the Well-Being of Your Staff
By providing mental health days, you prioritize your staff’s well-being. This will improve your company’s work culture substantially. You will be aligning the health and well-being of staff members with the overall vision for your organization. For employees, this shows that you are dedicated to them beyond what they do from nine to five.
How to Implement a Mental Health Policy for Your Company
Seeing the benefits detailed above, you may be wondering how you can move forward with offering your staff mental health days. Thankfully, there are some things you can do that will make adopting this policy a breeze.
- Make mental health part of your company culture. If you take the time to emphasize positive mental health in your organization, it will make it easier to implement other policies promoting it.
- Ensure that your work environment promotes positive mental health. Get feedback from your employees regularly about how you can improve. You should also make note of what is going well to continue providing those things for your staff.
- Have counseling programs available. While you may not be able to cover counseling costs for your employees, you can provide them with information to help. Having these resources readily available can help them handle their personal mental health better.
- Check-in with your staff on a regular basis. When you conduct regular check-ins, it will help you gauge how your employees feel about work and their personal lives. You will be able to suggest time off if you see signs of burnout or other problems.
- Don’t have penalties/rewards for mental health days be taken. If someone decides to take a mental health day, don’t penalize them for doing so. Employees shouldn’t be rewarded for not taking mental health days either. Encourage them to take them if needed.
Learn How We Can Help Your Organization
If you are considering supplying your employees with a mental health day or two, the recruiters at Top Notch Personnel can help you fill the temporary gaps in your staff. We can tap into our network and supply you with the talent you need fast. Learn more about how our recruiting services can help you.
