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well-being is a continuous journey and a
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continuous State it's not a program that
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we put in place it's actually something
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we need to start infusing into a lot of
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our practices the way we design work the
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way we educate managers the way we
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provide them with the tools to be that
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first point of contact and I also
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believe there's work to be done in HR I
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don't think we've done a very good job
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of equipping and enabling HR to do much
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more in terms of support from a mental
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well-being point of view than referring
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out to the support network and I believe
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that needs to change hello everyone and
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welcome to HR Hot Topics my name is Eric
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from volpin with me is Dieter weltzmann
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and we're going to talk about an
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important topic which is about
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well-being and mental health
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I think it's been called The Silent
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crisis and I think we've seen a lot of
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traction over the past period in terms
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of the importance of mental well-being
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within the workplace what I'd like to
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talk about today is that we need to
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encourage organizations to continuously
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invest in the well-being and
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specifically in the mental well-being of
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their Workforce a lot of people had this
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inclination to say but we've passed the
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pandemic and we still find a lot of the
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newest research tells us that people are
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still stressed at work anxiety is still
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at high levels with people fearing what
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is going to happen to my job in terms of
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AI am I going to lose my job in future
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Rising costs of living and inflation and
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we find that organizations still need to
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put strategies in place with regards to
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the mental well-being of their employees
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Eric to kickstarters what do you think
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and why do you think is it important
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that organizations invest in mental
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well-being now of course we're both not
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experts and we're talking about this
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from an HR angle and not from a medical
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angle but I think if we look at society
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around us there's more and more emphasis
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on the importance of a mental health I'm
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thinking of Naomi Osaka who decided to
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stop her tennis career and take a
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prolonged break just you know to
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prioritize her mental well-being Sean
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Mendes did the same so I think for a lot
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of younger people the younger generation
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that comes into the organization mental
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well-being is much more front and center
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and we're much more comfortable talking
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about it and I think add to that the
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fact you know that we spent one third of
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our lives at work I think it is a very
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important conversation to have and it's
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important to think about what is the
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impact that work has on our mental
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well-being as workers and also how can
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we make that better just like we want to
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make people more engaged we also want to
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take care of their mental well-being
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because I think that is a key way to get
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people more engaged I think something
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that is moving in the right direction
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Eric is at least into in terms of
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accessibility to mental well-being
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resources we've seen a lot of new
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digital platforms that at least provides
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accessibility because that has been a
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very big barrier in the past in terms of
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people being able to access Mental
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Health Services and I believe leave
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organizations have a lot more Choice
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Beyond just traditional Employee
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Assistance programs these days to
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provide a variety of channels that are
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confidential and more suited to the
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needs of different Generations within
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the workforce but they need to getting
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access to mental well-being support so I
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also believe and that kind of Builds on
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your example that we've finally reached
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a stage where there's language to
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discuss this and we've started to
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demystify and destigmatize what mental
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well-being really refers to from an HR
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point of view how do you think I should
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approach that as HR in terms of putting
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together my mental well-being strategy I
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think mental well-being should be part
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of the broader well-being strategy that
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you have in the organization and I'm
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referring now to the to the world
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economic Forum that says you know you
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have they talk about total well-being
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that encompasses physical well-being
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Financial well-being and mental
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well-being and I think there's also a
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strong case to add social well-being to
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that equation as well I think as an
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organization and shr we should take a
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look Inward and get a sense of what are
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we addressing you know and are we taking
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care of total well-being or are we only
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focusing on physical well-being or one
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or two of these aspects I think another
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thing that becomes more and more
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relevant is you know in an age where
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we're more and more connected where we
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see more and more of what others are
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doing on platforms like Tick Tock like
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Instagram what does that do with our
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well-being and with our sense of
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connectedness and I think that goes back
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to that social well-being aspect that I
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think is also very important for our
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mental well-being there's something on
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the rise here Eric and you've kind of
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referred to it that I think we're going
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to have to help organizations and
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employees with in the future and that's
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really the rise of loneliness and
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workplace loneliness in particular with
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a lot of people starting to work in more
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hybrid setups and hybrid ways and I
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don't refer to the fact that you need
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friends at work what I'm talking about
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is that sense of social connection that
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you need and that you need to get out of
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your job in terms of engaging with
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colleagues it is a real challenge
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because I think to a large part a lot of
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organizations have left that to the
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devices of the individual to manage
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themselves or to manage on their own and
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it is going to be quite a mindset shift
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that we have to help organizations
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understand that you have to almost
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engineer your social connection as part
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of a holistic well-being program and
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that for me comes with a couple of
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shifts that organizations need to make
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in terms of well-being is a continuous
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journey in a continuous State it's not a
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program that we put in place it's
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actually something we need to start
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infusing into a lot of our practices the
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way we design work the way we educate
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managers the way we provide them with
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the tools to be that first point of
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contact and I also believe there's work
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to be done in HR because in my view and
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I'd love your view on this I don't think
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we've done a very good job of equipping
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and enabling HR to do much more in terms
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of support from a mental well-being
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point of view than referring out to the
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support network and I believe that needs
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to change I fully agree and I you know
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we speak more and more about diversity
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Equity inclusion and belonging and I
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think when we talk about social
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well-being that belonging pH becomes a
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more and more an increasingly important
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part of what we do in HR and I think
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when we bring it back to the to the
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mental well-being topic you know if you
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have those social connections and if you
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do have a sense of belonging if you have
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problems you know you don't just have
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the organization that you can talk to
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you can also talk to your peers and then
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I think there's also a conversation to
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be had about what is the role of the
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different parties you know what is the
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role and maybe that's a question I
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should ask to you Dieter what is the
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role of the organization and what is the
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role of the individual employee here
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that's a crucial point that Eric because
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I believe what happened during covet and
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I I think it was you know it's one of
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those unintended consequences that
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happened where I believe a lot of people
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felt powerless so they almost outsourced
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their well-being to the organization it
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was the responsibility of the
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organization to make sure I had support
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structures in place we have to make sure
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that individuals also understand that
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there's a personal responsibility that
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you also have pertaining to your own
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well-being the organization has got a
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responsibility to make sure that there's
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an environment where you as an
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individual can flourish and that you've
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got the necessary resources to meet the
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demands of the workplace but there's
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also an individual responsibility about
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me looking holistically at both my
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personal and professional life and
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saying what does well-being look like
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for me what are my coping mechanisms
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what gives me energy what detracts
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energy from that as well so I think that
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is a bit of a process that does need to
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shift a little bit and we almost need to
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help individuals take ownership of their
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own well-being and having said that also
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to help HR managers leaders also
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understand the fact that they are an
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employee first so if they don't look
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after their own well-being they can't do
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anything beyond that for the rest of the
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organization very often we find that
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middle layer burns out in an
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organization and you mentioned
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loneliness what's really really
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interesting is younger employees are
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starting to also experience loneliness
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where a lot of people only ascribe that
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to people leaving the workforce a lot
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later starting to see that actually at
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different parts of the workforce I think
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there's work to be done around whose
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responsibility is well-being and who
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takes ownership and accountability for
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well-being holistically and maybe one
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thing that we haven't touched on yet is
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the the well-being peace when it comes
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specifically to the HR population
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because I think as HR professionals we
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may be very inclined to take a lot of
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care about the well-being of others but
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to your point you know you are an
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employee first and if you can't take
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care of yourself it will be very hard to
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take care of others I think the same
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holds true for HR professionals as well
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so do prioritize when it is needed your
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own well-being first because you know
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it's just like in an airplane if you
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don't put on your own mask first you
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won't be able to help all those because
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you know you'll pass out at some point I
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want to build on that point a bit Eric
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because and I'm going to use a personal
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example here you know when whenever HR
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professionals at times believe they also
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need help from a well-being perspective
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very often the barriers that we try to
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overcome in the organization actually
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holds us back so for example
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confidentiality we want to make sure
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that there's confidential channels to
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seek help as HR we also know that a
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channel will always have a bit of a
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trial and even though we keep that
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information confidential we don't want
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our information to pop up somewhere you
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know from an HR perspective looking at
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that so in the well-being space we have
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to start thinking about creating certain
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barriers and doing things in a
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particular way that HR professionals
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also have the opportunity to access
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Support Services in a confidential way
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in a respectful Manner and in a way that
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also treats them with dignity and
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respect because I often believe that
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that's the barrier in terms of why
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people don't want to access that a lot
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of stigma I believe still exists within
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the HR Community around the fact that
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you have to ask for help and it's okay
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to ask for help and we need to overcome
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that so these are maybe a question to
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wrap this up if there's a HR
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professionals watching and they think
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okay mental well-being is important and
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we're not doing anything in our
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organization at the moment what is the
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first thing that they can do in order to
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get a quick win going I think Eric the
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first thing is have an understanding in
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terms of where your organization is at
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the moment and what I mean by that is
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there's a lot of data usually available
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without being intrusive to just have an
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understanding of the pulse of the
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organization we do that through an
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engagement survey or whether through
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informal conversations I believe your
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biggest bet and your biggest win can be
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around how do we help managers identify
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the signs that somebody is struggling in
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their team and what is it that they
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should do and then obviously put
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together that first line of support with
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professional help that people can call
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that's a great starting point I think at
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least to hold the space and then from
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there we can build the more total
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well-being approach that you referred to
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earlier but for me get started they
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understand what's going to make the
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biggest difference now with the
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organization is get managers on board in
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terms of being able to spot where there
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might be some mental well-being
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challenges and get some professional
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help as a first tier to hold the space
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and refer people through to that and I
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think that all already put you on a good
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path towards success in the long term
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Dieter I think well-being and mental
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health is an incredibly important topic
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that we can still say a lot of things
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about I think one of the good things
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that came from the pandemic is that
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there's an increased emphasis on the
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importance of mental well-being and I
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think that is a that is a big win for
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those who want to learn more about
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well-being we have a talent management
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certificate program where we also have a
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specific course on mental well-being
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where we also address loneliness and
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important the key factor in a decrease
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in mental well-being on the work floor
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and where you can learn much much more
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about and go much deeper and also access
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practical resources that will help you
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establish well-being total well-being in
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your organization also in the edge our
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community if you're a member we also
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have multiple webinars resources on
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well-being if that's of interest to you
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I would also highly recommend that now
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before we go I want to ask you one thing
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which is to smash that like button
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subscribe to our Channel and hit
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notification Bell because whenever we
00:10:53
publish new content about HR you'll be
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kept in the loop with that being said
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Peter thank you very very much and have
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a brilliant day
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foreign
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[Music]
