7 December, 2021 | Seema Rekha
Ms. Seema Rekha is a gentle humanitarian by heart and a passionate leader. She has been zealously working for a decade with her partners from varied backgrounds such as government, health, lifestyle, pharmaceuticals, information technology, etc. in the arena of emotional wellbeing. She is a successful, female entrepreneur who has taken Antarmanh’s services to 13 countries in a span of 2 years. The globally operational organisation is bootstrapped since 2013, and is credited with delivering mental health services in diverse socio-cultural communities.
Design wellness strategy to build a culture not to reduce a problem. Mental wellness solutions demand a change in mindset.
The new face of the workplace is bold, clear and much more transparent than the pre-Covid era. Work climate is changing for good. Covid-19 has brought forth a beautifully sensitive side of business – humanity; people for people. The ever-changing business world has come to a point where organisations are turning into ‘human capitalists’ to build a win-win workspace for both employers and employees. The biggest real time scenario where the leaders and the team had shared the same emotional space and demonstrated empathy, vulnerability, collaboration, and most importantly – mutual trust.
This desire for more people-centric policies came through loud and clear during the pandemic. Looking at the other perspective, one shall observe: Head HRs have to lead a team of people who have lost confidence, sense of security, their passion and someone very close to them. An organisation feels responsible not only for their employees but their families too. VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) is a new reality.
Also, it is often misunderstood that vulnerability chooses employee shoulders and skips the plates of leaders and managers, but with a recent incident where around 900 employees got virtually fired over a video call surfacing, this myth was busted. As per the Harvard Business Review (HBR), Covid-19 has caused “deep and long lasting” damage to the job market, it also said that managers are not only dealing with the stress and sadness of having to let go of a large number of their workers, many of them are also feeling underlying anxiety about their own positions. Job loss during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic has been termed “catastrophic” by many business leaders.
Leaders to ensure mental well-being for resilient and sustainable workplace
Wellness is no longer a HR strategy. Now it’s an essential element for sustainability, hence acting as a pillar of strength and a concrete foundation for a business to grow. It’s not only about business protection, it’s now about business performance and excellence.
In the fast changing VUCA world, the new face of wellness has turned preventive. Organisations are now investing their efforts and energy from reactive to preventive by choosing transformational solutions instead of transactional.
An increasing demand to assist employees’ needs for realigning their mental strength is pacing up.
Organisations need to invest efforts to make mental health services more accessible and intervene in the workplace in ways that improve well-being. The wellness strategies must be designed to provide real improvements in employee outcomes and consequently in company performance simultaneously.
The attention-seeking fact is, in the light of Covid-19, employee mental health (including substance use) has become a major concern.
Perceived possibilities about the pandemic’s end may not be the end of the struggle of organisations to create a sustainable workforce without keeping their mental health a priority. The hybrid workspace, disconnect within teams, ongoing family issues and much more. Prioritising mental wellbeing is about the culture of psychological safety which flows top to bottom. Leaders need to pay heed in establishing a positive work-climate by investing in efficient efforts in mapping, measuring, designing, and implementing end to end solutions throughout the employee life cycle.
These are real problems which can be resolved by opting for solutions mentioned below:
