Every year, World Mental Health Day reminds us of the importance of protecting and supporting mental health in all aspects of life. The workplace is no exception.
With 79% of employees experiencing moderate-to-high stress levels and a quarter of UK employees reporting feeling unable to cope with workplace stress, organisations are increasingly investing in mental health initiatives like Employee Assistance Programmes, and Mental Health First Aiders.
But one group plays a particularly important role in making these efforts meaningful: managers.
When your workloads feel overwhelming, when stress levels are high, or when life outside of work starts to spill over, who do you turn to? Your manager.
Opening up about mental health is no small step, and how a manager responds can make the difference between someone feeling supported or feeling reluctant to raise issues again. That’s a huge responsibility, and it needs more than just ‘good intentions’. Managers need to be supported to get it right for their teams and to protect their own mental health.
Clear, practical guidance
To stop the taboo around mental health at work, managers need clear and practical guidance. That’s where internal comms can make all the difference.
Wellness toolkits and conversation guides can help managers create supportive and psychologically-safe environments. And having the right tools can help them recognise early signs of distress and handle sensitive chats with care.
Proper training and ongoing support
Training, ‘lunch and learns’ and drop-in sessions with internal support teams and external experts are an opportunity for managers to refresh their skills, ask questions and create consistent standards. Plus, these offer people a space to lean on each other when conversations are particularly tough. Because, after all, these things can take a toll on their mental health too.
Crystal-clear boundaries and expectations
Managers need to know exactly what their organisation expects from them, and the limits of their role. Clear, accessible policies (written in actual human English, not technical HR speak) need to be easy to find and easy to understand to guide their behaviours.
When businesses provide a clear line to follow, it’s better for managers and teams, because everyone will get the support they need.
Great internal communications make this possible.
You can have the best support in the world, but if no one knows about it… well, you get the gist.
Great internal comms raises awareness and promotes mental health resources through engaging campaigns. It uses storytelling and real-business examples to normalise the conversation. It helps segment your audiences so you can support managers, and colleagues, in the most effective ways.
Turning policy into practice
There’s often a massive gap between what’s written in the employee handbook and what actually happens when someone’s having a tough time. Internal comms closes that gap.
It turns “we have an Employee Assistance Programme” into “here’s exactly how to point people towards support and what to say when you do it.” And when managers can connect the dots like this, employees are more likely to trust the wider organisational commitment to mental health.
At Definition, our internal comms specialists work with organisations to help managers feel supported, embed wellbeing into communication strategies and drive engagement across the business.
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Written by Amy Billett, Head of Content at Definition.
