Originally published by Nonprofit Risk Management Center. Read the full article here.
The pandemic made clear that nonprofit employers must recognize and respond to employees’ mental health and wellness needs. It also brought to light workplace patterns that take a mental toll on teams. Learn how to provide assistance your employees value and avoid common pitfalls.
Listen. Staff surveys, exit interviews, and all-staff meetings can give you insights into where your staff is hurting or stressed and needs assistance. Gather and analyze information from all of these channels, make a plan to act on the feedback, and communicate your actions to staff.
Evaluate. Turn a critical eye to your organization’s mental health benefits. Analyze how you can improve them in response to the needs employees shared. Can you give staff members and families access to more sessions with a therapist each year? Provide more telemedicine options for therapy? Provide an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)?
Talk. Make talking about mental health with your team a priority. Don’t make the conversation all about your own experiences—but as a leader, if you don’t share something, you can’t expect anyone else to. Share the message frequently that your workplace prioritizes mental health, and share how it does so. Emphasize that your door and calendar are truly open. Talk about stories in the news or that you’ve heard from other nonprofits of how their teams deal with mental health challenges and stress. And if an employee seems to be struggling, ask privately if they’re OK. Let them know you don’t want to overstep any boundaries, but you’re concerned about their well-being.
Train managers to promote wellness and mental health. Most managers don’t receive any training on how to supervise other people, let alone how to talk with them about the importance of mental health. Let staff see you take breaks and prioritize time for yourself, your interests, and loved ones. Provide positive reinforcement to staff members who do the same, and encourage all team members to do so…
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