Many companies already had robust wellness programs in place even before the pandemic. Think ergonomic furniture, nap pods, or even office gyms.
However, these weren’t exactly useful when most of us had to pivot to remote work. But with long-term isolation and recurrent lockdowns giving rise to more mental health issues, wellness programs are as important as ever, especially for remote workers.
Not sure where to start? Here are six ideas to help you out:
Be Open About Mental Health Issues
Many people find it difficult to discuss mental health problems in the open, especially given the stigma surrounding such. Lots of people hesitate to share their struggles with their colleagues, wary that doing so might threaten their job security.
However, it becomes easier if someone starts the discussion. This can take the form of discussing mental health in general or even sharing your own personal struggles (if you’re comfortable doing so).
The key here is to create a safe space at work where your workers won’t be afraid to speak up if they need to.
Offer Online Stress-Relief Techniques
Of course, not everyone is ready to share their stories openly. This is where other stress-relief techniques come in.
As an alternative, you can provide links to online meditation or therapy sessions. Or why not schedule a live online yoga class where everyone can join in?
Create a Mental Health Toolkit
Providing mental health support goes beyond talking and asking people to open up.
It can also involve curating a list of resources, which show where and how they can ask for help when they need to. For instance, you can come up with a list of websites that offer free mental health support, teleconferencing, wellness exercises, and the like.
Provide Counseling Support
Aside from the standard HMOs, you can also provide additional coverage for counseling. If you’ve got the budget for it, consider offering a healthcare package that offers psychological support.
If you can find a service that has a 24-hour support line, even better.
Allow Pets During Virtual Meetings
Being around pets can do wonders for your mental health. This is exactly why doctors encourage patients with anxiety, depression, or PTSD to get a pet.
Offices don’t allow pets, but so long as they don’t make a lot of noise, there’s no reason why they can’t join in during virtual meetings.. For some employees, snuggling with their pets is an effective coping mechanism for a stressful day at work.
Encourage Taking a Day Off
Nothing beats the feeling of having an extra day to relax. When you feel that a remote worker has been struggling a lot recently, encourage them to take a day off.
Normalise mental health breaks at work and treat anxiety and burnout as you would the flu. Besides, one day off shouldn’t affect your company so much. But for a remote worker who’s been struggling the entire week, it can really make a difference.
While we’re on the subject, don’t neglect your mental health either. Plenty of business owners tend to take on too much, so see if you can delegate some of your more tedious tasks to competent remote workers. If nothing else, you’ll be able to grow your business faster if you’re in good physical and mental health.
Remote Staff has been helping Australian SMEs and entrepreneurs do exactly that with the help of skilled remote workers from the Philippines. With a competent remote team behind you, you can get your business off the ground without sacrificing your mental health in the process.
Call us today or schedule a call back and let’s get started.
Serena has been working remotely and writing content for the better part of the last decade. To date, she's written for Pepper.ph and Mabuhay Magazine, among others, and has churned out more than a thousand articles on everything from The Basics of Stock Market Investing to How to Make Milk Tea-Flavored Taho at home.
