Recently I had an article released in The Canberra Times talking about “The Me You Can’t See”, the combined Oprah and Prince Harry mini-series which discusses mental health, including Harry’s
It is important to have balance in our working lives to ensure that we can maintain a good level of wellbeing.
What is most important is making sure that organisations are able to support their staff to understand what wellbeing means and to ensure that we put systems in place to support it.
Part of my own wellbeing during the day is to go outside, take a breather and get away from the constant requirements of the work that I do with clients. It provides a way of breaking up the day and the constant feeling of pressure we often find in working environments.
In organisations where people feel that they are being micromanaged, not trusted or given autonomy over their work, the vibrational elements of their emotions tend to give off negative vibes. Similar to that feeling when you walk into a room and you could cut the air with a knife because two people have been arguing. You get this automatic feeling that you don’t want to be there.
Many believe that the problem with staffing issues from a mental health perspective are about Absenteeism – employees staying at home, not coming to work. In reality, the biggest impact on our productivity is from Presenteeism – employees turning up to work but not functioning effectively.
One of the conversations I often have with organisations is about validating the experiences of their employee's. When conflict in the work environment leads to one person taking stress leave, it is important to validate the stressed person’s perspective, regardless of who or what has resulted in the conflict.