More attention has been drawn to the issue of mental health in recent months, with increasing concerns around employee burnout and changing working conditions, especially following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
And with mental health at the forefront, it’s important for companies to have an increased focus on the mental health of their employees. This includes assessing any mental health programs you have in place to ensure your employees have the support they need.
Most employers know that poor mental health has a negative impact on productivity, but the effects can be far reaching. While you can and should encourage your employees to speak up if they are struggling with their mental health, understandably many people will not feel comfortable doing this.
Employee surveys allow you to gauge how your employees are feeling and if they have suggestions of what you can do to help.
HR employee surveys
Employers have a responsibility to understand the impact of mental health on their employees. This could involve implementing workplace mental health services as well as survey programs to keep up to date on how your team is feeling.
Surveys provide a great way for employees to share their experiences, feedback on their mental health and suggestions of services that may be helpful. An online survey tool allows you to engage with your team and provides them a safe place to share feedback so you can measure how employees are feeling towards their workplace.
Removing the stigma associated with mental health is important for ensuring your team feels comfortable sharing their issues with mental health.
Employee mental health can suffer due to various workplace stresses. When conducting employee surveys, consider the different elements that may impact on mental health and well-being, such as workplace culture, supportive management and flexibility with working arrangements.
HR leaders need to check in with employees regularly, especially if your workplace has employees working from home. Conduct regular employee surveys to stay on top of any issues. Compare responses year on year to determine any changes and identify new areas of improvement.
Boost mental health awareness within your workplace by encouraging employees to speak up and providing resources for those who need help.
Survey questions
Carefully consider the questions you include in employee surveys, and make sure to allow employees to respond anonymously to remove any pressure or anxiety they may feel.
The type of questions you ask may include how your employees are feeling while at work, their stress levels, do they feel supported in managing stress, are they interested in having mental health resources made available at work, and do they feel comfortable talking to someone at work about mental health.
HR employee surveys give you a way to learn directly from your team what you can be doing to improve mental health in the workplace.
As well as mental health, you can also ask questions around general health and well being. Perhaps there are other practices you can implement in the workplace such as having fresh fruit available everyday, investing in standing desks, or including a moment of mindfulness at the start of each week.
Using surveys in the right way
Mental health can be a sensitive topic. When conducting surveys relating to the mental health of your employees, it’s important to approach them in a considered manner.
Be careful about the nature of questions you ask and don’t force compulsory responses. Take measures to allow respondents privacy so they feel safe to provide truthful answers.
Think about how you’ll use the information. If you are using surveys to better understand mental health in your company, you need to be prepared to take action based on the results.
Data received through surveys provide you with an overview of the culture of mental health at your company. It can give you a starting point to understand your culture and mental health within your workplace, and inform effective programs, policies and practices for supporting mental health in the workplace. However, if you do not take action following the survey, it may result in distrust or frustration from your employees.
An online survey tool can help your financial firm provide support to your employees around the issue of mental health. SurveyManager offers a range of online and mobile phone survey templates suitable for employee surveys.