Ways to integrate mental health awareness into remote working

Various reports have validated the home working only (note: not true remote working!), combined with the stress of the pandemic are taking the toll on our mental health. I wrote about this in October, for RTE Brainstorm in an article entitled “How working from home is affecting our mental health and wellbeing”, quoting the various reports that validated this. Since then I have booked two trainings to support my mental health awareness and toolkit for these times. Later in October, I undertook the See Change Mental Health For Managers by See Change course. In November, I completed my Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course. I have taken the knowledge from these courses to compile these practical ways to integrate mental health awareness and support into remote teams working and management.

Both of the training course I undertook, emphasised Approach the person you believe is struggling with a mental health issue, then Assessing their situation BUT we are working virtually, so how do identify the virtual signs, ask (reach-out) remotely? How do you ask a colleague how they are, really - if they won’t use video conferencing to connect with you?

Nature of Remote Work: A reminder about the context and nature of transitioning to Remote Work; we are at a distance from colleagues, reliant on technology tools, learning new skills continuously and constantly honing the ways we communicate. In established remote organisations, often (unlike traditional organisations), employees are measured on outputs rather than performance. Advanced communication methods, can include how to communicate our feelings, emotions and general state of health or disposition, at any particular moment in time. There is a heavy emphasis on documentation and the use of visual ways to communicate.

Established remote workers and teams, who have advanced the way the communicate remotely (termed “asynchronous communication”) which often include establishing norms to share, express and acknowledge moods and feelings. Underpinning this is the ability of many experienced remote team managers in conducting virtual 1-2-1 chats with their team’s, regularly which are not performance focused but based on how the whole workers is doing, enabling honest and open exchanges.

Example: The use of Emojis in Remote Teams

Visual symbols such as emojis to communicate virtually, indicating mood, status and feelings. Some teams even design their own customised emojis, to reflect their particular team culture. This could also include emojis that express mood etc. But, introducing these and clarifying their use is often done in person, during team retreats IRL, where the virtual way of expressing is agreed and adopted company wide. Then channels such as Slack etc., can be used to prompt and gather status daily on a team level.

Start today - Counteract the known risks of home working only - Home working is a very restrictive version of remote working. In it’s current context, the known risks of burnout/overworking, isolation and loneliness.

Small practical and proactive initiatives can help to combat this:

• introduce a “for yourself” health day (or duvet day!), which will encourage workers to ask for and take this time if needed

• encourage the adoption of Wellness Action Plan (WAP) related to home working. Workers can complete and share, in their own time

• actively discourage long hours and overworking, leaders need to lead and demonstrate positive behaviour on this

• establish video communication norms i.e. we need video connection and communications to establish context and norms. How do you ensure that video is the default method for important conversations in your team?

• acknowledge the current potential stressors - ask workers directly what support they need on wellbeing

• encourage healthy work-life-balance and downtime; including using tool notifications, establishing core hours clearly etc. It is vital managers lead by example in relation to this

• investigate EAP supports, specific to home working, like this from Laya Healthcare - or other similar practical supports

• at the start of team calls, structure and encourage chit-chat, to support social connection

• virtual (social only!) coffee chats, which are not work related and give a chance for informal connections

• create a central web page or shared folder with supports, here is one example on handling stress during COVID-19 by WHO

• adopt the use of visual cues, to express mood. This can actively support individual communication preferences

• plan a virtual challenge to support wellbeing, for example the charity Barnardos 3,000 steps challenge in November

Read more about how to weave wellness into remote working here.

Take an organisational wide approach - Ensure you have a mental health policy in place, within your HR policy and protocols (check out this example from GitLab) and ensure it is nuanced, supported with initiatives and integrated practically into daily conversations and operations. Then move on to look to embed (and reiterate) this with learning and development support for staff and particularly managers who may need guidance on how to ask, listen and support their staff, in a remote world. Also, see the end of this article for further reading on how to integrate Mental Health into organisational policy, with a holistic approach.

Do you need specific Mental Health training in your organisation? - Yes is the answer and with the growing awareness and importance in recent years. Finally the worker who comes to work (virtually and in person), is recognised as the whole person they are. Further details below on the various training and supports available. From a team manager perspective, are your managers equipped to practice active listening, ask and support these type of conversations with team members?

Ensure your virtual door is open - As a manager, ask yourself “How would I ensure my virtual door is open to my team and ways can I demonstrate that regularly”. Remember, you can use honesty and open conversation to end stigma and support your team members, holistically. Try sharing what you are comfortable with openly with your team, to demonstrate your human side and lead by example.

Learn from the established remote work organisations - many fully remote organisations like GitLab have learned over their years of operations how to proactively support mental health in their workforce. “The solutions are as diverse as the challenges” as this article by Acework outlines, there is lots of knowledge to be garnered from those established remote companies.

In conclusion, the fact that you read this far is a good indication of your interest in this subject. Commit to read some more on the topic, do some training and talk openly in your conversations. All of which support better connection in our remote conversations and connections.

Further resources and reading:

Laya Healthcare Client? - check out the various Laya Healthcare Remote Working series and the Remote Working Direct Consultations I offer.

Holistic approach to organisational Mental Health First Aid

Learn how to cope with stress during COVID-19 by WHO

Encourage wellbeing and self-care practice at a Leadership level - “Serious” Leaders Need Self-care Too