People are the greatest asset of an organization. The success of an organization is defined by the efficiency and effective productivity of an employee. Mental health plays a crucial role in addressing an employee’s productivity at work.

Mental health at the workplace: Why is it important?

Addressing mental health at the workplace is always crucial, especially after depressing events like the pandemic. Employees’ mental health should be prioritized since it affects the person and the company on several levels.

According to recent WHO-led research, ‘depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy a US$1 trillion loss in productivity each year. The foundation of a good working environment is creating a space where individuals can work without feeling pressured or stressed.’

Redefining mental health in the workplace

At Finforz, we actively work to ensure that our employees are comfortable and at ease. We believe that by caring for one other’s mental health in the most basic ways, we can build a workplace where everyone loves to work. Mental health is and has always been a priority for us, and we do everything we can to help the employees feel comfortable.

Our employees are our most valuable assets, and we are dedicated to ensuring their well-being as an organization. Our company culture is itself built based on the important principle that employees come first. Our office policies address various concerns around mental health along with the code of conduct.

Now, How Do We Do It?

Having a rewarding job where one may work in peace might be beneficial to one’s mental health and overall well-being. Making the workplace a more positive place to work needs a lot of thought and action. That is why, at Finforz, we strive to ensure that our workers’ mental health is adequately cared for in a variety of ways.

1. Building a Culture Where Everyone is Supportive

Our company culture by itself is built on focusing on the well-being and growth of our employees. The culture code “Work For Yourself, And Not For Company”, emphasizes this very basic idea of making the employees a priority. We never enforce or pressurize our employees when it comes to workload, rather we support them by making all the resources needed for the work available. We make sure to provide resources around emotions, stress management, conflict resolution, mindfulness, and other topics. We also create forums on any communication channels for managers to discuss and seek advice on issues impacting their team. We consider that peer support is essential.

Work may have a significant impact on an individual’s mental health. Negative working circumstances can lead to the development of mental illness among employees. In general, despite their great prevalence among the working population, mental health disorders have been largely under-recognized among employers and managers. However, at Finforz, we try to remove the stigma associated with employees’ mental health in the workplace. We feel that mental health is important on all levels. As a result, it should be given all the attention it deserves.

2. Creating a Safe Space

At Finforz, we believe that creating an emotionally safe environment at work does not need being a counselor or therapist. Rather, we foster an environment of emotional safety in which the concept of self-expression is normalized. We have always established an environment in which employees feel safe expressing their emotions to peers, managers, and others.

We have given employees at work the freedom to openly voice their problems, and profound ideas, and find acceptance and empathy. We understand that suppressing or ignoring emotions can result in poor performance, decreased productivity, absenteeism, low morale, interpersonal challenges, and other problems. So, at Finforz achieving mental health through creating a safe environment for employees has and always will be a priority. We accomplish this by maintaining a no senior, no junior policy in which everyone is treated equally regardless of their years of experience, gender, religion, caste, or background. Our workplace is a collaboration of talents and people who come together for the love of work and to create a better world.

3. Making Mental Health Policies Clear

Finforz is an equal opportunity employer with strict office policies. We are always against any kind of discrimination and harassment at the workplace. We commit not to discriminate against workers based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, or age. We strive to make sure that nothing that might harm an employee’s mental health happens in our workplace. We enforce a zero-tolerance policy on all such matters.

We create a safe space where any employee can feel free to report any type of difficulties they have been facing at the office. Once any such incidents are reported, we pledge to take immediate action and do the needful. We make sure to also give each employee the freedom to act against any kind of matter that disrupts their mental as well as physical well-being.

4. Encouraging employees to lead an active, healthy and mindful lifestyle

At Finforz, we encourage employees to lead an active and healthy lifestyle. To do the same we organize a Walkathon Challenge, where we challenge our people to walk 8000 steps every day for a month. Employees who finish it will receive cash rewards and other benefits. We believe that by challenging employees to adopt such healthy habits, we may foster a thoughtful workplace. This not only benefits their mental health but also helps them stay fit. We usually urge our staff to join in this walkathon, and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback. Such challenges will help keep them engaged and might serve as a great motivator. As a part of our ongoing effort to encourage mindfulness regarding oneself, we conduct regular webinars that cover topics ranging from career guidance, importance of self-love to movies. We aim to do much more in the near future.

5. Reinventing Organizational Structure

Moving away from the traditional organizational structure is one way we make our workplace a comfortable one for our employees. The key to all of this is to eliminate the old hierarchy and let our staff self-organize and manage. Essentially, they are free-range employees with little constraints on how they spend their time. We also encourage our staff to not call out their superiors as sir/madam, as we believe that respect comes from the heart. This lets us create a workplace where everyone is treated equally and given the same amount of respect.

This week, we are hosting a #healthawarenessweek, where we are seeking to encourage our employees to communicate and break the chain and stigma that lies around mental health.