Struggling With Mental Health At Work
We spend the majority of our time either at work or in school, possibly seeing our colleagues more than our family and friends. However, we often don’t feel as connected or as personally supported at work. Viewing the people we spend the majority of our time with through a performance scorecard, rather than as fellow humans with their individual challenges, struggles, and hopes, can leave us in a state of disconnection and harm our collective mental health.
In an inspiring TEDxGeneva Talk, “How genuine connection can redefine mental health at work”, Finance Director, founder of Initiate Mind, and mental health advocate Marek Maslowski talks about his past experience supporting “Johnny”, an employee experiencing depression during COVID-19 – and the insights he gained from this experience.
After noticing persistent deterioration in his work performance and being on the verge of letting Johnny go, Marek shares how he finally had a personal, heartfelt conversation with Johnny, where he learned about Johnny’s struggles with family isolation, loneliness and work stress. After suggesting Johnny obtain professional help and offering as much time off as he needed, Marek shares that Johnny was able to recover and continues to work at the company to this day, even expanding his family.
Marek describes this as a scary experience, particularly due to the amount of people whose struggles go unnoticed in favour of increased work performance. People are encouraged to push through, to not talk about their invisible struggles at the workplace, and with continued silent suffering the stigma of mental health struggles also continues. Mental health challenges are most often invisible and silent at work. They manifest through lowered performance and quiet disconnection. With a physical injury such as a broken limb, managers are not so quick to pass judgement, often there are readily available resources and accommodations. When the struggle is not readily apparent or even stigmatized, cutting slack is scarce and judgement is plenty.
Marek describes the role of a manager, a leader, as not only assessing employee performance, but also taking care of their wellbeing, particularly creating a safe space and a trusting and personal enough relationship to express vulnerability. He describes how he has introduced emotional intelligence into his employee relationships. Approaching employees and fellow colleagues with genuine, empathy-backed curiosity, consistently asking how they are doing creates an environment where the responsibility of mental health conversations does not solely fall on the shoulders of those who are suffering.
Marek emphasizes the importance of awareness and truly looking after each other as humans. We must look after each other with genuine care and curiosity, prioritizing wellbeing over profit or productiveness.
Learn more about Marek Maslowski here: https://initiatemind.com/
Image Credit:
Feature Image: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/desperate-evicted-male-entrepreneur-standing-near-window-3771129/
