Supporting positive mental health and wellbeing through technology

by Harriet Muir
Published on June 5, 2020

Technology. It permeates our lives. From morning to night we are consumed by it. So it’s not surprising that an ongoing debate exists on whether technology and the use of digital devices are detrimental to our mental health.
 
Research shows however that technology can support mental health and wellbeing, especially in the workplace and specifically during times of crisis.
 
Recently, Enablo Experience Consultant Zarese spoke with registered psychologist and General Manager of Luemo Workplace Wellbeing Margaret Aboody. Focused on helping organisations become great places to work, Margaret provides some insights into how technology can support mental health and wellbeing at work.

Start – The basics: how technology can support mental wellbeing at work

In this part of the conversation we discuss:

  • An overview of some of the technology that can support mental wellbeing – is your business utilising or promoting telehealth services?

  • Did you know about the range of short courses available to embed and promote mental wellbeing such as Mental Health First Aid training?

  • Why credibility is key when sharing support resources

7.40 – What self-reflective tools can HR teams share?

In this part of the conversation we discuss:

  • Have you heard of DASS?

  • There are a range of apps available that encourage and facilitate healthy behaviours and mindfulness

  • What’s in your toolkit currently?

13.05 – The DOs and DONTs to creating a psychologically safe workplace online

In this part of the conversation we discuss:

  • How are you creating comfort and preventing the deterioration of connectedness?

  • Why establishing a communications plan with your leadership is vital

  • How to facilitate active listening in an online environment: Active listening in an online meeting is much the same as in person. Show your fellow attendees that you are interested! Here are some key tips:

  1. In online meetings, keep your video and microphone turned on throughout the meeting, and encourage everyone to do so. If you can’t mute yourself or hide under the table in real life, you should practice the same online. This also creates a more rapid feedback loop, as there isn’t a delay of changing your mute settings each time you reply.

  2. Give people time to reply, during the meeting, and outside of the meeting: Not all users are confident enough to speak up during a meeting, they may also require more time to digest the presentation before making a decision.
  3. Always allow participants to share their feedback after the meeting, but ensure you set a deadline to keep things moving.

  4. For private meetings, make a written and verbal commitment to take the call in a private environment for everyone’s benefit. Give all participants the confidence that the meeting won’t be overheard, and all can speak openly. 


TIPS for Workplace implementation

  • Develop your leaders and champions onboarding with psychologically safe guidelines in mind.

  • Share wellbeing information regularly within a People and Culture group open to all staff, and be sure to include a place to have private conversations on wellbeing as well.

  • Add links to policy, guidelines and any Employee Assistance Program in the Resources space. When appropriate, encourage users to share their experiences when accessing EAP’s, to encourage all users to take part in the programs.

  • Do a Q&A video or an easy-read PDF on supports available and how to access these. 
Ensure managers include wellbeing as a regular meeting agenda item.

Other useful links:

Try the Luemo Wellbeing Balance Scorecard

For more on why Comms and HR teams are so important in this discussion, we highly recommend a read of this journal by Gatehouse – What internal comms can do about employee wellbeing?

26.20 – Managing wellbeing while staff work from home during crisis

In this part of the conversation we discuss:

  • Why it’s important to acknowledge that performance and productivity will be diminished during this time

  • How can teams be their most ‘human’
?
  • Why you should explore different ways of communicating – phone, video, chat groups (lucky Workplace has all of these!) 

  • Why communicating your Business Continuity Planning is crucial

  • The importance of supporting your managers  


TIPS for Workplace implementation

  • Here’s how to be a little more human when staff are WFH – have your leaders go live from ZOOM into a Workplace group
  • Conduct a Wellbeing Check through the survey feature

  • Utilise a dedicated Workplace group or the Knowledge Library to provide advice and support for managers
Additional reading and viewing:

Why is the humanity focus so important? Here’s a great video on Perspective and Performance in uncertain times 
Considerations for developing a wellbeing program.

Considerations for developing workplace wellbeing program.

Contact

Contact Margaret to discuss developing your workplace wellbeing toolkit
+61 402 029104 
+61 1300 284198
https://luemo.com.au/

Margaret Aboody, registered Psychologist and GM Luemo Workplace Wellbeing.
Meet the Author
Harriet Muir
Harriet discovered the power of Workplace when she rolled it out at a large energy company while in their internal comms team. Now she gets to bring together her love of collaboration tech and internal culture with her experience in marketing and storytelling as Enablo's Marketing Manager.

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