More and more employees struggle with their mental health. This leads to more absenteeism than any other illness or injury. How can you foster a safe psychological climate for you and your team members? We give you some insights below.

Positive team climate as a driver of psychological safety

A positive team climate is one of the most important drivers of psychological safety. In a well-functioning team, people value each other’s contributions and care about the well-being of their colleagues. As a leader, you should foster a climate in which all team members feel safe to speak their minds and share ideas. In short, a team in which everyone feels valued and appreciated for the work they do.

With a positive team climate, employees can work in a safer environment, both mentally and physically. If people feel valued by their colleagues, their physical well-being and safety also improve.

More workdays are lost to mental-health-related absenteeism than to any other illness or injury

Studies have shown that more workdays are lost to mental-health-related absenteeism than to any other illness or injury.  Over 80% of employees say they feel drained after work.

An element that affects people’s mental health is stress. This influences people’s feelings towards others. In a recent questionnaire by Mental Health America a quarter of respondents state that they don’t care about what happens to their colleagues or clients. This state of mind is directly related to their own mental health and not feeling psychologically safe at work.

Such stress-induced behavior is harmful to the health and safety of your organization as a whole. You can avoid this by addressing mental health upfront and keeping an eye on the tension levels of your team members.

What do your employees need from you, their leader?

It’s simple: support. If people are to feel safe and valued at work, they need their management’s support. By making employee mental health a priority in EHS and company-wide management, you should address issues early on.

Encourage people to actually talk about what’s bothering them or about how they are feeling at work. Workplace culture needs to be open to discuss mental health and employees must feel safe to do so. It is your job as a leader to facilitate such an environment for your employees.

An employee who feels good at work will be a safer employee, both psychically and mentally.

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