Agile Culture & Mental Health Keys To Boosting Employee Engagement

The way in which organisations support and care for their staff has always been an important consideration. But changing employee expectations following the events of the past two years will mean employers have to step up their workplace wellbeing games if they want to attract and retain the best talent.

While providing the right mix of employee benefits is a great starting point, by placing more focus on employee mental health and instilling an agile culture, employers can further engage their workforce and reap the associated benefits.

[Related reading: Tangible Benefits Of Supporting Staff Health & Wellbeing]

Not Enough Employers Talking About Staff Mental Health

More people are experiencing some form of depression. Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that one in six adults (17%) experienced some form of depression in summer 2021 – up from 10% before the pandemic.

However, despite unprecedented levels of uncertainty and heightened anxiety among employees, a significant proportion of employers did not give the topic of mental health much focus last year.

Indeed, according to YouGov research, commissioned by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), 35% of employers did not speak to their staff about mental health in 2021. 

While 59% of employers said they did speak to their employees about mental health, 3% said they did not know or could not remember, and a further 3% preferred not to say.

Speaking about the findings of the research, Acas chief executive Susan Clews said she was pleased to see that most employers have chatted to their staff about their mental health and wellbeing.

“However, a third of employers have not spoken to their staff about their mental health over the past year. Taking the time to talk openly about it is vitally important as it can avoid problems building up and lead to improved morale at work,” she said.

Acas says in order to best manage employee mental health, employers need to be seen as approachable. They should also encourage staff to talk about the subject and keep in regular contact with their teams to check how they are coping. Finally, employers need to discover and respect individual’s differing communication preferences by enquiring whether they would rather be contacted via phone, email or video.

Agile Cultures Help Boost Staff Engagement

In addition to placing more emphasis on employee mental health, organisations can further engage their staff by promoting and embedding an agile culture.

The Agile Business Consortium defines agile culture as “an environment that is underpinned by values, behaviours and practises which enable organisations, teams and individuals to be more adaptive, flexible, innovative and resilient when dealing with complexity, uncertainty and change”.

According to consultancy JCURV’s second annual State of agile culture report, employers with a strong agile culture more than treble their commercial performance. JCURV’s research found that organisations that switched to this way of working saw performance increase of 237% and benefited from employees who were almost twice as engaged as those at non-agile businesses.

[Related reading: What Employee Benefits Do Staff Want In 2022?]

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While you might already be offering employee benefits that your staff appreciate, how much focus has your organisation placed on employee mental health over the last two years? What kind of culture is there in your workplace? 

As 2022 unfolds further, organisations like yours will need to do everything they can to support their employees’ mental health and engage staff.