How Technology Can Help Support Mental Health in the Workplace

With a number of studies showing just how widespread work-related stress is in the UK, employers are constantly searching for ways to help their employees improve and maintain their mental health. There are plenty of ways that companies are looking to encourage wellbeing and wellness for their workforce and as with everything in the modern workplace, technology is constantly developing to meet these needs. 

Below we’ll look at some of the ways technology can be used to help create a safe and supportive environment in the workplace.

Guided Relaxation Apps

Guided relaxation and meditation have become well renowned as techniques for helping make the workplace a more welcoming and supportive place. There is a huge range of apps available now that allow your employees to work through tasks at their own pace and as part of a self-made routine. Investing in one of these for each employee will give you a baseline for your team. Knowing that each member has a structured approach to mindfulness can be a huge help when it comes to discussing any issues they might be having going forward.

Open & Engaging Communication Platforms

Keeping in contact and engaged with employees becomes increasingly difficult as your workforce and projects grow. With the overall uptick in remote workers as well, employers can sometimes find themselves with a slightly fractured workplace, simply through a lack of time and resources. By making good use of the wide range of communication platforms to keep employees updated on business practices and changes as well as included in the team regardless of work hours or location, you can help to foster a sense of teamwork and togetherness that provides a safety-net to employees who might otherwise be susceptible to struggling.

Workload & Time-Management Tools

Feeling overwhelmed at work is one of the largest reasons that an employee will suffer from burnout. With businesses slowly spreading to a more and more nebulous approach to the workplace and hours some employees feel that they need to always be contactable regardless of the time. Proper management of time and work hours goes a long way to lessen the burden that employees might put themselves under and as a result, improve their productivity when they are at work. Simple things like integrated to-do lists, timekeeping software, job calendars, and open online workspaces that track group deadlines give more structure to the out-of-office approach to work.

It’s important to remember that mental health in the workplace is an incredibly complex and nuanced issue and that there won’t ever be one approach that works for every person and every company. The technology above won’t be a solution to every problem in a workplace and won’t reduce work-based stress overnight but it does give some strong groundwork for a business to start with. 

There is always going to be a level of support that must come directly from the manager in question, but with technological advances to aid both managers and employees in monitoring and managing mental health the future for wellness in the workplace is looking brighter. At hug, we’ve developed a platform to help you understand your team and build a happier, healthier workplace. It offers holistic real time analysis of your employee wellbeing and smart matches products, services and benefits to employee needs. The aggregated, anonymous data will give you a deeper understanding of your workforce, providing insights into the benefits that would best suit your employees. Book a demo by clicking here today.