Small Steps for Supporting Employees Mental Health
By Ebony Welborn, Sea Potential, LLC
Photo courtesy of Sea Potential, LLC. Ebony Welborn
How have you spent your free time this winter?
I’m curious about what you said.
Did you mention that you’ve been resting? Did you mention that you’re taking time to reflect on what you want from the year? Do you ponder on how the winter affects your productivity and engagement?
You might be wondering why I am asking about you, the person, when I’m supposed to be giving you helpful advice for recruitment in maritime. Well it’s because these questions and the concept of mental health is and will continue to be important for you to consider in order to effectively support your team.
The Annie E Casey Foundation reported that some 70% of teens across all genders, races and family-income levels say that anxiety and depression are significant problems among their peers. When thinking about how mental health shows up generationally, “just 45% of Gen Zers report that their mental health is very good or excellent, according to the American Psychological Association. All other generation groups fared better on this statistic, including Millennials (56%), Gen Xers (51%) and Boomers (70%)” [Annie E Casey Foundation]. This is a challenge not anticipated to resolve in the near future. I pose the question in light of the increasing number of individuals expressing their mental health challenges. How are you ensuring support for your employees, considering that the workplace forms a significant part of their lives?
There are many things that would help an employee's mental health, some of the big ones being increased pay, shorter hours, and effective communication. While you are striving for these larger goals or making accommodations for positions that can’t meet all of these requirements, I want to offer some tools that can be quickly and effectively implemented into any work environment.
The Power of Check-Ins
Check-ins are so important for strengthening communication gradually over time, to make space for your team to show up authentically, and to give and receive support through challenging or frustrating times. Moreover, it's crucial not to overlook the significance of acknowledging and commemorating the achievements and successes that occur in their lives during the check-in. Take the time to recognize and celebrate the milestones, both big and small, as they contribute to a positive and motivating work environment. I am not referring to check-ins like “how are you doing?” Although that is a check-in question, questions presented in that way can sometimes be overwhelming or not exactly what you want to ask and in turn, the response is not what you were looking for. It is important to know the reason behind the question you are asking. What are you trying to figure out? What are you intending to do with the response? You want to make sure someone’s willingness to be open is not met with contempt.
A check-in question can always be modified to suit your needs, time capacity, and your teams’ communication styles. For example, we often ask the question: “What body of water would represent you according to your mood? If you feel comfortable, share why you choose that water body.” This question gives you something specific to focus on aka your mood. You then have the option to reflect on how you are feeling. The additional option of sharing the why gives members on your team autonomy by choosing to share deeper if they want to. However regardless of if members share the why or not, you’ll get to know how each individual feels and then you’ll see the collective feelings as well. This is powerful knowledge because you and members of the team can provide support (support looks different for everyone) to individuals or you as the manager can make more of an effort to uplift the collective if it seems everyone is in a somber mood. This is one version of a quick and effective check-in but if you have the time, I encourage you to explore longer form check-ins and explore incorporating artistic expression within the check-in process.
Sea Potential has a variety of ways we utilize check-ins in our work. Externally with our youth programs, we incorporate a daily question that offers youth the opportunity for creative expression of their emotions. The question allows them to make their emotions known without them feeling like they have to go too deep. Similar to the question we often ask as mentioned above.
Internally, Sea Potential does daily team check-ins that ask the employees to rate their personal well-being and their working state of mind on a scale of 1-10. This allows us to see if there’s negative emotions related to work that we can support, to know if their external influences could impact how they show up, or simply create space for them to talk about things bringing them joy and balance lately. The question “rate how you feel” itself could be considered more vague but breaking it down into these two specific environments can provide more context into the reasons for the employee’s actions. Before asking these questions or getting into the to-dos for the day, we always allow time for breathing exercises so that everyone can check-in with themselves, recenter, and be present in the time that we are about to spend together.
Sea Potential also implemented something we call the Feedback Circle at the end of every work week. This was developed as we realized team members had varying levels of comfortability with giving feedback and didn’t know when or how to bring up their frustrations or system improvement ideas. Mind you, we are also a small team of three so it would be remiss to ignore that power dynamics that can play into the equation and prevent our employee from taking initiative to speak up. In the Feedback circle, we go over weekly frustrations, curate next steps/boundaries, and do appreciations at the end. This is a space for individuals who felt intimidated to have one on one conversations, to do so with group support instead. This space also allows individuals who didn’t enjoy surprised feedback to have a chance to have a dedicated space where they could be receptive to feedback. This process was co-developed by the team and has been working tremendously! We’ve seen great progress with individuals learning to give and receive feedback and come up with next steps, even outside of the dedicated Feedback Circles.
Well Rounded Safety Protocols
It is without a doubt that the maritime industry provides comprehensive safety protocol systems in order to protect the physical well-being of their employees. We know that HR is there to support in contributing to a positive work environment, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. In order to continue building on resources for your employees to support their mental well-being, an addition to the safety protocol can be mental health resources.
This could look like many things: resources for free or low cost therapy sessions, the number for the suicide hotline, resources for eating disorders, alcoholism, anxiety and depression, and support groups, just to name a few options. These resources should have a local option and virtual option. The organization's ability to acknowledge many ways that mental wellness can show up for individuals starts to create a positive environment. Whether it’s during the employees initial training or employees getting updates regularly that resources have been updated, it lets the team know that this is a priority to the employer. By including these resources you are also helping to reduce stigma, acknowledge that mental health challenges are not a one size fits all issue, and address the increasing mental health challenges arising in our community. Supporting employee mental health will in turn prevent employee burnout, give employees more autonomy, and support employee retention.
Sea Potential has spent time curating these resources according to our audience. The Youth Education team is working to curate a list of resources for our youth as we work with a variety of youth coming from varying backgrounds. It is important that you understand that you don’t have to present these resources as “complete”. There will always be more that you can add and there may be the need for updates on specific resources over time. Raising awareness and reducing access barriers can be a groundbreaking opportunity.
As mentioned, gathering resources can be a long process. However, a way that Sea Potential gathers resources is by going through training around particular struggles that seem to be common themes within our audience. For example, we have curated our mental health resources in part by attending training such as a Youth Mental Health First Aid course. This course went through varying conditions from depression, psychosis, and eating disorders. Now, not only do we have resources to offer but training on how to respond in certain scenarios. For us, being able to support people is our number one priority.
Sea Potential is currently developing a manager training course for aquaculturists alongside Washington Sea Grant (to find out more and register, head over to wsg.washington.edu/ on March 11th). One of the courses is on Employee Physical and Mental Health. The entirety of the course is centered on the audience’s most common struggles within a particular region. This training is focused on the Washington coast’s communities and their struggles. This can have some similarities to communities of Seattle or Eastern Washington but there are some differences. It’s important for employers to consider the challenges of your community, your employees, and provide useful and curated information whether through your own people power or getting outside support.
Leaders Model The Way
I want to emphasize the critical point raised earlier. Leadership must not only be aware of the evolving landscape of mental health in the workforce but also actively embody what it means to prioritize mental health in the workplace. This entails leaders demonstrating, through their own actions, how they skillfully balance work responsibilities with personal commitments and establish realistic expectations. Engaging in open conversations about mental health, sharing personal practices or strategies – whether it's stress management or reflective processes in personal life – is imperative. Employees must observe authenticity in their leadership, recognizing them as genuine individuals who adeptly navigate challenges while effectively leading the team.
While establishing a solid foundation within my organization, we have actively cultivated this practice. Honesty regarding one's personal well-being is inherently challenging. As a leader tasked with uplifting and guiding the team, openly sharing when faced with challenges can be even more intimidating. Nevertheless, embracing transparency opens the door for mutual support, allowing the team to uplift and create a supportive space for every member, including oneself. Going back to check ins, this is a great opportunity for leadership to display the same openness requested from the team.
No lie, we can understand this can be challenging. With Savannah and I being co-founders of a start-up, each week we tend to run over our weekly work week hours. This can mean some days we show up a little tired. Oftentimes we have tasks or requests thrown our way last minute which means sometimes we feel flustered. As new business owners and also managing someone for the first time, that means sometimes we don’t get it right and can disappoint or under-support our employee or each other, and that’s a feeling we have to deal with. We also are people who have lives and needs aside from being co-founders and leaders, so that means we have to be transparent about the rate at which we can move as well. Even with all of these considerations, we make sure not to shy away from our employees but report our honest feelings, because just as we show up for them, they are open to showing up for us and they can only do that if we are honest.
Conclusion
Prioritizing mental health in the workplace is a commitment to fostering a positive, productive and connected work environment. As we navigate the complexities of the maritime industry, acknowledging and addressing mental health challenges becomes an integral part of our responsibility as leaders. The statistics reflect a growing need for support, making it necessary for us to come together to provide resources and strategies. Through simple yet effective tools like check-ins, comprehensive safety protocols, and leadership modeling, we can create a workplace culture that not only supports but celebrates the well-being of every team member. By embracing these practices, we not only contribute to reducing stigma but also fortify our teams against burnout, fostering autonomy, and ensuring long-term employee retention. As we sail through the ever-changing tides of the professional landscape, let our commitment to mental health set the course for a resilient and flourishing workplace.
Citation:
The Annie E. Casey Foundation. "Generation Z’s Mental Health Issues." aecf.org. [Generation Z’s Mental Health Issues - The Annie E. Casey Foundation (aecf.org)]