Quick Overview

Due to the busy schedule of daily working, the health and consequently the mental health of the personnel has greater importance in the heads of the multitude of organizations with the objective to provide a comfortable and joyful working environment. Although a number of factors influence the mental well-being of employees, it is that of practices relating to the leadership that shapes the experience of worker, i.e., in the assessment of his/her work, the worker capacity, and on health and work well-being of the worker when exposed to the workplace. Let’s further discuss.

Understanding Leadership’s Role

Leadership goes beyond managing tasks and achieving organizational goals. Successful leaders do so by inspiring, supporting, and validating their teams in a virtual environment where, sometimes, they are motivated and integrated into a community as significant stakeholders. The way in which leaders interact, provide feedback and turnaround problems has a key impact on employees’ mental health status. Empathic/compassionate, and understanding leaders’ behaviours for instance have a stress reducing effect, while an authoritarian leadership or lack of accountability have a stress increasing effect.

The Link Between Leadership Styles and Mental Health

The impact of approaches taken and behavior of the leader will vary at this pair: .

• Transformational Leadership: Yet, those are the bosses who are creative and who are like to see a member’s work and encourage their team members to be shown appreciation and to give the impression of belonging to a group to produce value and interconnectedness. This method also has great potential to enhance mental health and work satisfaction.
• Autocratic Leadership: The one to most closely identify the person making life on a team miserable is one controlling personality and how that fits its context causes work stress and anxiety in the people, as people who hold it for too long prevent once being an aggressive  creative  independent individual.
• Servant Leadership: Servant leaders, in reframing the focus to team level factors, do so and ensure its presence of a safe and emotionally supportive environment.
• Laissez-Faire Leadership: Despite the relevance to autonomy, it is the lack of direction and facilitative intervention that can lead to both confusion and agitation and in consequence, lead to deterioration in mental health.

How Leaders Can Support Employee Well-being

And leaders possess a range of implementable strategies that can positively contribute to the mental health of their workforce: .

• Open Communication: Encourage transparency and active listening. Create a work environment that encourages employees to share their challenges.
• Provide Recognition and Appreciation: The fact that a person is perceived to be actually seated in a group is associated with attribution of membership in a group, which activates motivation and creates an experience of achievement.
• Promote Work-Life Balance: Promote flexible work times and leisure time as a method of burnout prevention.
• Offer Mental Health Resources: Offer counseling, wellness programs and other mental health services.
• Lead by Example: To define best work practices, for instance, mindfulness, stress control and a positive outlook.

The Business Case for Prioritizing Employee Mental Health

Not only is it the best thing to do to give employees the employee welfare benefits, it is also good for business. Companies in mental health services have lower rates of turnover of employees, lower rates of absenteeism, and better productivity. (Based on evidence reviewed in the study by WHO), for every dollar spent on mental health care it would generate $4 of health and work value created.

Measuring the Impact

Organizations can analyze the effects of leadership behavior on employees’–well-being through measures/observation of the following:.

• Employee satisfaction surveys
• Turnover and retention rates
• Absenteeism and presenteeism rates
• Feedback during one-on-one meetings

Conclusion

Leadership plays a significant role in determining the mental status of an employee and consequently his/her work. Through the introduction of supportive and facilitative leadership styles, open communication and work-life balance, managers can establish a work environment where individuals not only perform well on a professional front but also perform well on a personal front.

If you feel this content is valued, don’t forget to like, comment, and share it with others.