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Hi Community and Happy Monday! ✨

 

🩵 As we stand on the brink of World Mental Health Day tomorrow 10th of October, I'm compelled to address an issue that remains one of the most critical challenges faced by HR professionals.

HR professionals are the unsung heroes of any organization. They hold the delicate responsibility of safeguarding employee well-being, nurturing performance, and fostering development. Yet, beneath this noble task lies a world of challenges and stressors, from the daily concerns of employee well-being to the arduous task of navigating difficult conversations.

It has been a truly eye-opening experience for me to engage with HR experts through our Personio events. They've shared their tales of navigating through uncomfortable situations, from the heart-wrenching task of announcing layoffs to managing the most extreme cases of burnout. 🫶🏻

Mental health is a common struggle that we all have (and will) faced. From the common strains of stress and anxiety to the more formidable foes like depression, these challenges can touch every facet of our lives – our thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and daily productivity.

We are all, at our core, human beings. Some days may find us less productive than others, and there are moments when the lines between our personal and professional lives blur into an indistinct haze.

HR leaders from the bedrock of organisations. Beyond their duties in managing payments, time off, and professional development circles, they also assume the roles of unofficial coaches, therapists, cheerleaders, and consultants.

The least we can do is to equip you with the necessary tools to navigate the intricacies of HR processes, ensuring they can continue to silently and effectively safeguard the mental health of our entire workforce.

 

😀I'm curious about your strategies and approaches to maintaining well-being within your organizations. Please, share your thoughts with us. 👇🏻

 

💪🏻 Let's stand together in support of all the HR heroes who ensure that the rest of us can navigate the labyrinth of mental health with resilience and strength.

 ♥️

Linda and the Voyage Community Team

Thanks for sharing this post! From my own experience, I can tell that mental health is a very important but still insufficiently explored aspect of HR. Four years ago, I experienced the loss of a very close family member (due to suicide), and I also experienced that team leaders and HR professionals are not very prepared how to deal with grieving employees.


I know that my “people topic” is a bit an unusual one, but in fact it should not be unusual. Everyone of us makes experiences of grief during their lifetime. Grief does not necessarily have to be related to the death of a loved one, but can also be caused by divorce/separation, miscarriage, job loss, move to another country, death of a pet, unfulfilled life dreams, etc.

 

While we talk with our families and friends about these topics, they are still taboo topics in a business context. But human beings experience grief, and companies are made of human beings. So why ignoring these topics while at the same time we place high importance on the (mental) wellbeing of our employees? Grief influences our mental wellbeing, and this is why leaders should be trained about how to handle situations of grief in the workplace and in the team (e.g. how to integrate a grieving team member back into the team after a longer time off, how to deal with the death of a team member and how to communicate it to the team…).

 

Want to further discuss this topic? I am happy to read about your experiences and opinions.

 

Best wishes,
Kathrin

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