Bring your whole self to work
This week’s guest talks about mental health, and was the ideal individual to speak to about building trust-based cultures as this is his current day-job! Not only that, but Ted Hewett is also a force for change. Especially when it comes to getting companies to have transformational conversations. Most importantly, about mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.
As a curator of events and webinars focused on “breaking the myths around mental health in the workplace”. He is active in his pursuit of creating safe spaces and forums for people to talk about the subject. In addition, he tells us about his own personal story.
“On a personal level, I’ve had a really interesting experience of mental well-being.” Ted also reveals the statistics that “it’s not 1 in 3 of us that has mental health challenges, it’s 1 in 1 that have mental health [challenges]”.
He then discusses his experience of working in and around the HR space. Ted talks about his opinion on the technology solutions available to support employee’s mental health and well-being.
“I’ve seen a lot of people that turn up and say buy my product and it fixes your employee’s mental health problem. Some of them are really good. However, there is a real importance for employers to distill between those that are just selling a tick-box.”
Happiness makes you more productive
As we progress out of the lockdown and measures are further relaxed, we discuss the onus on leaders and companies. Ted says, “without trust, everything else falls away”. Linked to the need for trust,
“If you create psychologically safe spaces, with good job design and a sensible compensation package, Managers who care. Not only are you creating a fantastic place to work and an environment where you can have great mental health. You’ll have really productive high-performing businesses”.
In closing, a piece of guidance, as we consider the new challenges businesses now have to meet in the ‘new normal. Ted advises, “this is the bedrock of change. So, if you don’t have trust in your business and you try to enforce change, your people don’t come with you”. Certainly, wise words to consider irrespective of the size of your business.
If that wasn’t enough, below you’ll hear Ted talk about:
- Defining the boundaries of a company’s duty of care
- Creating safe spaces for deeply personal conversations
- Caring through regular communication with colleagues
- Reevaluating employee benefits to support their well-being
- Normalise the conversation around mental health and well-being
- Acknowledging the need to educate yourself on mental health.
Thank you to our fabulous sponsor EnterpriseAlumni
