How to reduce stigma and build a care movement

Building a MENTALLY HEALTHY CULTURE

Checklist

“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded”

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Table of Contents

Creating change...................................................1

The burning case for change................................2

Inspiring case studies.........................................3-4

Building a Mentally Healthy Culture Checklist........5

Ideas that work..................................................6-9

WeCARE eLearning – in 20 minutes, increase confidence to support a teammate in distress...10

About the Co-Creators of WeCARE...................11

Creating change

We know that a lot of HR and WHS professionals are passionate about helping to create a mentally healthy workplace. Whilst not exhaustive, this guide is meant to provide a framework, checklist, and examples of what has worked to improve workplace mental health.

I’ve learnt these tips through running a culture change consultancy, helping to grow R U OK?, training thousands of leaders, and interviewing subject matter experts.

Our #1 lesson to change a culture is that you need a burning case for change and ‘C-suite’ support. We hope you find this helpful.

Kind regards,

Graeme Cowan

BACK FROM THE BRINK author, R U OK? Director, and Co-Creator of WeCARE

“THE SINGLE LARGEST POOL OF UNTAPPED RESOURCE IN THIS WORLD IS HUMAN GOOD INTENTIONS THAT NEVER TRANSLATE INTO ACTION.” - CINDY GALLOP

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The burning case for change

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The CSIRO recently nominated rising work stress and mental health issues as a megatrend for the next 20 years. (WORKPLACE SAFETY FUTURES: The impact of emerging technologies on work health and safety over the next 20 years, CSIRO 2018)

91% of employees don’t believe their employer is doing a good job addressing rising mental health issues (AWARENESS TO ACTION: A holistic approach to cultivating a mentally healthy workplace, Allianz 2019)

It is estimated that $9.98 will be returned on every $1.00 spent training managers to better support their team’s mental health. (Workplace mental health training for managers and its effect on sick leave in employees: a cluster randomised controlled trial, Lancet Psychiatry , 11 October, 2017 by Milligan-Saville, J.S. et al)

The more employees who agree with this: “My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.” – the higher the profit, customer service levels, and employee longevity. (Conchie, B., & Rath, T. (2008). Strengths based leadership: Great leaders, teams, and why people follow. Gallup Press.)

YES NO91% Employee motivation 38%

91% Job satisfaction 30%

91% Positive relationships 54%

89% Net promoter score 17%

25% Intend to leave - 1 year 51%

SOURCE: American Psychological Association, 2016 Work and Well-Being Survey)

Leader supports wellbeing program?

Inspiring case studies

WD-40Australian Garry Ridge is CEO of the iconic WD-40, a global company whose share price continues to soar, with sales and revenue experiencing year-on-year growth in a mature market.

Ridge attributes the success of quadrupling sales over the past 20 years to being: “Completely dedicated to creating and sustaining a culture where all participants are free to focus, innovate, speak up, be themselves, make mistakes, be happy at work, and wholeheartedly align their personal purpose with the company’s purpose.”

In 2016 WD-40’s employee retention rate was three times the US national average, as were other key healthy cultural and engagement indicators.

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Inspiring case studies

How a $3 Billion Company Wins by Caring for WorkersAt Barry-Wehmiller, Bob Chapman’s Truly Human Leadership has created a new paradigm for success for nearly 12,000 employees. Whilst much of US manufacturing is declining, Barry-Wehmiller is growing rapidly nationally and internationally.

Bob’s new idea of human leadership took off and has become a hallmark of the Barry-Wehmiller culture for the past few decades. The organisation is considered a top place to work not because of the perks that it provides employees but because of the caring and supportive environment. Check out Bob Chapman’s Ted Talk.

Google’s best teamsPsychological safety was found to be the #1 predictor of high performance teams by innovation powerhouses like Google and IDEO. Psychological safe teams have strong interpersonal trust and respect. Teammates care about each other and feel safe to take moderate risks.

(SOURCE: What Google learned from its quest to build the perfect team, NYT, February 25, 2016)

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“WHEN WE STARTED CARING ABOUT EACH TEAM MEMBER, THEY STARTED CARING ABOUT EACH

OTHER,” BOB SAYS. “WE GENUINELY CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE, AND WE SHOW IT THROUGH OUR

ACTIONS.” - BOB CHAPMAN’S TED TALK

Building a Mentally Healthy Culture Checklist

‘Culture’ comes from the Latin ‘cultus’, which means ‘care’.If you have downloaded this checklist, you want to create a mentally healthy culture@work, just like us. We have handpicked some of the key steps and questions you should consider to plan, launch and create momentum for a mentally healthy culture.

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Prepare First things first: What’s your Go or No

Go question? Ours is: ‘Is the Executive Leadership Team onboard?” If not, why? Share with them a burning case for change (see p.2)

Identify your sponsor. We recommend sponsorship from a divisional leader who is passionate about this issue, outside of HR

Articulate how your initiative underpins your vision and values

Know your starting point. Audit everything you currently have...and do

Do you have data on the current state? I.e. absenteeism, work cover costs, presenteeism, employee engagement etc?

Identify KPIs - how you will you monitor?

Get authentic. Plan on incorporating personal stories from your workforce (video or podcast) as part of the launch

Prepare project, marketing and communication plan

Have a multi-year plan - Rome wasn’t built in a day

Launch Use employee video stories to promote the

relevance (invite others to submit their story)

Divisional leader to launch (can they share a story?)

Share with your audience why you’re doing this, the benefits to their personal and work life

Aim for them to recognise the problem and the obstacles i.e. not knowing how to help

Invite (rather than ‘tell’) employees to be part of the solution

Promote your new program and current resources e.g. EAP, mental health champions etc

Ensure your launch and program is accessible for all (digital, print and face-to-face events and programs)

Consider reinforcement activities and collateral - how do you provide ongoing just-in-time support and recall? (booklets, posters, wallet cards etc)

Momentum What’s your refresher strategy?

How does your movement grow over time? What’s next? (90 day plan?)

Invite your program’s champions to join a social group i.e. how can they give back and/or share (they want to!)

Track eLearning completions and share with your sponsor and organisation

Recognise champions recognised with certificate and pin

Share mental health stories throughout the year (videos / podcasts)

Champions invited to shape future strategy (identify extension programs / job aides / training)

Incentivise through leaderboards and donations

Continually evaluate and update content

Ideas that work

Outlined below are some ideas that have been successfully applied by Australian companies. There is nothing like an example to encourage optimism and action.

Customising resources for an industry sector R U OK? has partnered with a number of industry sponsors to develop customised resources. These resources use language and images that resonate with this population. Some of the specific industries this has been done for include legal, hospitality, mining, automotive, rail, primary and high schools, etc.

Leaders who inspire action The Ombudsman and 3 senior leaders from The Energy and Water Ombudsman (EWOV) of Victoria - recorded videos sharing when they had helped someone by asking R U OK? - and also how they had been helped by someone asking them R U OK? They were human - they were vulnerable. Employees describe being deeply moved and inspired (yes, there were tears).

Integrating leadership development and mental health In EY’s annual training event for consultants being promoted to manager - they held sessions and provided a leadership app - to show how building a caring and mentally healthy team is critical to high performance. Russell McVeagh, BaptistCARE, NAB and others have also incorporated the moodometer into team meetings.

See Introduction to Moodometer and Green Zone video.

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Ideas that work

Having a multi-year planLendlease have been monitoring Global Work Health Insights since 2013 including Healthy eating, Alcohol consumption, Physical activity, Mental wellbeing, Sun protection. They have improved health outcomes in each of these categories. In mental wellbeing they have partnered with Mates in Construction to ensure their resources are relevant.

Tailoring a wellbeing programThe People and Culture Team of EWOV crafted the annual health and wellbeing program around the areas EWOV staff are most at risk of feeling not-so-OK. The Team surveyed all staff, got some really honest answers and then put together a program for this year that covered each and every area.

Your Mind Matters Toolkit Jacobs - a global engineering consulting company put together an impressive portfolio of mental health diagnostics and strategies in one document. Included are: in person resources (EAP and other helplines, Healthy Business on-site one on ones, Positive Mental Health Champions) self guided (Mental Wellbeing Self Assessment, 5 Ways Personal Action Plan, Mental Health Check-in, myLivewell App) digital (Stress Essentials Online Module) learning (live training, Positive Mental Health Champion Training, Staff stories on intranet) and support for managers (Manager support hotline, Creating a safe and healthy workplace).

Mental health championsA number of organisations including Department of Justice NSW (23 years), Gold Coast Hospital, and Woolworths have provided training and help to employees who want to support a teammate in distress. The Justice program involves people supporting colleagues who are experiencing difficulty at work and/or in their private lives. Support is provided by Peer Support Officers (PSOs) who are volunteers. They receive training, guidance, and support about how to have caring conversations, and where appropriate, provide help seeking options. They work in some very stressful environments including Corrective Services (prisons), Juvenile Justice, Victim Services, and the courts.

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Ideas that work

Invite employees and customers to show they careConnor menswear stores invited their employees and customers to nominate what cause they wanted to support. As a result of this, R U OK? was chosen as a charity, and a message, that they wished to get behind.

They decided to create R U OK? phone wallets and give them to their customers. The customers then made a donation to R U OK?. These donations have allowed them to sponsor R U OK? ‘s Ambassador program. The Connor team are expanding this program to include other merchandise.

Lunch and learn sessionMaven Dental provide team members with the tools to recognise when someone might be struggling and show how to have an R U OK? conversation. This also provides insights into their own mental health and how to self-care.

Adapting for a male dominant workforce Sydney Trains with 12,500 employees (80% male) use BBQ’s, conversation corners, therapy dogs, pass the footy competitions, and mental health awareness sessions. They have managed to significantly change perceptions around having a conversation by creating an inclusive environment.

Programs to help traumaWhilst Metro Trains Melbourne’s main priority is injury prevention they also recognise that short and long term mental ill-health can be caused by traumatic incidents that do happen. They have put together an Eight Point Program to help address this, including: Coping with trauma training, RailRes App to manage stress and improve health, EAP, Peer Support, Supportive post incident debrief prior to formal investigation, Work reintegration - provide supportive transition back to work.

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Ideas that work

Share a CuppaMaven Dental asked their employees to have coffee with someone they don’t know at work to help create a sense of connection and community. The were given a conversation starter guide to help.

Most creative conversation starter Maven Dental also challenged their teams to come up with creative conversation starters. Ideas included: Fear Box – see video , Affirmation Walls, Getting to know you board games.

Organise a community eventThe Experience Group in Sydney brought together the local wellness community to highlight the importance of asking R U OK? Through live music, yoga, meditation etc.

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This 20 minute course and all its support and follow up resources (just-in-time help sheets, wallet cards, the guidebook, posters etc) can be accessed on an organisation’s Learning Management System and is designed to:

1. Show you care

2. Ask R U OK? with empathy and confidence, and

3. Feel confident guiding the person to the right help

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WeCARE™ eLearning

WeCARE™

How to support a teammate in distressIt also has a number of pdf resources that are easily accessed later when required – For example – ‘How to have an R U OK? conversation’, ‘How to find a mental health savvy GP’.

In eLearning pilots, completed with the University of Sydney and Ernst & Young, and 53 other people from 21 organisations:

94% said they were more confident they could help a mentally distressed colleague

Our work has been been recognised in Anthill’s Smart 100 awards, won three top LearnX awards, and reached the final stages in the 2019 Worksafe Victoria Invention of the Year. READ MORE

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Graeme Cowan Graeme is the author of best selling BACK FROM THE BRINK book series and a Board Director of R U OK? Over the last 5 years he has helped thousands of leaders and teams to be more caring, mentally healthy, and growth oriented. He is a regular media commentator on workplace resilience in volatile times. www.graemecowan.com.au

Brenden Carter Brenden is the Founder and Creative Director of The Learning Hook, www.learninghook.com.au, a multi-award winning elearning solutions company. He’s always been passionate about learning and particularly how we turn our knowledge into action. Having worked with many large organisations, he recognised a common need for more support and training to create mentally healthy workplaces. He’s now doing something about it with Graeme Cowan and the WeCARE program.

About the Co-Creators of WeCARE™

To learn more, contact us: enquiries@factorc.com.au