Assignment Problem:
Workplace Mental Health In 2021: How Can Leaders Build Enduring Change? The crises, challenges, and trauma of 2020 and 2021 have put mental health front-and-center for employers like never before. But will this period represent a fundamental turning point for workplace mental health? Can we usher in enduring change that not only addresses the COVID-19 pandemic, but outlasts it? These questions are on the minds of business and HR leaders, mental health experts, and, perhaps most importantly, employees, who are reexamining why and how they want to work.
Responding to Tragedy and Trauma in the Workplace
Employers know that stress and trauma can each have a negative impact on mental health, especially given the traumatic events of the past 18 months. However, while stress can be managed, trauma is distinct and requires a heightened level of care and support. Because people dealing with trauma can often feel helpless, employers are increasingly directing mental health resources to proactively support these employees. A trauma- informed workplace has a plan in place to facilitate employees' healing and resilience as they navigate crisis and recovery.
Framing Workplace Mental Health as a Source of Positivity
Workplace mental health is often presented in terms of risk or negative consequences. By contrast, physical wellness is often depicted in terms of being an overall healthier and higher functioning individual. What would it mean to apply this positive framework to mental health? Instead of reacting to mental health and wellbeing with an acute or diagnostic approach, leaders should take a holistic view that frames the need for preventative care in a positive manner. Leaders can change the conversation around mental health in the workplace by ensuring employees can easily access resources and services and putting a positive frame on why they should proactively seek out these resources, even if they are not currently experiencing mental health challenges.
Question 1: Explain two (2) ways globalization are at play from the case study above.
Question 2: Determine the ways to conduct an intervention in an organization respond to tragedy and trauma in the workplace.