Measuring the impact of your mental health strategy
Senior Content Officer, Mental Health at Work
As the saying goes, what gets measured gets done. Collecting information about how your projects are coming along can help you to celebrate successes, see areas for improvement, and correct your course if you’re not heading in the right direction.
And this applies to your mental health strategy, too. Understanding the impact you are having on your employees and finding out where you could be doing better can help you create the right approach for your organisation. Increasing transparency and accountability through internal and external reporting is also one of the six pillars of the Mental Health at Work CommitmentThe Mental Health at Work Commitment introduction guide This PDF guide, created by the Mental Health at Work team, explains more about what the Commitment is, how to sign up, and what to do next. By: Mental Health at Work (website) View resource – and understanding how to measure the effect you’re having on your employee’s mental wellbeing is a key component of this.
Finding ways to improve
One way you might choose to measure the impact of your mental health strategy is through Mind’s Workplace Wellbeing Index. Organisations who sign up are given the chance to consider their approach from many different angles, conduct a staff survey, and gain a real insight into how effective their current practices are. Then, they share the results with Mind’s team, who can offer recommendations for improvement, highlight areas of concern, and also celebrate the things they are doing well.
Mind reveals the organisations who have ranked in Gold, Silver or Bronze, and some outstanding employees who are making a difference to mental wellbeing in their workplace. Every organisation in the Workplace Wellbeing Index is invited to attend a special awards ceremony to recognise the commitments of everyone who has taken part.
Dentsu is an international advertising and public relations company, with its UK headquarters based in London. They took part in the Workplace Wellbeing Index this year, and managed to score a silver ranking.
“We decided to enter the Mind Workplace Wellbeing Index so we could identify the things that we are doing well as an organisation, but more importantly the areas that we need to improve on,” says Rosie Birchenough, the event lead at Dentsu UKI. “Overall it was an exciting process. Working in a fast paced and demanding industry we are always looking to the next task or challenge, but by taking part in the Index meant that we had to take the time to look back and reflect on what we had achieved which was incredibly rewarding.”
Engage the power of your leadership team
She says that a key learning during the process was communication, and the power of their leadership team. “By bringing them along on the journey with us, and making them advocates for the Index, we were able to drive really high engagement in the staff survey,” she explains.
Emma Smail is the Lead Client Services Manager, Workplace Wellbeing Services at Mind. She works with the Index team, and gets to see how many different organisations are approaching mental wellbeing. “I’ve always enjoyed working with our Index clients. I like getting to know an organisation and seeing the impact the Index has for them. It’s really rewarding,” she says.
She adds that taking part in the Index is a big learning experience for an organisation. “The data and insight that you receive in the Index report covers a range of assessment areas that we know are instrumental to supporting staff wellbeing,” she says. “The report includes recommendations, based on best practice, and they really help with prioritising what to do next; where to focus efforts and investment for example.
“That’s more important than ever right now, and I think one of the main reasons organisations come to us. We see the positive impact and substantial improvements that taking part in the Index year on year has too. For example, in the last Index cycle (21/22) we saw the average change in how returning organisations scored go up by 5.61%. 2 organisations saw an increase of 2 award levels, which is just phenomenal!”
Show your staff you are listening
If you’re just starting out on your mental health journey, Rosie suggests employers take the time to really listen to what your people are saying. “When you ask for their feedback or input, ensure you show that you have taken it onboard and how you plan to put next steps in place,” she says. “And remember, you can’t do it all. By focusing your efforts on one or two key initiatives you can achieve more of an impact.”
Are you interested in taking part in the Workplace Wellbeing Index this year? Dentsu and other organisations that have previously taken part are sharing their experiences in a Webinar on Thursday 6th October. Find out more here.
