World Mental Health Day 2024: Prioritising Employee Wellbeing in a New Era of Work

Kholiwe Makhohliso, Managing Director: 51��Southern Africa — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 07:20:23 +0000

October 10 marks World Mental Health Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness about mental health challenges and rallying global support for improved care. In today’s fast-paced, hyper-connected world, conversations around mental health have never been more crucial, especially within our workplaces. Too often, organisations continue to focus primarily on productivity, overlooking the profound impact that workplace conditions have on mental health.

From what I’ve seen, burnout and mental health challenges are issues we simply can’t afford to ignore. It’s become clear to me that when we focus solely on getting results without considering the wellbeing of our people, we lose much more than we gain. Real success comes when we create a culture where people feel valued and supported.

Bringing out the best in your business with SAP

51��is committed to creating supportive, inclusive, and healthy work environments. By embedding mental health into our workplace policies, we not only address burnout but actively work to prevent it When employees feel valued, safe, and supported, they are empowered to bring their best selves to work, driving business growth and creativity.

Technology can play a pivotal role in supporting mental wellness. Through SAP’s Human Experience Management (HXM) solutions, companies can better understand their workforce, track employee satisfactory metrics, and take proactive steps to reduce stress. These solutions enable businesses to create environments where individuals thrive. After all, a healthy and engaged workforce is the foundation for organisational success.”

Take care of yourself

Work-life balance is more than just a buzzword. It’s a vital component of maintaining your mental health We need to encourage our teams—and ourselves—to pause and take care of our mental and emotional health. Whether it’s carving out time for exercise, mindfulness, or simply taking a break, self-care is essential.

I’m proud that 51��champions flexibility and work-life integration, helping employees strike the balance they need to recharge and remain productive. We believe that when employees are empowered to care for themselves, they are in a stronger position to contribute meaningfully to their roles and the business.

Speak up and seek support

One of the most important actions we can take to improve mental health is encouraging open conversations about it. Speaking about stress, anxiety, or burnout should not be stigmatised but normalised. In fact, 51��encourages employees to openly discuss their feelings and access the mental health resources we offer.

Mental health should be treated with the same seriousness as physical health. We provide our employees with confidential counselling services, employee assistance programmes, and a network of mental health professionals. We believe that no one should feel alone in their struggles, and are committed to ensuring that help is always available.

Building a healthier, happier workforce

The conversation around mental health must extend beyond World Mental Health Day. As businesses, we must continuously work towards creating environments where mental health is prioritised each and every day. At SAP, we remain committed to fostering a workplace where wellbeing is not an afterthought but a core business strategy.

The future of work will be shaped by how we care for our people. Let’s build healthier, happier workforces, because when employees thrive, so do businesses.

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Identify Your Suckers and Feed Your Fuelers

Estelle de Beer — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 07:08:36 +0000

I have never been more at peace, more productive or worked harder than right now. It’s such a weird realization, after chasing that elusive work-life-balance unicorn for over twenty-five years!

Raising two kids while working 8–10-hour days and commuting for another two hours, makes a mockery of this work-life-balance vision that we are sold as “this is what success looks like” all our lives. Yet, we are bombarded with this vision of achievement throughout our careers. What a great sales job – to get you to work harder and harder, fueled by feeling less successful and closer to failure along the way.

Then Covid smacked us like an oncoming speed train and derailed everything we thought we had under control. My flawed perspective of balance was placed center stage. The dictionary tells us that balance is “an even distribution of weight… in which different elements are equal or in correct proportions”.

After the initial weeks of shock and chaos that accompanied the hard lockdown, it soon become clear that managing endless remote calls stuck to a chair in your kitchen while trying to manage your household, only brought anxiety, exhaustion, and a complete sense of desperation for the familiarity of what you’d lost. In that dark moment it dawns on you that you didn’t lose greatness, you only lost a familiar routine. The way out was to find new emotional tools and to make selfish choices about “what I need”. Being a woman (and a mother) in the male dominated world of technology where you must work harder, prove your competence, fight for your voice to be heard – it’s hard to make these selfish choices. Your DNA is programmed to make sacrifices, see the bigger picture, and look after others.

This period forced me – and helped me – to re-think what I really need to fuel MY batteries, give ME energy, move ME forward. It also allowed me to recognize the things and people that drain me, that suck my energy and oxygen dry. A good place to start is to ask for feedback from trusted people, at work and at home – where do they see you shine, see you disappear, see you behave without intent and focus, see you not stepping up, see you not giving up. A picture emerges that I call my “Fuelers” and my” Suckers”. This realization is a growth journey in itself.

“Embracing chaos might be the journey you have to take to finding peace.”

That’s the easy part. The hard part is to do something about it, to make some life changes – lasting changes. To re-establish your energy balance, not work-life-balance, you instinctively want to remove things from the “heavy side” of the imbalance. I found this to be ineffective and a new sucker. I shifted my focus to the other side – to add things to my “lighter” side, my fuelers. Being in hard lockdown with your partner, or family, for 24-hours a day makes this an interesting experiment which presents many challenges, but mostly wonderful opportunities for change. “Small steps, consistently,” became something we tackled both jointly and individually. It started with something very simple – boardgames. Immersing yourself in something completely unknown, with new rules and structures became a wonderful outlet for our competitive natures. We acquired new skills, lost track of time, engaged in a physical challenge, improved our strategic thinking to outsmart each other and ended up having a lot of fun! This became the start of our weekend routine and soon we collected and mastered at least ten of the top global board games. My “lighter” side started filling up, with ease. The key is not simply adding new things but maintaining consistency in what you add. I kept adding new, deliberate activities, which became new habits, which became new life choices. For me, the real achievement of balance is about the energy being in balance, not the separation of work and “life”.

The interesting thing about feeding your fuelers is that you don’t have to remove all the suckers. I still have days filled with nine back-to-back meetings, hard conversations, difficult people and situations to deal with. With a consistent library of fuelers to use, I have more perspective to approach these challenges with a calm clarity, leaving me with a feeling of control and inner peace, and less guilt about not living up to others’ expectations and demands.

Embracing chaos might be the journey you have to take to finding peace.

The dictionary tells us that balance is “an even distribution of weight… in which different elements are equal or in correct proportions”. Don’t make the wrong assumptions of what these elements should be.

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