Even companies with the best intentions can sometimes take a wrong turn when trying to do right by their employees. Damaging habits and behaviors can inadvertently get absorbed into company culture, and when this happens, it can send the wrong signal about a company’s priorities and values.
One of the biggest challenges lies in finding the sweet spot between business needs and employee welfare and happiness. Naturally, you want a high-performing team, but not at the expense of employee well-being and mental health.
Here, we take a closer look at some common workplace conventions—and the ways they might be inadvertently undermining your mental health objectives.
1. Having a “hustle” culture
It’s great to be productive, but overemphasizing hard work and profitability can be a slippery slope that leads to toxic productivity. It can cause people to attach their feelings of self-worth to the amount of work they’re doing and feel like performance metrics are more important than their mental well-being.
Similarly, celebrating employees who stay late—or even mildly teasing those who start late and leave (or log off) early (or on time)—can subtly contribute to a culture of overwork and performative busyness. Left unchecked, this can result in resentment and burnout among employees who feel compelled to prove their commitment to work.
A small fix:
Instead of celebrating regular overtime, try opening up communication about ways to include breaks and downtime throughout the day. You can support this with anecdotes about the healthy mental habits of people on the team (assuming they’re open to sharing). For example: “Hey guys, Dave’s found a clever way to schedule regular breaks into his day around meetings!” Also, be sure to address long hours and overwork if you see an upward trend in the company, as it could be an indicator of unachievable work expectations.
2. Sending work emails or messages after hours
It happens to us all: maybe you received a response to something late in the day, or you had an out-of-hours brain wave.
Sending the occasional evening or weekend message is fine, but doing it regularly implies that after-hours work is expected—which could pressure people into feeling they have to respond immediately.
The same goes for emails sent at the end of a working day that includes next-day deadlines (or, for example, Monday morning deadlines for work given out on Friday). These practices put a hefty burden on the recipient, which adds to stress and can contribute to burnout.
Now, it gets a bit harder to draw a line when you take into account the increasingly globalized world of work, which necessitates out-of-hours communications due to differences in time zones. But even in these cases, it helps to be explicit about expectations when sending messages, especially when you know or suspect the recipient is either about to log off or has signed off for the day.
A small fix:
If you need to send emails after hours or on weekends, be sure to add a note about how the email can be read or dealt with on the next working day. This takes pressure off the recipient and reassures them that they won’t be penalized for not responding on the spot.
If you have a global team, it also helps to establish clear working hours for different countries and to be clear about the fact that nobody is expected to read or respond to emails on their personal time.
Also, no matter where in the world you or your recipients are, be sure to schedule enough time for them to deal with the task during their office hours! And remember—they may have pre-existing work on their plate that needs to take precedence.
3. Only engaging in “shop-talk”
It’s easy to find things to talk about around the water cooler in the office. But take those organic meetups out of the equation, and what you’re left with is often work chat and little else.
Working from home has made it harder to bond with colleagues. The natural tendency is to get work done and to chat about the process and rarely (if ever) other things.
This removes a big part of the social aspect from work, which can take a significant mental toll on employees and affect their enjoyment of work. This is especially apparent with employees who don’t already have solid work friend groups, either because they’re new or because their friends have left the company.
A small fix:
There’s so much more to people than just who they are at work. To get some non-work conversations going, design interactions that aren’t work-related.
You could set up a monthly “coffee roulette” to group random employees together for a chat. This can help to break the ice a bit and link people who might not otherwise speak during work hours. Or you could arrange sharing sessions where people are encouraged to talk about their challenges and triumphs in their lives outside the workplace.
Another alternative is to set up interest groups in the company to help like-minded employees find each other and bond over a shared interest in a hobby or other activity.
4. Only having group chats and check-ins
Big group check-ins and catch-up meetings are important. But group settings can pressure people to put a good spin on things or cause them to feel like they’re being irrational or weak for struggling when everyone else seems to be doing well. This could result in problems being missed and getting out of hand, which in turn can take a big toll on mental health and well-being.
A small fix:
Some people may not be willing to speak candidly to a large group, so be sure to set aside time for employees to speak one-on-one to a manager who can address any problems that may arise. It’s also important to make sure everyone understands that they won’t be penalized or looked down on for speaking up about any issues they’re having.
5. Not talking about mental wellness
Perhaps the biggest way your company might be undermining mental health is simply by… not talking about it.
Some managers may not feel equipped to have these conversations or may not be sure about the etiquette or convention around holding them. But if management doesn’t broach this topic at all, employees may feel they can’t speak out about things they’re struggling withThe result is that problems may be hidden beneath a rose-tinted veneer. And studies show there likely are problems. According to the CDC, 1 in 5 employed adults in the U.S. experienced a mental health issue in the previous year, with 71% of adults reporting at least one symptom of stress. That number has likely shot up now.
A small fix:
Be candid about mental health and encourage people—especially leaders—to share their burdens and struggles. You can help by actively promoting good habits, such as mindfulness and meditation, good work-life balance, and reaching out for help when necessary. By being more honest about struggles and mental wellness challenges, managers can reduce stigma and create a more open culture in which people feel able to admit they’re struggling.
As a company, it’s important to be careful about the ripple effects that even small actions—or, in some cases, inaction—may have on employees. The simple fact is that the signals you send may be reinforcing unhealthy habits.
That’s why it’s so important to be aware of deeper currents that run through your organization and proactively address any harmful behaviors.
By staying aware and making a few small tweaks and behavioral changes, you can hit the reset button when necessary and encourage good habits that protect employee mental wellness.
For more tips on how to build a more inclusive workplace culture that supports your employees’ mental well-being and happiness, check these out:
