Why you should address Yellow September in your company!
If you haven't watched the Olympics, Simone Biles' story is a good introduction to this subject. Trained since she was 8 years old, Simone is an Olympic artistic gymnastics champion, and winner of twenty-five medals in world championships, nineteen of which are gold. However, despite her excellent performance, Biles chose to withdraw from competing in the Tokyo 2020 finals: “We are not just athletes. We are people after all, and sometimes you need to take a step back.”, he vented in one of his interviews. We often put our profession and success above our current conditions, the courage to bring this subject so overlooked by society to the public, brings us a valuable lesson that it is necessary for us to put our mental health as a priority.
Now, in a reality closer to ours…
The mental health of employees has become a more frequent topic in company discussions since the start of the pandemic. How responsible are employers for the health of their employees? Are your employees close to burnout?
“There was a concept that mental health stayed at home. Now, with work happening inside homes, it is no longer possible to deny this reality.”, says Fábio Yoshio Sato, director of new business at Vitalk. (Source – Você RH Magazine “Emotional Sustainability”)
Yellow September
This context gives us a great opportunity to introduce the theme of mental health in everyday service. Yellow September is a suicide prevention campaign created by ABP and the National Council of Medicine, where several organizations aim to raise awareness about this issue. With the majority of employees returning to the company due to the easing of quarantine, it is important to take into account that after atypical months of working from home, the perception and way we relate to each other has changed drastically, people are left with many emotional scars.
“There is no point in acting when the disease is already manifested. We must approach corporate mental health strategically and preventively”, says Carlo Pereira, executive director of the UN Global Compact Brazil Network. (Source – Você RH Magazine “Emotional Sustainability”)
Emotional sustainability
Employee well-being must be an organizational commitment, and promoting emotional sustainability could be a great potential center for workers who are more aware of their emotions. It can, in a few words, be summarized as observing the needs of the environment and what we can offer within it based on self-knowledge.
(Source – Você RH Magazine “Emotional Sustainability”)
(Source – Você RH Magazine “Emotional Sustainability”)
In practice…
“Sustainable productivity is the ability to work without causing harm to health and relationships (…) It is not letting a lack of time and stress trigger aggressive behavior”, explains journalist Izabella Camargo. (Source – Você RH Magazine “Emotional Sustainability”)
A good way to demonstrate concern for your employees is through emotional sustainability and internal marketing. Here are some ways that can be used:
- Seek to publish news and data on Yellow September.
- Encourage search through self-knowledge.
- Promote conversations frank discussions about mental health to reduce stereotypes and taboos, and increase comfort in the work environment.
- Empower your leaders on the topic, enabling them to identify behaviors that denote mental exhaustion and triggers.
- Do a search regarding the health status of your employees, and based on the results, create a campaign that encourages empathy and collaboration.
- Create daily notifications that warn about simple healthy tips and habits such as: drinking water frequently and ways to get a good night's sleep.
- Provide services such as therapy and massage will make employees experience self-care.
- Throughout the year explore the themed months (e.g. White January, Pink October, etc.).
- With one Corporate TV, you can present animations and videos, such as the one we provide about Yellow September, which you can find below.
Spending a large part of your day at work is the daily routine of most Brazilians, so being careful with these issues is essential, and with a Corporate APP, you can concentrate all these shapes in one place.
It is necessary to encourage the idea that there is life after work through actions and attitudes. The truth is that wherever we go, our health will accompany us, being a reflection of what we produce. Investing in the psychology of employees has never been so fundamental, after all, a happy worker will always be synonymous with a job well done.
