CalmCon 2022 Wrapped: Well-being Leaders Roundtable
Leading up to the CalmCon mental health & well-being festival, Calm Collective hosted our very first in-person Well-being Leaders Roundtable at 1880 Singapore on 4th October 2022.
About the Well-being Leaders Roundtable
The Well-being Leaders Roundtable was launched in November 2021, as part of the first CalmCon mental health & well-being festival. Recognising the increased need for organisations and leaders to stave off employee burnout, reduce attrition, and promote a healthier workplace, Calm Collective created the Roundtable as a platform for workplace well-being leaders in Asia to connect, share, and learn from each other. Well-being Leaders Roundtables have been held on a quarterly basis, hosting a growing community of 60+ senior leaders and HR executives from around the region.
The Agenda
Held over 3 hours, the Roundtable was led by Sabrina Ooi, CEO of Calm Collective. Representatives from companies like The Body Shop, Standard Chartered, and Coca-Cola joined us for an afternoon of candid conversations around mental health at work.
Here’s a rundown of what happened:
We kicked off with a mindfulness exercise hosted by Kristin from 1880 Singapore, to get grounded for the conversations ahead.
Connected with each other through 2 discussion themes:
Supporting mental wellness through infrastructure - discussing policies, perks, programmes; what has had the best/worst ROI; challenges we’ve faced
Creating a mental health-first culture - discussing the importance of psychological safety, the role of managers, and our hopes for 2023
In between our conversations, we nourished ourselves with juice shots, madeleines, and cornbread.
To round off the day, Banyan Tree sponsored 2 well-being retreats to their resorts in Bali and Phuket! Congratulations to the lucky winners :)
Our Learnings
Here are some learnings from our discussion:
1. It’s a struggle to get buy-in from executive-level management
While the pandemic has spurred ground-up interest in supporting mental well-being at work through initiatives such as employee resource groups (ERGs) and ambassador programmes, there is still room for executive leadership to back such initiatives through increased participation and sponsorship.
One way to do so is to recognise how employee well-being translates into business ROI: from talent retention to improved productivity and performance. To help surface tangible impact, Programme Managers may incorporate more feedback mechanisms and impact measures into their initiatives, to help drive buy-in from the top.
Another way to involve top management is by inviting them to share about their own mental health and self-care practices in company-wide talks or through company newsletters.
2. Individuals are not utilising mental health resources provided
In the past two years, companies have reviewed their mental health support benefits, from introducing new Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), meditation apps, to organising talks and workshops. However, the takeup rate remains relatively low across organisations. In a workplace mental health survey conducted with Milieu Insight this September, we found that amongst employees in Singapore:
1 in 5 do not want their colleagues to know they’re using these resources
12% don’t know where or how to start using these resources
Communication and destigmatisation efforts play major roles in ensuring that employees know what resources are available, and that it’s ok to use them.
In Asia, the stigma around mental health still exists - oftentimes, individuals will avoid seeking help from a professional for fear of judgement by their colleagues and managers.
To combat stigma, employers may host talks around help-seeking for mental health, and even involve senior leadership as part of the conversation.
Additionally, HR needs to educate employees that EAP utilisation is anonymous, and providers may only break confidentiality if the person displays intentions of self-harm
Communication: Emails and messages often get buried amidst buzzing inboxes. To get the message across, HR executives may get resourceful in sharing mental health initiatives:
Share during key milestones in the employee lifecycle: at onboarding, during review cycles, team retreats, and manager/leadership training
Get offline: With the return to office, how might HR executives leverage offline spaces and activities to share about mental health?
3. Managers play a key role in providing psychological safety for their teams
People leave managers, not companies. In our survey, we found that 62% of Singaporean employees felt uncomfortable sharing mental health challenges with their managers, fearing that it would affect poorly on their performance evaluations.
Managers play an outsized role in ensuring their employees are well supported at work, and one way to do so is to foster psychological safety: creating an environment where employees feel safe to share their struggles and open themselves to support from others. The research shows that teams high in psychological safety are the highest performing and most innovative. Conversely, without psychological safety, managers may not realise that their employees are burnt out until they resign.
How might managers foster psychological safety at work?
Increase your mental health literacy: Learn how to identify when your teammate is struggling, and what you can do to support them.
Ask people how they’re doing, and mean it: Check in with your team on a regular basis, and let them know it’s ok, to be honest, & work towards a solution together.
Lead by example: Share your own struggles with your team, and ask for help - this gives them permission to do the same.
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Want to bring Calm Collective's relatable and engaging mental health & well-being programmes to your workplace or be part of our next roundtable? Connect with us here.