DuPage County business leaders gathered on Wednesday, April 10th at The Westwood in Lisle for a roundtable discussion on mental health in the workplace, employee wellness, and generational differences. The discussion is part of an ongoing series hosted by The Hon. Deborah Conroy, DuPage County Board Chair, and Choose DuPage, designed to provide an opportunity for the business community to connect, learn, and discuss important topics affecting DuPage County.
Gina Sharp, President of Linden Oaks Hospital and System Behavioral Health Service Line for Endeavor Health led the discussion along with Dr. Lindsey Harrington, PsyD.
Key Takeaways From the Discussion:
- It all goes back to establishing a strong connection between your employees and the purpose and why of your organization. Employees need to feel intrinsically connected to their workplace.
- We really have to think about mental health and the workplace differently. It’s not something that can be done as an afterthought – it has to be something we are engaging in as a preventative measure, and incorporated into all aspects of things we do. As you are making business decisions, think about mental health – for your staff, yourself, and your customers. And how that can be enhanced or potentially harmed by decisions you make.
- Your most important resource is staff – you can’t run without them. And you need to “service” them like you would an engine. Review your employees’ workload regularly and make sure they have time to breathe and think about their work. Otherwise, they become a cog in the wheel. Or they burnout.
- It all starts with leadership because everyone is going to mirror their behavior. For example, if you are a leader that goes on vacation and checks email and responds every day, think about the message that sends your employees. It says that you don’t prioritize taking a mental break from work, you think others should work on their vacation, and you must not trust your employees to do their work while you are gone.
- We shouldn’t be [only] trying to make people happy. There is a lot that you can do to make people happy, but it doesn’t necessarily give them a sense of fulfillment or connection to their workplace. It’s about making them feel valued and seen.
- Everyone communicates differently – you can’t take one single approach to connecting with employees and assume it will work. It’s like Swiss cheese, there are holes. You have to keep layering the cheese on to close those holes. It’s called the Swiss cheese model of communication. A message needs to be communicated 7-10 times before it really gets through. And the ways you need to communicate that message should be different for different people.
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