May 4th-10th marks Mental Health Week’s annual push to raise mental health awareness Canada wide.
With the Canadian workforce currently mobilized mostly from home, mental health professionals have been adapting quickly, but it is equally important as employers to prioritize employee mental health needs. Mental Health disorders cost the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars per year, and in an increasingly virtual workplace, even small connections count.
Following are some handy resources we want to share with you:
Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Fact Sheet
- “Despite a pandemic-driven growth in video-conferencing and social media usage, Canadians are feeling more isolated than ever (up 8 points from 39% to 47% in less than one month) and crave real, meaningful connections. In fact, two thirds of Canadians (67%) report they would like to experience more meaningful social interactions in their daily life.”
Virtual Team Building Exercises
- Visit this website for 54 unique remote team building exercises and tips such as virtual campfires and s’more’s, online games including trivia and workplace bingo, and physical health and lifestyle group challenges.
20 Ways to Engage Employees Remotely
- This blog post provides a variety of methods and strategies to engage with employees remotely to increase productivity. For example, tip #2 is as follows:
Define goals for remote workers
“According to research, 39% of people working from home complete their tasks faster than those in fixed workplaces. However, in order to set them up for success, employers have to set clear and measurable goals for their remote employees. With remote teams – where communication is more challenging and things can get lost in translation – it’s important to be crystal clear about their duties and responsibilities.”
Arbutus Financial continues to believe a people-centric approach leads to the best business outcomes. We encourage you to visit our January 27 blog post for more resources, and if you’d like to discuss this topic in greater detail or have any questions, please reach out to a member of your Arbutus Financial Team. We are here and working for you.
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Arbutus Financial Team