The Russia-Ukraine War will Impact the Mental Health of Your Employees – Here’s How You Can Help

The invasion of Ukraine by the Russians might have affected you and your workplace as well but it will have a long-lasting effect, longer than the news cycle. Maybe your client got occupied during the weekend to provide food and shelter to their Ukrainian employees or you are torn by looking at the pictures of children injured in the war on your social media. There are many situations of such sort. Businesses are formed because of people and these people are affected by war which makes it important for companies to continuously think about supporting the mental health of their employees for a longer time. Here are some ways you can adopt during a time of global crisis.

Do More Than Just Saying Motivating Words

It is commonly found that CEOs motivate their employees to “take care of themselves”. Although they intend well, it is mainly these companies who have overworked employees that usually don’t get sufficient time to sleep and consider what self-care would like.

If companies truly intend for their employees to take care of themselves, they should give time, resources, and supporting company culture to make it happen. One of the major contributors to the deteriorating mental health is the fact that the key stakeholders and management of the organization do not discuss the subject.

This fact was unveiled in a Work Report by Mind Share Partners’ 2021 Mental Health. The manager should be given freedom and suitable encouragement to layout projects that give employees flexibility. The employees should be commended when they make mental health their priority.

Be Keen to gain trust

At the start of every crisis, corporates are found struggling to respond. The best way they can support their employees during this time is to have a culture of trust and safety beforehand. Leaders can encourage this type of environment by telling their experiences, sharing how they affected you, or maybe the time when life got hard and your career became difficult. Then subtly ask how they are doing. Let it slide if they don’t instantly open up to you. There is a chance your constant push will get them open up to you.

Inform Them about the Company’s Benefits

Research has shown that employees will use up company benefits only if it gets normalized. Since employees have low trust if HR departments, messages regarding the benefits should be given out through multiple sources. Even managers can do the job of sharing this with the team. There is a high chance of employees using those benefits if they know someone has used up as well, and the process of getting that benefit is simple.

It is important to remember the various communities getting affected by the war, mainly the Ukrainians. Russians and Ukrainians living in other countries too, their families going through the distressing experience of the war. You will not know exactly who is directly affected by the war. All you can do is create an environment that is safe for everyone and support the resources that are already present.

Reduce Triggers

Everyone knows the dangers of scrolling through negative stories on your feed. The question of whether it impacts your behavior is another thing. If you encounter upsetting images and news in your workplace, one way you reduce your exposure is to turn off the TV in your break-room. Another sticking point to look into are the workplace factors that cause the development of mental health conditions and burnout.

Understanding how your company is working towards creating a positive environment for your mental health, finding out what’s lacking, and working to improvise it is a long journey.

The Russia-Ukraine war is one of the many global crises. The invasion by the Russians in Ukraine is an indescribable catastrophe and has gained a lot of attention. However, there are numerous other conflict zones in other parts of the world, such as Syria. These events will equally affect your employees that is creating a healthy workplace environment, giving them more flexibility, and finding power in showing vulnerability has become more important than ever.

It is because of these disturbing events happening around the world creating a positive and healthy environment has become important. Try checking up on your employees often to know how they are doing.

Overall, it is recommended for companies to evaluate today how these events will impact the mental health of their employees tomorrow.