Sick leave due to mental health problems, such as stress leave, is one of the biggest challenges faced by HR departments.
Not only are they harmful to the organization’s internal reputation but, when it is a repetitive pattern among employees, it indicates the existence of important structural dysfunctions in the company’s organization that, in all likelihood, can be prevented.
Meanwhile there are various indications that dealing with work-related stress is more costly for the company than investing resources in its prevention. How is it possible to prevent it? For instance, through emotional well-being programs for companies such as the one that ifeel offers its employees and which is already achieving significant results in preventing stress leave in its teams.
How to manage stress leave through prevention
Preventing stress leave is not an easy task, but it is possible. The following steps can be considered to achieve this.
1. Knowing the cost-effectiveness of prevention
Researching the impact of mental health problems, for example, stress leave, on an organization’s productivity. This is the first fundamental step when making data-driven decisions and is oriented towards preventing excessive stress in the office.
Ifeel’s emotional well-being program designed by psychologists can provide useful tools for HR managers that allow them to efficiently measure their company’s work environment and plan preventive actions in terms of psychological well-being that best suit the needs and characteristics of staff.
2. Detect general psychosocial risk factors
These are factors that tend to be present in any company, regardless of its activity. These risk factors are often caused by poor workload prediction, weakly organized teams, a badly designed departmental structure, or ineffective leadership.
3. Identify specific stressors
We must identify the main causes of stress that are specific to our company. Although it may seem obvious, we cannot prevent stress leave in our company if we do not know which specific aspects trigger the mental health problem.
However much a company may want to rely on the strength of its team, this will not prevent stress from appearing. If, for instance, the company’s culture encourages self-improvement, the value of working under pressure or facing great challenges without breaking down, this will make it difficult for those involved to admit a particularly stressful situation is affecting the team.
4. Strategic well-being planning
Have in place a strategy for the prevention of stress and unfavorable work environment that includes emotional well-being programs for companies specifically designed by professional psychologists, such as the one developed by ifeel.
Through such programs, the company can benefit from advice for HR managers and a mental health care service for staff members as part of flexible compensation.
5. Early commitment to prevention
Prevention has different stages, but the most efficient way to protect the company’s performance and productivity is to act as early as possible: this is known as primary prevention.
As its name indicates, preventing work-related stress implies anticipating the origin of the problem, not only anticipating its aggravation when it has already occurred or its indefinite presence in the company’s work environment.
The consequences on productivity and the economic cost of absenteeism, sick leave, or deterioration in performance are always greater than the investment that can be made in real prevention, for example through emotional well-being programs for companies such as the one designed by ifeel. It should be noted that if these problems are not addressed, they will lead to a decrease in commitment to the company and, subsequently, to a loss of talent.
Ifeel has created an emotional well-being program for companies, designed by its team of leading psychologists to help companies put the care of their employees’ psychological well-being at the center of their company culture and their strategy to boost productivity sustainably.
Thanks to this partnership, HR managers can receive personalized, data-driven advice on the main risk factors that cause stress leave in their teams and what aspects they need to strengthen to avoid its impact. As a result, employees’ mental health is fostered while preserving good conditions for maximum productivity.
In addition, ifeel’s emotional well-being program for companies offers employees a mental health care service structured at different levels depending on individual needs. This way, employees can access various mental health care tools with ifeel’s app. On level two, they can receive emotional support through a chat with one of our platform’s licensed psychologists. If additional support is needed, they can access the third level of the program: online psychological therapy with a psychologist specialized in cases such as theirs.