Mental Health Week – Five Top Tips for Good Mental Health in the Workplace

Mental Health Week Top Tip #2 – Support new employees to allow them to shine

Starting a new job can be a daunting experience and a stressful one for some – new people, new workplace rules, new targets and expectations. It’s one of the key times when support from employers, managers and colleagues can make a huge difference to the employee’s experience and views of the workplace and their wellbeing at work. With this in mind, what simple steps can employers take to help a new starter feel welcome, settle in fast and start to shine? Here’s some top tips:

 1. Make the most of employee inductions

Many organisations carry out an induction process but are you making the most of it? You might want to think about:

• Taking the opportunity to ensure new starters understand the organisation’s ethos, purpose and aims and how their role fits in. This can help them to feel part of the organisation faster and understand the valuable contribution they can make.
• Reducing the likelihood of issues arising by ensuring new starters are aware of what is and isn’t acceptable workplace conduct, including providing training on workplace matters such as discrimination and harassment.
• Making sure new starters are clear about what targets and performance standards they are expected to meet. This can help to eliminate some of the worry as they will know how their performance will be assessed.

2. Consider if alterations are needed

If employees in your organisation are working from home, you may need to make adjustments to your usual processes for new starters to help them find their feet. You might want to think about things such as daily check ins with managers for help and support, arranging introductions to colleagues over video-conferencing platforms and organising a ‘buddy’ or mentor who can be available during the working day to help with questions or issues or even just to be a friendly face on a videocall to help prevent the new starter from feeling isolated.

3. Keep in contact

By keeping in regular contact managers will be able to identify early on if any help or extra support is needed. If there is a good working relationship it will be more likely that an employee will feel comfortable raising matters at an early stage where they are often easier to address. If you have an employment law matter you would like assistance with, please do not hesitate to contact Kingfisher Professional Services Ltd as we are happy to help.