Men’s mental health is more than just a Movember event
By Alex Hind, Co-Founder, Heka
A single moment can change our perception of wellness. In the summer of 2021, I was told by doctors that I had a tumour in my brain.
Diagnosed at the end of the pandemic after what appeared to be an insignificant symptom. The time was when I was running a growing business while Steph – my partner and Heka’s co-founder – was expecting our first child.
Ironically, the timing of this event was not ideal. However, it provided a valuable insight into what workplace wellness really means. While juggling my professional obligations and the complexity of treatment, I found that the biggest challenges were not medical. I experienced a number of unwelcome and unexpected side effects from the medication, including fatigue, sleep disturbances and mood swings.
What I found most striking during this time was the inability of our traditional workplace structures to deal with personal health issues. British workers spend nearly a quarter their lives working, but we still hold on to the idea that mental health and health issues should be dealt with outside of office hours. This is not only outdated, but also harmful to individuals and organizations.
The mentality of the old school,’soldier-on’, proved to be woefully insufficient. Instead, I learned to embrace a different kind of professional vulnerability. It didn’t lessen my leadership to be open about my illness, how it affected my work and the support I needed. As I started blocking out my schedule with labels such as ‘Hospital appointment’ instead of vague ‘Out of Office notices’, our company culture changed. This gave others a way to be transparent about their health and well-being needs.
The experience I had has changed my perspective on workplace support. This experience has shown me that employee care is more than just offering basic health insurance or running wellness initiatives. It’s all about creating a safe environment in which personal challenges can be discussed without fear of repercussions on the job. It’s not a problem to manage when an employee requires flexible hours in order to accommodate their treatment schedules or when they need additional support to overcome a mental illness.
It is often difficult to see the cost of poor health care in the workplace. This manifests as increased staff turnover, decreased productivity and a damaged team spirit. It manifests in the silent struggles that employees face when they feel unable to speak out about their health issues for fear of looking weak or uncommitted.
It’s clear that genuine workplace support is more than policies. It requires a cultural shift. It means having regular and sincere conversations with your team, going beyond the usual questions about their workload. This means creating flexible work arrangements that accommodate health needs, rather than treating these as an exceptional circumstance. It means a comprehensive wellness programme that addresses both physical and psychological health.
Although awareness campaigns such as Movember are important in raising men’s issues, real change is only possible with a year-round commitment. We’ve learnt to ask, “How are things?” in my organization. We ask, “Is there anything you need help with?” not as a simple greeting but rather as an honest inquiry that is accompanied by real support options. We have found that anonymous feedback is a great way to understand what additional support we need, especially from those who may hesitate to speak out directly.
The future of workplace wellness is not in annual awareness campaigns or token initiatives. The future of workplace wellbeing lies in creating an environment where visible and invisible health challenges are met with compassion and support. It’s not just about being a “good” employer. It’s about creating resilient, sustainable organisations that support and acknowledge the humanity of their employees.
My experience from diagnosis to recovery reinforced the fact that workplace wellbeing is not peripheral to business success, but central to it. We build better businesses when we help people maintain their careers while managing their health.
Leaders must be able to match their words with actions when it comes supporting employee health. It means going beyond simple solutions and creating truly inclusive environments, where health challenges can be met with empathy, knowledge, and practical assistance. We not only protect our most important asset, our people, but we also create organisations better equipped to thrive within an increasingly complex environment.
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