How coaching can better the mental health of your employees

Employee coaching has long been known to have a positive impact on the workplace—from improving productivity to increasing employee confidence. But coaching can also be an invaluable tool when it comes to mental health and employee wellness. Not only can it help to uncover the underlying issues that lead to poor mental health, but it can also provide employees with the skills and strategies they need to better manage their mental health and improve their overall well-being.

How important is employee mental wellness?

For companies willing to take the necessary steps, it doesn’t have to mean starting a program from scratch. In fact, many organizations already have building blocks in place that can help them mitigate the challenges that may arise among their staff. In this blog, we will discuss the impact that coaching has on mental health, how it can benefit employees in the workplace, and how companies can enhance or improve what they may already have in place to create a program that works.

Employee mental wellness is an important factor to consider when it comes to the overall health and well-being of your workforce. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the cost of depression, anxiety, and generalized mental wellness issues to the global economy is around $1 trillion each year. On an organizational level, mental health issues among employees can lead to decreased productivity, high levels of absenteeism, and an overall decrease in morale, so it’s critical for employers to be aware of potential mental health issues among their employees and take proactive steps to ensure a healthy and supportive work environment.

What are the benefits of coaching?

When it comes to employee performance, the benefits of coaching are numerous. Employee coaching can help to improve communication, develop new skills, increase morale and motivation, create a healthier workplace environment, and help employees become more resilient and adaptive in their daily lives. But not only that; coaching can also help to create a culture of respect, understanding, and trust between coworkers and managers.

However, when it comes to mental health, employee coaching can have an even greater impact. By providing coaching services and programs, organizations can help employees gain insight into their own behavior and emotions, understand how their beliefs affect their decision-making process, and develop better coping strategies to manage stress and difficult situations. Coaching can also help employees gain confidence in their abilities and cultivate healthier relationships with their peers and supervisors. Ultimately, employee coaching can be an invaluable tool for improving mental wellness and creating a more positive work environment.

In a recent study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, a group of 400 employees were provided coaching through a virtual, online system to determine how they fared in 9 scales of mental health and well-being: stress management, resilience, life satisfaction, emotional regulations, prospection ability, finding purpose and meaning, self-awareness, self-efficacy, and social connection. In the end, the results were robust—with virtual coaching, employees showed improvement in every health measure over a six-month time span.

Employee wellness is an important part of any organization. It can be difficult to maintain healthy mental health in the workplace, and it’s often difficult to get employees to recognize the importance of their own well-being. For that reason, employee coaching is a great way to help employees become more aware of their mental health needs, and to work on strategies to improve them.

By helping employees recognize and address these underlying issues, coaching can give your team the skills and motivation they need to make positive changes, and help them build resilience and self-awareness so that they are better able to cope with stress and difficult situations.

What are some things to keep in mind when developing a coaching program?

As mentioned earlier, companies shouldn’t assume that they need to start from scratch when building a coaching program that focuses on employee mental health and wellness. In fact, it is likely that—especially for larger or scaling companies—many parts may already be in place.
Regardless, by investing in employee wellness through coaching, companies can create a supportive culture that values the mental health of its employees. This type of environment will help foster a sense of community and make employees feel supported and appreciated. Companies should also keep in mind that while coaching may have short-term benefits, the long-term impact is often more substantial and meaningful.

When considering how to best promote employee wellness and support employees through coaching, there are several things to keep in mind.

Focus on Needs.
Identify the needs of employees and create a program that meets those needs. Understanding what challenges employees face is essential to creating an effective coaching program that addresses their needs. This could include any number of factors such as stress management, managing difficult conversations, dealing with change or even career development.

Check Your Coaches.
Before you get started, ensure that the coach or coaches have the right skills and experience to effectively work with the individuals they will be coaching. This could involve having a selection process that includes careful background checks and references. Having a coach who is certified in areas like executive or life coaching can also help ensure that the program is successful.

Customize the program.
Make sure the coaching program is customized to the company’s specific needs. This could include developing a set of objectives for the program as well as defining what outcomes are expected. It could also involve ensuring that any coaches hired are trained and experienced in the area or areas that the company’s employees need help with. For a program that can scale to your company’s growth—no matter how big or how fast—consider a virtual program like Bongo, which offers automated feedback and a low cost to implement, so all employees can participate.

Evaluate often.
To be sure you are making progress in the right direction, it’s important to evaluate the effectiveness of the coaching program regularly. This could involve setting up surveys or interviews with employees to get feedback on how they feel the program is going and if they’re seeing any improvement in their mental wellness as a result of the coaching they’re receiving. Regularly evaluating the program will allow for any necessary adjustments to be made and will help ensure that it’s truly helping employees in terms of their mental wellness. With Bongo, assessment and evaluation are built in to the program, allowing you to see quickly who is participating and how they are doing along their own path.

Overall, when developing a coaching program for employee wellness, it’s important to take into account each of these considerations to ensure that it’s successful. By understanding the needs of employees and making sure that coaches have the right skills and experience, as well as customizing the program to meet specific company needs and evaluating its effectiveness regularly, companies can create an effective coaching program that helps employees improve their mental wellness.

If your organization is looking to develop a program focused on the mental well-being of your team, or to enhance and improve the learning of your company or team, Bongo can help. For a demo of Bongo’s full range of capabilities and how it can help your sales team grow, visit bongolearn.com to schedule a demo.