3 Smart Ways To Support Mental Health In Remote Workers

Almost 66% of remote workers feel isolated or lonely at times, while 17% do all the time, Forbes reports. Additionally, over two-thirds of remote workers also report finding it difficult to “switch off” from work at the end of the day either always (22%) or sometimes (45%). Employers can play a key role in preventing work-related mental health issues and burnout by creating a safe and open working environment that helps employees feel uplifted, motivated, and supported. 

#1 Build a workplace culture that supports mental health 

Employers can support employees’ mental health by helping them set reasonable goals and timelines with the aim of streamlining their workload; employees shouldn’t feel like they have to do everything at once. Additionally, by encouraging regular “away-from-keyboard” time, employers can help ensure remote employees are able to clear their minds and keep stress at bay. While a walk or similar light exercise is beneficial, even just a couple of minutes away from the computer can be effective stress relief. By creating a workplace culture that prioritizes mental health, you can also ensure remote employees feel comfortable enough to open up whenever they’re in need. For most people, it’s not always easy to talk openly about mental health issues, so it’s important you instill a culture that makes it as easy as possible for employees to have these conversations. This is particularly important for employees who’ve sustained work-related injuries as there’s a documented connection between physical injury and mental health. By maintaining open lines of communication with employees with injuries, employers can better provide them with the support and understanding needed throughout the recovery period and return to work. 

#2 Use mental wellness apps

Numerous apps have been developed to help support mental health and wellbeing in remote workers. Remente, for example, is a mental wellness platform that monitors mental health with the ultimate goal of encouraging productivity and holistic health. Employees are free to make private mental health check-ins, along with complete monthly company-wide mental health surveys, so employers benefit from engagement and wellness data. Employees can also set achievable personal and business goals with in-app resilience coaching also available to prevent them from feeling overwhelmed. Alternatively, Calm is a popular meditation app designed to improve productivity, clarity, and focus. Offering hundreds of meditation practices, breathing techniques, and sleep stories, Calm can play a key role in managing work-related stress and anxiety.

#3 Discover the metaverse

The metaverse can work as a useful tool for remote workers to keep stress at bay. As employees are able to directly enter virtual environments and complete specific tasks, virtual reality and augmented reality technology can help eliminate exterior distractions and keep mental strain and overload to a minimum. Similarly, as digital information can also be overlaid onto real-world environments, employees can better focus on the task at hand without continually needing to switch their attention between devices.

Although remote work has its benefits, mental health issues can be common among remote employees. By creating a workplace culture that prioritizes mental health, using mental wellness apps, and discovering the benefits of the metaverse, employers can better support remote employee mental health and wellbeing and keep burnout at bay.