Mental Health is no Longer Taboo! How is Your Company Handling this Topic?

On the 10th of October, we will be celebrating the International Day of Mental Health, and increasingly, people value this aspect of life, regardless of their job or social position.

Every day we seek more inclusive and complete solutions to motivate our employees, so that there is a greater ability to attract and retain talent and greater job satisfaction.

If before a good salary was the main reason for an employee to choose or stay in a company, today it is not quite so. The new generations are looking for a better quality of life, greater autonomy, flexibility and a greater commitment to their well-being.

Today, it is inevitable that we come to the conclusion that corporate wellness is increasingly valued as a factor of productivity and talent retention.

More and more, we are challenged to show that we have learned the lesson from the result that this health crisis has brought us and that we are capable of returning to our lives, integrating new habits. In fact, this crisis was a test of our resilience and continues to be a challenge to our leadership, knowledge, and crisis management capacity.

How we react in crisis situations:
• Stress, burnout, anxiety, sleep problems, conflicts, bullying, difficulties in reconciling personal and family life, consumption of alcohol/drugs and other addictions

When we experience very challenging situations, our neurobiological mechanisms react by identifying a possible threat situation. Our system goes into alert and survival mode, releasing adrenaline and cortisol and increasing our heart rate.

Our emotional management is compromised. In this state, we go into automatic pilot and repetitive thoughts, fear blocks the broad perspective, breaking the awareness of ourselves and others and enhancing disconnection, compromising our ability to act and decide in a thoughtful and effective way.

One way out of this automatic cycle of emotional hijacking is by building and cultivating resilience.

Cultivating resilience through mindfulness practice
Resilience is usually defined as the ability to resist adversity and recover from difficult life events (crises, disappointments, failures, obstacles… and also pandemics). Being resilient doesn’t mean you don’t experience anxiety, stress and suffering. Rather, it means becoming aware, taking advantage of personal resources and skills, to overcome challenges and solve problems. It is a competence that is trained and cultivated, in a process in continuous development.

As the practice of mindfulness – intentionally paying attention to the present moment without judgment – is one of the basic tools for the development of emotional intelligence skills, this has been pointed out as one of the most useful and effective practices to become more resilient.

More and more companies of the most varied sizes and sectors of activity have been incorporating this practice. A “work-life balance”, where there is no longer that gap between professional and personal life, but the search for a full life.

Companies become co-responsible for the different spectrums of the employee’s life by complementing their self-knowledge and personal development, by contributing to their happiness and quality of life.

Managing your own mind and deciding to take control of your destiny and helping others to do the same is the secret to finding the mental strength to overcome obstacles and regain energy in the face of challenges.

It is in this way that the company-society bond is thus reinforced.

Alexandra Outeiro
HR Specialist
ABC Sustainable Luxury Hospitality
Proud Ambassadors Global Wellness Institute
Happiest Places to Work – Awards