6 tips for maintaining positive mental health in the workplace

Taking care of your employees’ mental health has never been more important. With the cultural effects of Covid-19 still having an impact, more people working remotely than ever before and our daily interactions becoming increasingly digitized, it’s key for employers to provide support and create the space for open and honest communication between team members.

Although it’s Time to Talk Day in the UK, mental health is always something we have in mind at ramarketing. Teams across the company have been working hard over the past few years to maintain the ‘ramfam’ culture as we have expanded our team to over 80 people across multiple countries.

Here are just some of the ways we try to help our teams maintain good mental health, and what ramarketers can do if they need some support…

Team meet-ups

As a company that has taken on more remote and hybrid workers in the last 2 years than our previous 11 years combined, we make sure teams are taking advantage of opportunities to connect in person. Slack messages are great, sure, but you can’t beat getting together to collaborate as a team – receiving live feedback, observing body language, and feeling the energy in the room. What a buzz!

We’ve found that the teams that get together once a month or every other month, feel more connected to their colleagues and are more able to reach out when they’re having a tough time. Building relationships in person makes our remote teams work even better when they’re apart.

Hybrid working

Giving our people the flexibility to complete their hours in the way that works for them and their projects/clients has given our team a better work- life balance.

Our flexible working policy gives people freedom and choice to take a bit of time as and when they need it and to work when their performance is at its peak. This also benefits our teammates who have family and caring responsibilities, it covers multiple timezones for colleagues and clients who are distributed across the globe, in addition to supporting our neurodivergent colleagues – who may find their attention and motivation can come in peaks and troughs, so having the option to work when inspiration strikes can make all the difference to having a productive day.

We also offer ramarketing employees the freedom and flexibility to work from home, our HQ, or from Hubble offices and coworking spaces – whatever works for them, works for us!

Create Days

We all know you can’t pour from an empty cup. That’s why we have Create Days.

They’re an opportunity once a month to take a step back from the day-to-day role to take on some training, think about career development, or even take a day away from the computer to get those creative juices flowing or to take care of their mental health.

Having the chance to think ahead to future career and progression opportunities and being given the time to develop their skillset accordingly, can do huge things for a team member’s mental health. It often dramatically reduces the feelings of burnout and allows people to feel in control of their lives.

Social Committee

At ramarketing, we have a team of folks that volunteer their time to organize company-wide events such as our Summer and Christmas parties, meet-ups, and online activities. They’re always discussing new ideas to keep the team motivated and plan events throughout the year like the Taste of the Town dining club and mailouts during seasonal celebrations.

It’s important as a team spread far and wide to connect as much as possible – we know from experience this leads to better team health and improved communication.

Mental Health First Aiders

Being First-Aid trained has been the law worldwide for many years, but more recently, there has been a rise in Mental Health First-Aid (MHFA) training. It first started in Australia but has now spread to 24 countries, including the UK, offering a practical, ethical, and productive way for employers to invest in the mental and emotional health of their staff.

Removing the stigma around mental health through initiatives such as this encourages people to speak about emotional matters and mental struggles more openly and positively in the workplace. We have 3 MHFAs who are trained to offer support and advice to our ramfam – it’s something that’s important to us as an organization, so much so that our very own CEO, Dr. Emma Banks is fully Mental Health First-Aid trained.

Menopause matters

As a female-led organization we are proactively supporting team members who are perimenopausal and menopausal. We are proud to have a menopause policy and we recently launched an informal menopause group that has its own slack channel where resources and advice can be shared. Passionate about EDI this is one of many initiatives to ensure we support our people and raise wider awareness of this issue.

We’re proud of the ways in which we offer support to the ramarketing team and hope this gives some inspiration for how you can develop your own mental health initiatives within your organization.

If you like the sound of the ramfam culture, why not join the team? We’re currently looking for genuine people with a love of marketing to submit their resumes – take a look!