World Mental Health Day is today (Wednesday 10 October) and the theme this year is supporting good mental health in the workplace. While days like today are great for raising awareness, it’s important to remember we all have mental health every day of the year. That’s why workplaces need to embed an ongoing culture that supports mental health every day. 

So, today we are going to look at different workplaces from around the globe which are doing some really inspiring stuff when it comes to putting the mental health and wellbeing of their employees first.

BASECAMP
Basecamp actively encourage 40 hour work weeks. Most interestingly though they have built a ‘Work Can Wait’ feature in to Basecamp which turns Basecamp notifications off after work hours and on weekends. This allows employees to switch off from work and enjoy their own free time – leading to better wellbeing and mental health. 

EMPOWER
Empower recognise the importance of social interaction for mental health and wellbeing. Coffee is deliberately centralised on the first floor so all 3 floors are forced to travel to the single location. This results in lots of chat and interaction amongst employees across the whole office.

ASANA
From nutritious meals to coaching – Asana offers a lot. The thing that really caught our eye though was that they hold ‘No Meeting Wednesdays’. A great initiative to help people get through their work without the added stress and pressures of distractions.

DAIMLER
This car and truck maker has implemented a new initiative that allows employees to set their email software to automatically delete incoming emails while they are on holiday. A great way to help employees switch off.

WARBY PARKER
Teamwork and collaboration are highly valued at this eyewear brand. So everyone always has something to look forward to, there’s always some fun event planned. Employees are also sent on lunches together to encourage greater collaboration. 

GOOGLE
We’ve all heard about the huge range of benefits and facilities that Google offer – pool tables, massage pods and endless classes. One of the ideas we most like though is their ‘20% time’ policy – encouraging employees to spend 20% of their time on what they think will most benefit Google. This is a great way to help employees feel like they are really contributing – a very important aspect of maintaining mental health at work. 

SWEDEN
Sweden, the country, has been experimenting with a 6 hour work day. Reports suggest it has led to less sick leave and better perceived health and productivity. Although the jury is still out on the trial as more employees had to be employed to cover the lost hours.