Category: Organizational and Management Discussions

Moving Business Buildings

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Organizational and Management Discussions. Many businesses have to move locations at some point. A major key to doing so, is executing it so that operations don’t stop and profits aren’t lost. The following sponsored post is entitled, Moving Business Buildings.

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If you own a business, you may find that you are rather busy. There are issues that need your attention and things that must be taken care of. If your business is successful, you should regularly update or even consider getting a new office if need be. This can help many aspects of your company. Employees will love having an updated space to work in, and if you are looking to move you will want to try and stay local to keep your old clients. Here are a few things to look for in a new building.

Location

The location of a new building is important for the continuing success of your company. If you have outgrown your current building, then you are using a successful plan. Try to not deviate from it. If your location affects your customers or cost in a negative way, it may not be the right move for you. You want to choose a progressive path and not one that will hurt your company.

Space

If your previous building was small, look for something that is big enough now but has room to grow into. Keep in mind that your growth will be happening even as you move. When you have the extra space, you want to use it and fill it. You can get more office equipment Jackson MI, or you could make a storage room or nice break room if possible. Get the most use out of all the space as you possibly can.

Tech

When deciding whether or not to move office buildings, you need to consider your company’s technology. It can be a lot of work to move all of your equipment and reinstall it, and you’ll need to make sure you have the right infrastructure in place for it too. IT support services can help make your move a smooth one, making sure everything is set up correctly in your new location. Remember to factor in these costs as you make your decision.

Price

Have a budget when looking for new buildings. Do not go over the budget to sacrifice things that have made you successful as a company. You want to be able to have the building as a blessing and not a curse. If the building costs too much, it can cut into your profits and slow down growth.

Needing to expand as a business is a good problem to have. Be mindful to keep the same traits that made your company successful though, no matter what building you are in.

Ways to Provide a Safe Work Environment

Three key focuses of my blog are Career Discussions, Organizational and Management Discussions and Workplace Discussions. There’s a lot more that goes into an ideal workplace besides working in an industry that’s cutting edge in a swanky location like Silicon Valley. Workplace safety is also huge and not often considered. The following sponsored post is entitled, Ways to Provide a Safe Work Environment.

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Managing a large building is no small feat; there are tons of things you must think about on a daily basis to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible. One of the most important aspects of maintaining a great work environment is making sure your building is a safe place for employees and visitors. Check out this article for some tips for how to ensure this.

Hire a Safety Team

A safety team can consist of just a few security guards who keep an eye out for trouble, or a large group of well-trained officers who maintain vigilance at all hours. When developing your safety team, determine whether you think your building would benefit from an armed officer Rockford IL or if you just need a general security presence. While there’s always a chance for danger, does your specific building run the risk of violent crime or are you more concerned about preventing petty theft? Figure out your specific needs and go from there.

Install a Surveillance System

Every building can benefit from having a surveillance system. With video cameras throughout the premises, you and your safety team can monitor everything and have a record of any issue that presents itself. This can help thwart potential threats, solve crimes, and even protect you and your staff from accusations of wrongdoing. Make sure you install a trustworthy security system and perform routine tests to ensure it’s working properly.

Maintain Open Communication

Another excellent means of providing a safe work environment is through maintaining a good channel for communication. Regularly check in with your employees and managers to make sure everyone feels safe, and let them know it’s their duty to report to you if anything is amiss. What better way to make sure people feel safe than by responding to their concerns?

It’s important that your building is safe; to ensure this is true, you can hire security officers, install a surveillance system, and talk with your staff often about any concerns.

How to Increase Employee Satisfaction

A key focus of my blog is Organizational and Management Discussions. In any organization, if you’re a part of management, you have to consider your employees’ satisfaction in you want your organization to continue operating at peak efficiency. Happy employees will do that for you. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Increase Employee Satisfaction.

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No matter the size of your business, a collaborative team of satisfied employees is without a doubt a worthwhile goal. By increasing your employee satisfaction, you’ll be able to create a workforce that is motivated, productive and loyal, all of which are essential to your success. When raises and bonuses aren’t in your business’ immediate budget, there are many effective alternative paths to choose when building employee satisfaction and creating a happier workplace.

Keep the Work Environment In Check
Technical issues such as slow servers and physical issues like broken equipment can inevitably occur in the workplace. However, when they happen frequently enough, employees can become frustrated and increasingly demotivated with the quality of their work output. To avoid dissatisfaction, identify issues and deal with any staff complaints as quickly as possible. This will demonstrate your commitment as an employer in providing an enjoyable work environment.

Offer Flexibility
Any business that gives their employees the opportunity to have greater autonomy and responsibility for their own time at work is vital to increasing satisfaction levels. This is because offering control allows employees to achieve a suitable work-life balance. Try offering flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, flex time, or even seasonal flexibility such as “summer” hours.

Recognise Achievements
Acknowledge your employee’s achievements and reward them in innovative ways alongside any financial bonuses. This could include their name in an internal newsletter, applauding them in a staff meeting, or even offering the best parking slot for a month. These small acts of recognition can be powerful incentives that propel other employees into following the acknowledged employee’s example and increase overall workforce productivity.

Training
No employee wants to stay stagnant in the same place – help drive your employee’s career development by offering professional development opportunities, such as valuable online courses, mentoring, coaching, lectures, or knowledge transfer plans such as with https://stevetrautman.com/learn/knowledge-transfer-plan/. All of these ideas can help your employees progress in their role as well as engage with your business.

Wellness Benefits
A company that is invested in its employees’ health is made instantly more desirable to employees as a long-term job. Promote and drive good health with the likes of nutritious food options in the cafeteria or break room, educate employees with wellness seminars, and offer discounted gym memberships. To combat work related stress, ensure that your employees are taking regular breaks as well as their annual leave, and encourage them to be open about their work worries with you. To get your team together, why not try organising a spa day or a rewarding charity run on the weekend?

Encourage A Sociable Workplace Culture
A team that attends regular social activities outside of office hours such as work lunches, celebrations, and fun events is a strong team. Fostering a sociable workplace culture through encouraging teamwork, socialisation, and communication will result in greater contentment in the workplace and can give employees a sense of belonging. Where applicable, employees should be given the opportunities to voice ideas, collaborate together, and create strong bonds with one another.

5 Tips For Companies To Improve Workplace Hygiene

Three key focuses of my blog are Health/Wellness, Organizational and Management Discussions, and Workplace Discussions. A key consideration in the discussion regarding restarting the economy following Covid-19 is workplace hygiene and making it safe for workers. If workers feel safe about the workplace, they may be more likely to return. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Tips For Companies To Improve Workplace Hygiene.

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The recent pandemic means that hygiene in the workplace is now front-page news. Everyone wants to make sure that they’re providing a sanitary environment for workers to keep people safe.

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Workplace hygiene, however, has long been a priority for management. Leaders know that if they can improve cleanliness, they can reap the business benefits. Hygienic firms are profitable firms, especially in hospitality and medicine.

Are you worried about staying safe and mitigating the spread of COVID-19? Check out these tips.

Limit Food To Entitled Areas

A lot of workers like to stuff their faces with sandwiches at their desks over the lunch hour. It’s a time-saving device that helps them get more done during the day so that they can go home on time.

It turns out, though, that eating and drinking at a regular desk is a hygiene risk, especially if your company operates hotdesking. Food going into the mouth can be a carrier of infection, potentially putting the person at risk.

Limiting food consumption to permitted areas can make a considerable difference to the risk of transmission. It is much easier to clean canteens than it is to go around, ensuring the keyboards and mice are germ-free.

If you operate a canteen, ensure that you keep workers at least one meter apart.

Install Sanitary Equipment

Mopping floors and wiping desks is easy. But cleaning equipment to ensure that it is hygienic is much more challenging. Machinery tends to have a bunch of nooks and crannies where nasty germs can hideout.

Sanitary tubing goes some way to alleviating this problem. You can open it up and easily clean it, preventing the buildup of bacteria you get with conventional systems. You can also buy plant and equipment from vendors committed to exceptional hygiene. Make sure that things like filters are easy to replace.

Keep Air Moving

Researchers now believe that coronavirus may spread via the air in the form of an aerosol. Keeping air moving in the workplace, therefore, is essential. The more draft you can generate, the less likely any virus in the air will come into contact with people. Enclosed indoor spaces tend to be the most dangerous.

Hire Professional Cleaning Services

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Business is booming for professional cleaning services, and it is not hard to see why. Companies want professional outfits that know what they’re doing when it comes to reducing the threat of COVID-19. Managers see them as a way to convince staff that their premises are “COVID secure.”

Most cleaning companies see the coronavirus pandemic as a business opportunity. For that reason, they’ve been investing heavily in training, giving their staff specific skills to combat viruses. In addition, they’ve been updating their equipment too. Many now use electrostatic cleaning tools to thoroughly coat surfaces using ionization to make sure all germs die.

Provide Hand Sanitizer

Hand sanitizer is now a staple in shops, pubs, and restaurants. Using it helps to prevent the spread of infection by killing any virus that might be on the skin. Place it strategically around your workplace.

Four Tips To Improve Worksite Efficiency

Two key focuses of my blog are Organizational and Management Discussions. If you’re running a construction site and working on projects, a challenge is keeping the job on schedule. As such you have to consider efficiencies that will optimize time and resources. The following contributed post is entitled, Four Tips To Improve Worksite Efficiency.

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When it comes to worksites, it’s important to be on point for deadlines that you have to meet and ensuring everything is going to plan with the timeline given. With that being said, there are definitely some things that are worth doing in order to help improve the efficiency of it. Here are four tips to improve worksite efficiency.

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Make Sure To Delegate

Delegating is part of the issue you can have when it comes to any site managers that are working on-site throughout the day. They might have their own duties to attend to, but it’s essential that there are daily meetings with workers to ensure everyone knows what they’re doing and when the progress should be done by. In order to keep to deadlines and to stop people from doing what they shouldn’t be doing, make sure you delegate. Otherwise, you’re going to have a lack of productivity in parts and also workers who are standing around doing nothing. It’s important to utilize every single member of the team and delegating is essential to making it work successfully for all those involved.

Use The Right Equipment

Equipment is essential for your worksite and the workers involved. If you’ve not got the right equipment on hand, then how do you expect those working to do their jobs and to do it safely. From Thompson Rock pugmills to any safety equipment that’s needed in order to protect your work staff effectively. By purchasing the right equipment and having it ready on-site or delivered when needed can ensure everything goes accordingly and that there are no delays caused due to lack of equipment.

Communicate Properly

Communication is important because otherwise, it can be very easy for wires to get crossed. That’s not something you want when you’re running along with tight deadlines, and unexpected events can occur that throw you off a few days. Make sure that you have a proper line of communication set up so that you can inform your staff on-site when needed and to also have effective communications between those on-site and those at the head office. By having these lines of communication, you will often run into fewer problems as a result.

Hold The Workers Slacking Accountable

Workers who sit around and do very little are something you don’t want to see, let alone be it in a public place where it’s causing disruption to commuters and the public in general. It’s important that any breaks are taken but out of sight and that you hold workers accountable when they slack off. It’s important to set examples within the workplace, otherwise, everyone else is going to take liberties too. Try to enforce workplace rules so that everyone is working hard to meet the site’s deadline to be finished.

Operating a worksite isn’t easy, so make sure you follow these tips to help make it as efficient as possible. Keep up with the right communication, hold your workforce accountable for slacking, and always delegate to your workers.

5 Warning Signs in Life Where You’ll Need Legal Representation

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy, Business/Entrepreneurship and Organizational and Management Discussions. One of the keys to being successful in business is to predict potential outcomes. A potential negative outcome for any business is legal encumbrances. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Warning Signs in Life Where You’ll Need Legal Representation.

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Hiring a lawyer is something that very few people do in life. After all, most of us tend to stay out of trouble so there’s no reason to hire one. However, there may be situations where trouble comes to us, or we make a bad decision that ultimately leads to a court case. Unfortunately, hiring a lawyer as a reaction to this can be a detriment. By the time you’ve been alerted that you’re being taken to court, you likely don’t have much time to find a suitable lawyer. While some situations (such as being arrested) will entitle you to some legal representation, other circumstances might not.

So to help you out, we’ve put together five warning signs to look out for that will tell you that you’ll soon need legal representation.

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1. Getting into investments and business

Legal representation is important when you’re getting into investments such as property. While you likely won’t be arguing against others in a court case, you might need legal representation for other situations. Legal assistance is always helpful to ensure that you are approaching your startup or investments in a safe and legal way. It’s also important to have due diligence meetings with investors and attorneys.

2. Your business is starting to get popular

Business lawyers are essential to any kind of company, but if you’re starting to gain in popularity then it’s a good idea to have legal representation ready. This is because you need to be able to protect your business, your intellectual property, and also take others to court for infringing on any copyrights and trademarks you own. If your business is getting into the big leagues, you’ll need all the legal assistance you need.

3. Facing any kind of injury that isn’t your fault

We’ve all heard it before; get a personal injury lawyer to help you claim compensation. No matter how cliché it sounds, it’s good advice that you should follow. Personal injury experts like https://www.shea-shea.com/ are going to be essential services should you experience an accident of any kind. They’ll help you get the legal representation you need to claim compensation and can help argue your corner. If you end up in an accident with multiple people, it’s a good idea to lawyer up as soon as possible.

4. Any kind of charge against you

Be it a DUI, drug charges or any kind of criminal charge, it’s a good idea to hire a lawyer quickly. In most cases, you’ll be offered legal representation, but we suggest looking for a lawyer on your own accord for more peace of mind. Always look into their experience and ensure they’re proficient in the area of law you need them to be. Ask about previous clients or knowledge of local news, such as the Daniel Fung arrest after he was murdered, to get a better idea of their track record. Being charged or arrested is scary, but with legal representation, it’s much easier to handle.

5. You’re going through a tough relationship

If you’re in a nasty or complex relationship that seems to be on its last legs, then you should get ready to hire legal representation. If you and your partner mutually agree on all aspects of your separation then you don’t actually need a lawyer. However, things can easily get nasty if you’re not careful, hence why we’d always recommend looking for lawyers when your relationship is starting to crumble. You’ll never know when you’ll need to defend your assets or custody of your child.

Updating Your Office Space: A Guide For Business Owners

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Organizational/Management Discussions. Office space in any business or organization is critical. One of the keys to your business is optimizing and updating your office space. The following contributed post is entitled, Updating Your Office Space: A Guide For Business Owners.

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If you run an office space as a business owner, you’ll know that keeping your space safe, stylish and up to date is a challenge. Not only are updates to your space costly, but they are time consuming, and often create a disruption to the workflow of the office. But of course, with great power comes great responsibility, and if you want to be a responsible business owner, keeping your space user-friendly and up to date is essential.

How Often Should The Space Be Updated?

If your original office space was well-built and well-designed, you should not need to update it often. With proper maintenance, cleaning and care, the building may only need refurbishments every fifteen to twenty years. This also depends on the business. If you run a café or restaurant with a lot of footfall, these refurbishments should happen more frequently, as the general wear and tear of the place will increase.

What Should Be Prioritized?

As with most things, safety should be the number one priority. If you feel your space needs multiple changes to be made, take it one step at a time. The core safety of the building, its structure and safety exits should come first. Installing fire-safe MCM panels on the outside of your building and ensuring that fire exits are safe and well-signposted are essentials for your building.

After safety is taken care of, the next priority should be your office’s usability for its employees. Offices should be spaces that encourage collaboration, concentration and productivity. This means that the layout of the office should be designed for employees to have both peace and quiet, and spaces to collaborate.

Finally, there are the finishing touches. To make your office a standout space which your employees love to spend time in, add colour, nature and a few easy perks. These are simple additions which transform your office from a mundane place of work to a chic locale.

Some ideas for these design finishing touches are:

● Houseplants. These are fantastic additions to any room with natural light. They are inexpensive and beautiful, and amazingly, they help purify the air in your office.
● A good quality coffee machine. Seriously. Although a coffee machine is a slightly expensive addition, your employees will be thrilled with this addition. Coffee goes a long way, particularly in stressful times when extra energy reserves are needed.
● Chill-out spaces. If your office is not in a city centre, and is not surrounded by cool hangouts for your employees to kick back in on their breaks, create one in your own space. This can be as simple as a few bean bag chairs and a Playstation for everyone to enjoy their downtime.

Outsourcing Your Updates

If you are concerned about updating your office space, contact a contractor who can talk you through the process and ensure the work is being done safely and legally. If you need help with design, contact an office designer for a quote, or use the internet for office design inspiration!

How To Make Your Employees’ Lives Easier

A key focus of my blog is Organization/Management Discussions. If you’re in management, getting the most out of your employees doesn’t entirely mean squeezing everything out of them like a sponge. There’s a balance between setting the bar high in terms of productivity and make their lives and working conditions easier. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Make Your Employees’ Lives Easier.

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Some bosses think that simply hiring an employee will be enough to push their company in the right direction, but this is not the case. If a team of staff is going to bring results for a business, then they need to have the right framework in which to work. Their role within your company should be as easy and straightforward as possible. It’s easy to get caught up in carrying out your duties and so on, but it’s worthwhile taking the time to strengthen your employees’ capability to help your business. Here’s how you do it.

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Be Direct

Of all the soft skills that an employer can have, none are quite as important as strong communication skills. Your employees will be happy to work to a high standard, but they’re not mind readers. They can’t know what you want if you’re not telling them directly. Ultimately, you can make your staff’s lives much easier by giving clear instructions and guidance (of course, in a friendly way). It can sometimes feel as if bosses overcomplicate their management style; talk plainly and directly, and you’ll avoid this problem.

Let Them Work

If you want to make your employees’ lives easier, then endeavor to avoid doing the things that they really don’t like. It’s simple, yet effective! Right at the top of employees’ ‘pet peeves’ list is micromanagement. If you’ve hired a person to do a job for your business, then let them get on with it. They’ll most likely have more experience and talent in doing the task than you do anyway, providing you’ve hired correctly. If you can’t trust your staff to work to a high standard, then there are two things you can do: improving your hiring process so you get better quality candidates, and also work on your own leadership style.

Avoid Information Overload

Staff can also become annoyed when it feels like their time is being wasted. There can be a lot to know at any company, but do your employees really need to know all of it? Information overload can lead to burnout, and also, it must be said, can reduce the quality of the staff’s work (since they’ll find it harder to focus on their main task). You can avoid this problem by reducing the number of meetings that you hold. If you have many pdfs to send, then look at dividing up the content; many bosses have used this for pdf splitting, so they can just send the key information from a file rather than the whole thing. There’ll be things about the company that your employees really will need to know, but it’ll be far from everything about the business.

Work/Life Balance

Finally, remember that you have an obligation to help your staff maintain a healthy work/life balance. Life can become much more difficult if it feels like you’re always at work; stress can build quickly. So have realistic expectations and be mindful of giving your team a break when it’s needed.

4 Leadership Skills Any Manager Needs

A key focus of my blog is Organizational/Management Discussions. Leadership is an amorphous word which can mean any number of things. When it comes to management in an organization, it does however mean very specific things. Exceptional managers tend to have a specific set of skills that make them successful. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Leadership Skills Any Manager Needs.

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While many people believe they are not cut out for leadership, for others, it feels natural. However, just because you think you were born to be a leader doesn’t mean you have the skills to do so. Without the proper leadership skills, whether in business, at home, or on the field, you risk seeing negative results. To avoid this, you must obtain leadership skills to ensure you can motivate and inspire your team. You could argue that all skills are as crucial as each other, but some are more important than others.

Communication

Excellent communication skills are vital in many aspects of life. If you are unable to put your point across, you will struggle to pass messages on or explain the plan of action for different challenges.

This does not merely mean clear and concise speaking, but also demonstrating that you can listen to others. Through this, you can use your practical communication skills to overcome problems, inspire ideas in your staff, and deal with any issues without coming across as aggressive.

Compassion

Too many managers and leaders will see their staff as commodities, especially if they are part of a large corporation and are rarely in the office or area themselves. However, your team are people, and they have their own lives, meaning compassion and understanding are crucial.

From unreasonable requests to repairing condensate pumps for the AC system, it’s vital to provide them with a comfortable office or classroom. You should also accommodate their requests, whether to leave early or start late, because they have lives outside of work that demand their attention, and their work should revolve around their life, not the other way around.

Relationship Building

Success and relationships go hand-in-hand. Without the ability to build relationships, you will not achieve the heights that you expect or desire as a leader.

But how does a leader make relationship-building a priority? You need to create foundations of trust with your staff, clients, suppliers, and customers. Furthermore, your organization should boast the accessibility that everyone requires, as this will allow them to feel welcomed at your business no matter who they are. Often, merely showing your face regularly will also help you appear more involved than faceless CEOs.

Reflection

Leadership is not just about what you expect from your employees, but also what they expect from you. There will be ideas you have that do not work. But, rather than dig your heels in and close your eyes to the problem, it’s vital to reflect and adapt.

No one is expected to get things right every time, and the same goes for being a leader. You will make mistakes, but standing up and admitting what went wrong and taking clear steps to change it will demonstrate fantastic leadership qualities and boost your team’s respect.

Leading the Pack

Being a leader is all about recognizing when things are not working and adjusting your approach. If you can show this while also demonstrating fantastic compassion and communication and building relationships with your team, you can guarantee you will grow into a strong and effective leader. You will see the results reflected in your team.

Supporting Mental Health In The Workplace

Two of the focuses of my blog are Career Discussions, Health/Wellness and Organizational and Management Discussions. When you’re in management, you want to support the overall health of your staff. Doing so will both maximize their productivity and foster their loyalty. The following contributed post is entitled, Supporting Mental Health In The Workplace.

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Supporting mental health in the workplace is essential; people deserve to be able to open up about how they’re thinking and feeling, and to feel encouraged to do so even in a professional setting. We’re human beings, after all, and we can’t just turn our brains off when we’re at work!

So, if you’re someone who’s out to support mental health in the workplace, but you’re just not sure where to start, we’ve collected a few ideas together for you to look into. Mental health matters a lot more than people tend to think, and as a small business leader, it’s time to advocate for healthy management.

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Give Each Employee Some Time

Your employees deserve to have one on one time with you or with a supervisor they’re under the care of. Give them the chance to have private and/or personal meetings, where they can air their struggles or concerns. Because when you make time for meetings like these, you show your employees that their thoughts and feelings matter; you show them that the workplace doesn’t have to be just another problem on their plate.

Try Out a Workshop

A workshop or a training program is essential for supporting mental health in the workplace. With a strategy like this, you create an environment of education about mental health, and you place some positive emphasis on creating an open workplace that people can be productive in.

Indeed, a mental health workshop can be beneficial for all kinds of reasons. It can lead to more sensitivity in the workplace, it can lead to further treatment options to be explored, and it can even just mean a healthy, honest, and open dialogue about mental health at work is being had. Give a keynote speaker the platform, and give your employees the chance to take some time and put their needs at work first.

Provide Options

And finally, be sure to provide as much information on the options for mental health that are available to your employees. Let them know there’s help out there, and that the company can help them get it. Of course, plenty of businesses work closely with mental health charities and private organisations to ensure there’s always a counsellor on hand for an employee to see if need be.

But if your company hasn’t taken a step like this yet, it might be time to do so. Look into your own options for providing mental health care to those in your workplace; companies such as Meridian Psychiatric Partners are out there, and could become part of the healthcare package you provide. Even just storing helpful leaflets or official pamphlets on the front desk allows a person to pick up the information they need when they need it.

Supporting mental health in the workplace is essential to working well. Make sure you’re leading by example and providing the right resources for your employees. For a modern workforce, mental health and wellbeing should be a top priority.