Never before has mental health been such a high-profile issue. In the field of engineering, employees and business owners contend with stresses unique to the sector - pressure from customers and expectations of documented excellence on visible, real-time levels.
37% of engineers describe their mental health as "fair or poor", according to the latest available figures (equalengineers.com). In the article linked below, the IMechE says,
"The solutions are not always clear, but a good start for any boss dealing with a potentially difficult situation is to listen to the engineers. Preventing stress before it happens and treating staff with compassion and support will create better businesses and happier, healthier workers."
Although written three years ago, we have to ask ourselves if the situation has changed much since then. Engineering is full of long-standing traditions, and in the face of technological upgrades and mechanical advancements, personnel can easily find themselves on the back burner of investment priorities. Is avoidance of the issue a good idea? You may agree that it's not, but where to begin in effectively addressing it may seem paradoxically to be a quantum leap in the dark.
The advice from IMechE, to 'listen to the engineers', is a first port of call WorldLine makes simple. Cultural Analysis goes much further than a tick-box exercise, with a 20-minute one-to-one confidential questionnaire that assesses not only opinions of the workplace environment, but also the priorities that people have in terms of their own lives, wellbeing factors, and positive, constructive changes they themselves would like to make.
From here, it's easy to see what your culture really looks like from the inside. Trying to achieve a clear window by in-house investigation is fraught with issues. Barriers of trust commonly exist in negative cultures, so where there's a problem there are high levels of resistance. Here's what UE Group had to say about their Cultural Analysis completed earlier this year:
"Thank you Kathy for the work you have done with us so far. The engagement and. understanding of our business goals has increased immeasurably due in no small part to the wider team appreciating the opportunity to participate in our vision for the future."
Coming in from outside, a facilitation like this breaks down those barriers and allows people to talk openly about how they think and feel. For some, this is a scary prospect - digging beneath the surface may not seem like a great idea. The upshot, however, is real appreciation of the fact that this opportunity has been presented, so whatever is actioned from the findings made available, the act of demonstrating consideration is in itself perceived as a good thing. Win-win situation, not rocket science, but a valuable and unique facilitation to put your company ahead of the exponential curve.
I'm Kathy, an experienced deliverer of visible results to engineering and manufacturing companies wondering how to achieve positive productivity.
I want to help people transform their workplace into one they can look forward to every day, happy to support its mission and actively contributing to best-practice initiatives as a chosen path of least resistance.
You can book a chat, free of obligation (and free of sales talk) by emailing kathy@worldlinetraining.com or calling 07770 583223 any time.
