It’s a worrying statistic that needs addressing, so that there is awareness and support available in the workplace, whatever the hierarchy.

Whether it’s the part-time cleaner or the CEO, mental health matters

No matter what the size of the business, or the position held, looking after the emotional wellbeing of staff should be a top priority. It shouldn’t need a diagnosis for personal wellness to become a consideration.

According to mental health charity, MIND, 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem. Job title, salary, or level of responsibility, will not influence this. Mental wellbeing is something that unites us all.

With this in mind, we’ve put together a few pieces of key advice on what businesses can be doing today to consider the health and happiness of their staff

Feel the benefits of flexible working

You don’t need us to tell you that mental health issues don’t come with an on/off button, nor do they fit in nicely around your work and social schedule. They happen when they happen, and for this reason it’s beneficial for employers to permit a bit of slack around working hours and location.

Allowing staff to come in an hour or so later, or to work from home if they feel that they need to, is a great way to show that their wellness is being considered and accommodated.

Be transparent about the business’ ups and downs

If you own or work within a large company with multiple offices around the country (or even the world), this is more difficult to achieve, but not impossible.

Making time to keep staff – at all levels – in the loop goes a long way towards reducing anxiety, and fosters a culture of trust amongst the workforce.

Don’t stand in the way of socialising

30% of those who have a best friend at work are 7 times more engaged with their jobs. Doing what you can to stimulate social relationships improves communication. It ensures staff have somewhere to turn to if they need to talk.

Let’s get physical!

Encourage walking meetings, stand-up meetings, lunch time fitness classes and freedom of movement around the workplace.

Whatever gets staff moving without damaging productivity is a great way to capitalise on the connection between physical health and mental vitality. Getting outside at breaks, beach walks and park walks.

The post Nurturing Mental Health at Every Level appeared first on The Cheap Accountants.

Remote working is growing in popularity and is becoming the norm, slowly but surely. There are plenty of benefits to working with remote workers and freelancers.

In this post, we’ll first be discussing the benefits and then how you can manage remote workers effectively.

The benefits of remote workers

You can hire anyone in the world

There’s no need to limit your recruitment efforts to only hiring people in the local area. You can choose literally anyone in the world. There’s no limit.

Save on office space

If you’d rather keep overheads down, you don’t need to invest in pricey office space. You could choose somewhere smaller or even just work from home.

Save on equipment

No need to buy computers, software packages or kitchen facilities when your workers have their own at home. You may need to purchase licenses for software, but overall your costs of hiring an employee are going to be so much less than if they worked with you in an office.

Happier, healthier workers

Numerous studies have shown that commuting to work and sitting in the same office chair for 8 hours a day is bad for our health. And yet, many business owners just accept it as a fact of life.

Giving employees the freedom to choose their own hours, have control over their working environment and having flexible time off leads to happier and healthier staff. This then leads to better productivity levels so it’s a win-win situation.

Attract the best workers

If you have a flexible, remote working job role, this is going to make you a sought-after employer. You’re going to have your pick of the very best employees.

The only downside is you’ll probably have to sort through a lot of job applications unless you headhunt specific people or use a recruitment agency.

How to manage remote workers

A lot of people are still apprehensive about remote workers. There’s admittedly a lot less control over how your employees spend their time.

What if they’re only messing about on Facebook all day?

There’s always that risk. However, if you do your research and find the right employee, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Giving employees control over their time and environment is actually shown to boost productivity rather than hinder it. As remote working opportunities are so few and far between, a good employee would be unlikely to risk this privilege by abusing the freedom and flexibility you’ve offered them.

Sign up to a messaging app

With plenty of apps to choose from, it’s easier than ever to keep in touch with remote workers online.

Slack has grown in popularity since it was released over five years ago, just as remote teams have taken off. It’s free to use for small teams and can be used as a way to catch up, share documents, and get critique or even set up a video call. Other popular options include Zoom video conferencing or Skype.

Get help with project management

Project management solutions such as Asana, Monday, Hygger or Trello have made it much easier for people to collaborate and manage workloads remotely. You can see what your employees are working on, create content calendars, set project deadlines and label projects by priority.

Have regular catch-ups

Try to set aside time to catch-up one-to-one with remote workers to see how they’re finding things. Personal issues or things they’re struggling with might get pushed to one side when doing group meetings or pinging work-related messages over Slack.

It’s important that you’re supporting remote workers in the same way you would with regular office workers.

Be flexible

The beauty of remote working is that it’s flexible. So don’t be so rigid with your working day. Give people the freedom to take a break when they want, to schedule a doctor’s appointment or head out for a long lunch.

This is especially important for those working in different time zones. You can’t expect everyone to follow your rigorous schedule.

You’ll find more often than not that people appreciate this freedom and will return to work more productive. Not everyone is looking to escape or lead a lazy working lifestyle.

Do you work with remote workers? Have you ever worked remotely yourself? Share your stories and tips for success below.

The post How to Work With Remote Workers Effectively appeared first on The Cheap Accountants.