This Stream includes all of our Guides & Toolkits Flipbooks.
Issue link: https://www.wsps.ca/resource-hub/i/1462154
Moving to Action Implementing Workplace Safety & Prevention Services' Mental Harm Prevention Roadmap 7 Building Block 1: Foundation Foundation—Establish organizational readiness, budget, resources, and senior leadership buy-in. Why is this building block important? Employers must start by articulating their primary objectives. This can include reducing disability costs due to mental health claims, complying with human rights and occupational health and safety legislation, protecting human resources, or maximizing productivity. The conversation begins with establishing buy-in from senior leaders. 3 Providing leaders with data can help make the case for why investing in mental health is productive for business. 4 Investing in a psychological health and safety strategy can lead to greater employee retention, better workplace performance, stronger leader/employee relationships, and greater resourcefulness of staff. 5 3 Canadian Mental Health Association, Workplace Mental Health in Canada. 4 Chenier, Hoganson, and Thorpe, Making the Business Case for Investments in Workplace Health. 5 Leka and Jain, Mental Health in the Workplace in Europe. What is required to obtain buy-in and establish an effective foundation? It is necessary to: • define goals and determine how success will be measured (key metrics); • estimate budget and resources required; • create an inventory—an outline of what is already in place (i.e., baseline assets) based on review of current mental health initiatives, strategies, policies, and programs; • decide the extent to which the organization wants to align with the National Standard; • build the business case for senior leadership buy-in to implement a psychological health and safety strategy. Building the business case for senior leadership buy-in A business case for implementing a mental health strategy forms the foundation—it is a critical early step for getting management on board. The Cost of Doing Nothing (CODN) tool factors in metrics that are important to organizations to show real-time savings lost due to poor mental fitness. By outlining the savings that could be lost, an organization can build an evidence-informed business case for psychological health and safety.