The Hidden Productivity Cost: Mental Health

In manufacturing, mental health is not always at the forefront. As a leader, you might think your only focus should be productivity, results, and getting work done on the factory floor. But when you overlook your team’s mental wellbeing, it can actually lead to more issues, like decreased productivity, more disconnected, and high employee turnover.

The importance of mental health is clear from the statistics:

Depression alone can cause a 27% drop in productivity
Happy employees are 13% more productive 50% of millennials and 75% of Gen Z workers have left jobs partly due to mental health reasons
Manufacturing employees with mental health challenges miss four times more work days

How to Improve Your Organization’s Mental Health Culture

The solution to manufacturing’s mental health challenges: leadership! As a leader, you have the power to bring transformative change to your organization.

1. Recognize the Signs

If you don’t realize a team member is struggling, you can’t help them. As a leader, learn to spot some of the signs of a team member struggling with a mental health issues like depression or anxiety. Pay attention to changes in appearance, behavior, and performance. Is a usually productive employee suddenly slowing down? Has an employee who always speaks up in meetings become quiet and withdrawn? When someone exhibits a change like this, it could be a sign that they’re struggling with their mental health.

2. The Power of Conversations

When a team member is struggling, an honest and empathetic conversation can go a long way. Oftentimes, the stigma around mental illnesses leave people feeling ashamed to speak up, or like their feelings aren’t something to be discussed in the workplace. This can leave them stranded in an “isolation cycle,” where they are end up in a self-destructive loop of shame and silence. If you see something who may be struggling, reach out. Have an emphatic, honest conversation and let them know it’s okay for them to express their feelings and talk about their challenges.

3. Creating a Safer Culture

As a leader, you can also take powerful steps to erase stigma, break down barriers, and create a stronger, safer culture when it comes to mental health. One way to promote a safer culture is to normalize conversations about mental health, at all levels of your manufacturing organization. Along with having honest conversations with struggling employees, this also means sharing your own personal experiences and vulnerabilities with your team. Be open and honest about your own challenges, and you’ll lead the way in creating a culture where everyone feels safe to express their feelings and other concerns.

Learn More on Mindfulness Manufacturing

Learn more about mental health in manufacturing in a recent episode of the Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast featuring guest Adam Nemer! Adam is a former CFO and senior operations leader, whose own mental health struggles inspired him to start Simple Mental Health, an organization that partners with leaders to bring stigma-free mental health culture to their organizations.

In this episode, Adam shares impactful stories from his own mental health journey and offers great insights for how leaders can support their teams, implement stronger mental health. Listen to his episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing here.

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

In manufacturing, we’re all familiar with stress. But did you know that a lack of challenges and too much comfort can also have a negative impact on your health, mindset, and productivity? This is the core concept Paul Taylor presents in his great book Death by Comfort: How Modern Life is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It. As a former British Royal Navy crew member and a current Ph.D. candidate in applied psychology, Paul has in-depth knowledge about stress, resilience, and performance.

In this episode on stress, comfort, and psychological safety, Paul draws from his own experiences and research to delve deeper into why discomfort and challenging situations build confidence and resilience, plus shares some of his favorite methods for rethinking how you perceive stress and engage with your team.

2:20 – In manufacturing, stress can be inevitable, so you need to find the right level of stress in your environment 3:36 – You can use principles from physical fitness and apply them to stress management 7:11 – To stay healthy and keep a productive mindset, you need to balance stress and recovery 11:54 – When you practice self-efficacy and do hard tasks, it builds your confidence 16:21 – Uncomfortable yet necessary conversations play a key role in workplace environments 17:38 – To change and improve how you give feedback and have challenging conversations, use the SBI (situation-behavior-impact) model 18:36 – Use the OARS model for motivational interviewing to encourage open questions, affirmations, reflective listening, and summarizing 24:58 – Take time to understand your purpose and the impact of your work 24:58 – Don’t overlook the role of accountability in psychological safety

Connect with Paul Taylor Visit his website Listen to The Paul Taylor Podcast Buy Death by Comfort on Amazon or at your favorite bookseller Read my book report on Death by Comfort