Mental Health Awareness Week 2025: What "community at work" really means from a health and safety consultant’s perspective
- carleneslade
- 7 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Table of contents |
The hidden workplace hazards affecting mental health
As health and safety consultants, we’re often seen as the people who show up with clipboards, completing workplace inspections and checking up on compliance. But what if I told you that over the last 20 years, some of the biggest hazards I’ve seen in the workplace have nothing to do with harmful substances or working at height, and everything to do with isolation, silence, and burnout?
“I’m drowning in work, but I don’t want to seem weak.”
“We’re a team on paper, but I feel alone.”
“When I did speak up, things got worse.”
“There’s no one I feel safe talking to.”
These aren’t outliers. They’re warning signs that tell us something is missing: a sense of community at work.
Why community at work is crucial for employee wellbeing
This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week theme is Community, and it has hit home for me. In our fast-paced world of workplace risk assessments and regulatory frameworks, we rarely stop to ask:
"How strong is the social fabric of this organisation? Do people feel safe, supported, and connected?"
It’s time to talk honestly about what "community at work" really looks like and where we tend to go wrong.
What real workplace community looks like beyond perks and policies
True workplace “community” isn’t the friendly competition on the games console at lunch or the pizza and drinks on a Friday night. It’s about connection and truly caring for each other. We thrive when our community is strong. When it’s missing, though, stress and burnout fill the gap. At the core of community is the feeling that you matter to others, and they matter to you.
It’s feeling seen and heard when you're struggling.
It’s being supported and listened to, not just managed.
It’s knowing someone in the team will have your back when the deadlines pile up.
It’s having the psychological safety to speak up. Not just about safety hazards, but how you’re really doing.
It’s knowing your voice matters.
Mental wellbeing isn’t just a personal issue. It’s often a symptom of a disconnected and unsupportive work environment requiring the same attention as any other workplace hazard.
Top mistakes companies make with workplace mental health initiatives
In our experience, organisations often miss the mark in 3 key ways:
1. Treating mental wellbeing as a one-off campaign and not a culture.
One workshop during Mental Health Week doesn’t counteract a culture that rewards overwork or discourages vulnerability.
2. Overlooking everyday micro-connections
Real community isn’t built in formal wellness programs or gym memberships. It’s in the day-to-day. Are managers genuinely asking how people are? Are teammates comfortable offering help? Is there a “policies without people” approach with no follow-through or support?
3. Assuming a “strong culture” = a healthy one
A “high-performance” culture can quietly punish people for slowing down, needing help, or setting personal boundaries. That’s not community. It's pressure dressed up as pride. If speaking up feels risky, the culture is performance-oriented.
How to improve workplace mental health: Practical steps for safer, healthier teams
Here’s what we practice ourselves and recommend to our clients when building safer and stronger workplaces:
Make mental health a safety issue, not just an HR concern
Include stress, burnout, and isolation in toolbox talks and risk assessments as real risks. Let your teams know it’s okay to talk about them. They’re just as critical as physical safety. Further guidance on completing stress risk assessments can be found here.
Build micro-communities, not just policies
Encourage informal check-ins, buddy systems, and peer support networks. It’s quite often a trusted co-worker, not HR, who spots when something’s wrong.
Train leaders to show up differently
Managers often think they need to “fix” mental health or feel ill-equipped to manage such conversations, so they avoid them. But the truth is, they don’t need to fix anything. They just need to listen, signpost to help, and create space for openness. That alone will transform culture. Further guidance for line managers can be found here.
Audit culture in the same way you audit risks
We conduct psychosocial risk assessments that look at workload, communication, support, and team dynamics. These are just as important as the fire drills.
Final Thoughts: Making mental health part of workplace safety culture. We're human first
This Mental Health Awareness Week, let’s move past slogans and look at the deeper meaning of community at work.
As consultants, we’re advocates for workplaces where people can truly thrive.
If you’re a business owner, manager, team leader, or safety officer, I’d like to leave you with one question:
"Does your workplace feel like a community, or just a company?"
If you're not sure, we’d love to talk.
We don’t just audit your safety practices, we build healthier, more human workplaces.
Let’s make mental wellbeing part of the safety conversation all year long, and not just during Mental Health Awareness Week.
Need help building a culture of care and connection in your workplace? Let’s start the conversation.
FAQs
Q. Why is mental health considered a workplace safety issue?
Mental health affects focus, decision-making, productivity, and interpersonal relationships, which are all critical to workplace safety. Stress, burnout, and isolation can lead to real accidents and long-term harm. Treating mental health as a safety issue helps create a safer, more supportive work environment.
Q. What does “community at work” really mean?
Community at work means employees feel connected, supported, and safe to be themselves. It goes beyond social events and is about building trust, psychological safety, and everyday support among teammates and leadership.
Q. What are psychosocial risks in the workplace?
Psychosocial risks include factors like unmanageable workloads, tight deadlines, lack of control and support. These risks affect mental wellbeing and can lead to burnout or absenteeism if not addressed.
Q. How can managers support employee mental health without being therapists?
Managers don’t need to fix problems, they just need to listen without judgment, show empathy, and guide employees toward professional help or resources. Creating a psychologically safe space to talk is one of the most powerful things a manager can do.
Q. What’s the difference between a strong company culture and a healthy one?
A strong culture isn’t always healthy. High-performance environments can sometimes punish vulnerability or rest. A healthy culture balances performance with psychological safety, open communication, and support for wellbeing.
Q. How can businesses build a culture of care and connection?
Start with leadership. Train managers, encourage peer support, include mental health in risk assessments, and treat it as a strategic priority, not just a wellness trend. Culture change comes from consistent actions, not just one-off events.
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