You must have seen them walking around your office before, the overtired new dad. It’s the guy that has a huge smile on his face with dark circles under his eyes slumbering to the coffee machine with a background picture of his newborn on his phone.
But what he doesn’t tell you is that he has never felt so insecure in his life: he is getting no sleep and he has to come to grips with the new balance of power, one where he needs to share the attention of his partner with the newborn and were his life is guided by the needs of his baby.
Now how productive do you think this employee will be? You know his body is at the office but where is his head?
Recent research on the current state of workplace mental health in Australia, conducted by TNS Social Research, found that while nine in ten Australian employees (91%) agree that is it important to work in a mentally healthy environment, only half (52%) of employees agree their workplace is mentally healthy. The research also shows that employees and leaders agree on the importance of mentally healthy workplaces (91% employees, 89% leaders).
However, employees do not necessarily believe their leaders places as much importance on mental health as they do (56% of employees believe their most senior leaders consider mental health in the workplace important).
Fortunately, more and more Australian employers are acknowledging the need for parental leave and are inspired by companies in other countries who are giving the father parental leave. But this is only part of the solution for your already exhausted employee.
Imagine your employee on parental leave, where he will be in the middle of the baby phase of no sleep, lots of crying, and not being able to explain what s/he wants. In this scenario, the father doesn’t even get a break as he probably would in the workplace!
What if you could give your employee more than parental leave?
You, the employer could gift him someone who can teach him how to manage his new life with his newborn and to become more efficient, to teach him a new rhythm and to give him back confidence before he comes back to work. This is where Queensland Cradle Care can help.
Investing in supporting parents of newborns improves their mental health!
This. This this video where basketball coach Sarunas Jasikevicius explains why he let his player Augusto Lima attend the birth of is child during the semi-finals.
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