Table of Contents
The most useful activities to improve mental health in the workplace sit alongside sensible workloads, clear expectations and supportive management. This guide sets out practical, voluntary ideas for SMEs, HR teams and line managers. It covers check-ins, workload conversations, breaks, inclusive options, manager training, support routes and feedback, and it separates legal duties from good practice.
Why activities cannot replace action on workplace stress
A lunchtime walk will not fix a workload nobody can manage. Wellbeing activities can help people connect and pause. They work best when the organisation is also dealing with the causes of stress in how work is designed, managed and shared.
Address working conditions first
NICE says organisational approaches should be the foundation of mental wellbeing at work. In practice, employee wellbeing in the workplace depends first on manageable workloads, clear expectations and supportive management. Activities then add to that base rather than standing in for it.
HSE’s Management Standards identify six work-design areas linked to stress: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. Within those areas, look for these triggers in your work environment:
- Workload and hours: long hours without breaks, unmanageable workloads and unrealistic deadlines.
- Communication: poor information about priorities, decisions or change.
- Management support: managers who are unavailable, inconsistent or not equipped to help.
Assess stress rather than relying on activities
HSE separates action that tackles a source of stress from action that helps someone cope with it, and it prefers tackling the source. Its Management Standards approach to work-related stress moves from preparation to identifying risks and who may be harmed, then evaluating, recording findings, and monitoring and reviewing.
In Great Britain, you must review a risk assessment when you have reason to think it is no longer valid or following a significant change, such as a restructure or new working arrangements. Rising stress-related absence should also prompt a review.
Understand the relevant employer duties
In Great Britain, employers must assess risks from work-related stress and act on what they find. Using HSE’s Management Standards is good practice rather than a compulsory method. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers with 5 or more employees must record significant findings and any group at particular risk.
In England, Scotland and Wales, the Equality Act 2010 can require reasonable adjustments where a disabled worker faces substantial disadvantage. Northern Ireland has a different disability discrimination framework, so check which jurisdiction applies before you rely on a specific duty to support mental health at work.
Practical activities for everyday working life
The best workplace wellbeing activities are built into ordinary working routines rather than added as one-off events. The ideas below cost little, suit smaller businesses and keep participation voluntary. They also give managers regular chances to notice pressure early and act on it.
Hold supportive, voluntary check-ins
Acas recommends regular meetings where employees can raise problems and discuss how work is going. Hold them privately, allow time to listen and ask open questions about work and what support would help, without asking for personal details. Ask what the employee would like to happen, recap what you agree and leave the door open if they are not ready to talk about their mental health.
Discuss workload and achievable priorities
Before you choose any mental health activities, run a short team discussion about current work. This often reveals competing priorities and unrealistic deadlines that no wellbeing session would fix. When work is excessive, agree together which tasks come first, which can wait and whether deadlines or resources need to change.
For a small business, low-cost changes include clarifying priorities each week, stopping unnecessary meetings and agreeing boundaries for work messages. A ten-person team could, for example, agree that messages sent after hours do not need a reply until the next working day.
Protect breaks and offer social choices
Breaks support good mental health only if people feel able to take them. Managers set the tone by taking lunch breaks and annual leave, and by switching off outside their working hours. When managers do this, staff can see that sensible hours are expected rather than just tolerated.
Offer different ways to pause. Optional walking meetings or outdoor breaks suit some people, while a quiet, work-free lunch space suits others who want time away from noise or screens.
For connection, voluntary book swaps, board games, quizzes, creative sessions and skill-sharing let colleagues meet without discussing their own mental health and wellbeing. Acas guidance on creating a supportive environment pairs this kind of openness with regular manager contact, which supports staff wellbeing and wellbeing at work. Make sure nobody is singled out for declining.
Make activities accessible across the workforce
An activity only helps the people who can realistically join it. Before launching workplace wellbeing activities, think about who might be left out because of ability, working pattern, location or preference. Then build in alternatives from the start.
Offer choices for different abilities
Any walking or group exercise activity needs an alternative for people who cannot or do not want to take part. Useful options include:
- Seated options: activities people can join without standing or walking.
- Asynchronous formats: a book swap or shared challenge people can join in their own time.
- Quieter choices: smaller, calmer settings that are less socially or sensorily demanding.
People should be able to opt out without judgement. With group meals, avoid pressuring anyone to attend and never comment on what colleagues choose to eat.
Adapt contact for remote staff
Acas suggests asking home workers whether they prefer contact by phone, video or email rather than assuming one format suits everyone. A remote check-in can cover workload, available support and whether the person has a suitable home-working set-up.
A virtual social event alone does little for remote working arrangements. Clear communication expectations, visible workloads and regular manager contact deal with the arrangements more directly.
Reach shift and deskless workers
One lunchtime or Friday event excludes anyone on another shift, so repeat opportunities across shifts. HSE’s shift-work guidance recommends regular breaks, some choice over when they are taken where possible, enough recovery time when patterns change and effective handovers.
Offer brief, voluntary activities at suitable points around the shift, without disrupting essential handovers or reducing rest breaks. Feedback and support routes also need to reach staff who do not have regular laptop access, for example through printed notices or a supervisor briefing.
Equip managers and clarify support routes
Line managers are usually the first people to notice that someone is struggling. Their confidence, and the clarity of your support routes, can make it easier for employees to raise concerns early and access appropriate help. This applies as much to a 15-person firm as to a large employer.
Build managers’ confidence to respond
Acas recommends training managers to listen and talk sensitively, understand mental health and know what workplace changes and support are available. Good mental health training builds that mental health awareness in practical terms rather than clinical ones.
Managers can encourage people to raise concerns, respond fairly and challenge stigma. They do this as managers, not as healthcare professionals, and they should not try to take on that role.
Supporting others can be demanding. Managers may need advice from their own manager or from another workplace support route, and they should know where that is.
Explain where employees can turn
Tell staff which routes your organisation actually provides, such as HR, occupational health, counselling or an employee assistance service. Vague references to mental health support leave people unsure whether help exists or can be trusted. A GP can be a first point of contact for anyone seeking healthcare support, alongside external mental health services.
A Mental Health First Aider, a specific course or an employee assistance service is not a universal legal requirement. Mental health first aid training and trained mental health first aiders can still help colleagues find support. Signposting never replaces exploring changes at work when the difficulty is work-related.
Match workplace support to the need
Salusphere Global supports employers with manager development, workplace wellbeing reviews and practical action planning, working alongside existing HR and leadership teams. We help you identify gaps in your workplace wellbeing and inclusion arrangements and decide what to prioritise.
An organisation-wide wellbeing needs assessment looks across the whole workplace. It can consider employee feedback, workplace pressures, existing data, policies and support routes to help you prioritise action on employee mental health.
Our individual neurodiversity workplace needs assessment is different. It uses confidential discussions with one employee and their manager to recommend adjustments for that person, rather than reviewing the organisation as a whole.
Gather feedback and check what improves
Managing stress is a continuing cycle of assessment and improvement, not a one-off wellbeing launch. Feedback tells you where pressure sits, and review tells you whether your changes have made a difference to employee wellbeing.
Collect feedback alongside other evidence
Acas suggests wellbeing surveys to understand how employees feel and where sources of stress may lie. HSE’s 35-question Management Standards Indicator Tool can help identify potential sources of work-related stress. Use its findings alongside other information, rather than as a standalone assessment. A wider review can combine several sources:
- Confidential feedback: survey responses and comments, with clear information about who can access them. Offer anonymous feedback where individuals cannot reasonably be identified.
- Absence patterns: recurring or rising absence in particular teams.
- Turnover and grievances: where people are leaving or raising complaints.
- Policies and manager feedback: what exists on paper and what managers see in practice.
Together, these sources give a fuller picture of workplace pressures and support needs than any single survey.
Review whether changes help everyone
HSE says survey findings give only a broad indication of problems, so involve employees in interpreting results and developing solutions. A small business can gather feedback in a way that protects confidentiality, trial a practical change for four weeks, then ask employees whether it has helped.
Judge success on whether the underlying stressor improved and whether different groups could benefit, not just on attendance. A well-attended quiz means little if night-shift staff could not join and workloads are unchanged.
Turn findings into a practical action plan
Keep the plan short and specific. For each problem, record:
- Problem and evidence: what is happening and what shows it.
- Change and owner: the proposed action and who is responsible.
- Deadline, measure and review date: when it happens, how you will judge it and when you will check.
Salusphere Global develops proportionate action plans that help employers prioritise practical improvements and follow them through. If you would like to review your wellbeing arrangements and identify sensible next steps, contact Salusphere Global to discuss where to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an organisation need a mental health policy?
A standalone mental health policy is not universally required by law. Acas says it is a good idea to have one, because it explains how employees can raise concerns and how managers should respond and support staff.
How should a manager handle confidentiality when an employee shares sensitive information?
Explain how the information will be handled and who may need to know, and don’t promise absolute confidentiality you cannot keep. Ask open, non-judgemental questions about work and useful help, and don’t probe for personal details the employee does not want to share.
What is a Wellness Action Plan, and how can it help an employee?
A Wellness Action Plan is a personal plan that helps an employee identify what supports their wellbeing, what causes difficulty and what workplace help may be useful. It complements an organisational stress assessment but does not replace one.
