Emotional hygiene is crucial for your business. Learn why

Hi,

I would like to introduce the one thing that could save your business money, improve your results and make your employees happier.

I know that sounds like a golden egg kind of offer but it could be much more achievable than you might think. Step forward emotional hygiene.

I know what you’re thinking – what the heck is emotional hygiene?

Let' start with what the heck emotion is and build up to how a programme of emotional hygiene could be the single best thing you ever do at your workplace.

What is emotion?

Our primary objective as human beings is to survive.

To give us the best chance of surviving we produce oily liquids called hormones and use clever little chemical messengers in our cells called neurotransmitters. These hormones and neurotransmitters make us feel emotion. It’s a good thing they do because feelings have an irresistible knack of enforcing decisions that keep us alive. Whether it’s making us run away when scared or shouting when angry – emotions help us survive.

The production of emotion is normal and healthy, it’s only when we produce large amounts of these chemicals over longer periods of time they can become a threat to our health and our business. At this point we’re edging closer to the dreaded stigma of ‘mental illness’. Of course, mental illness covers a broad spectrum but most mental injuries stem from an imbalance of hormones and neurotransmitters.

What is hygiene?

When we talk about hygiene we usually refer to the maintenance of our body. For example, we brush our teeth to stop decay, clean a cut to stop infection and wash our hands to stop the spread of germs. This physical hygiene is part of our routine.

It has become routine because we have learned that taking preventative action works. It keeps us healthy and reduces the risks of becoming ill. Such is our trust in hygiene that we look for new ways to maintain our physical health all the time. We now exercise regularly, eat five vegies a day, drink litres of water and have given up smoking. Try explaining that to someone in 1920!

The truth is - we know preventative action works.

Emotional hygiene

So when talking about emotional hygiene we are talking about the maintenance of our emotional systems.

What actions do we take to balance our hormones and regulate the activity in our neurotransmitters? For most, these actions are a mystery – they exist largely in the subconscious. But, by learning how to practice emotional hygiene we make them conscious and can achieve similar results to those we enjoy with our physical hygiene.

We know preventative action works.

Emotional hygiene at work

Developing emotional hygiene at work presents an unrivalled opportunity to promote health, improve results and save money.

Research by organisation such as Mind and the Mental Health Foundation tell us

Work is the number one cause of stress related illness (34%)
13% of sick days taken are attributed to stress
Better mental health support could save the UK economy up to £8 billion!
An emotional hygiene programme costing £40,000 would result in a net return of £347,722 (in improved performance and attendance)

Many organisations have improved their policies and practice towards mental health but the focus is usually fixed on helping someone who has already become ill. That, of course, is great and means more people receive the help they need. But, wouldn’t it be far better for them not to become ill in the first place?

Everybody has emotional health and everyone suffers emotional injuries. But, the workplace that develops emotional hygiene in its people and creates a supportive environment is the one that can reap the rewards.

Applying emotional hygiene at work

Most workplaces need to start at the beginning. Firstly, increase understanding of emotion. Secondly, support people to practice emotional hygiene. And thirdly, find ways to keep the conversation going.

Understanding emotion

In our society we have historically valued knowledge above all other attributes. By knowledge I mean the comprehension and memory of anything that might be useful. So, what have we found useful over the course of modern human history?

Mathematics to run an economy,
Language to communicate,
Politics to govern,
Science to discover
Literature to inspire
And so on

We insist our children comprehend and remember these things. And we assess and measure their success based on their knowledge of them.

Regretfully, as a society, we do not place value on understanding our emotions or the emotions of others. It just hasn’t been a priority. Yet, it is emotions that control our decisions, our confidence and our happiness - the very things that make us successful. Knowledge and appreciation of emotion has tremendous value and starts with a widespread understanding of our psychology, physiology and potential causes of emotional injury, such as:

Failure
Conflict / Relationships
Pressure
Change
Boredom
Loneliness

2. Support people to practise emotional hygiene

Emotional hygiene is the action we take to combat the onset and rumination of negative emotion. To act, the workforce must learn the skills of emotional hygiene. As these develop, so will the ability to accept, cope and thrive in situations that would otherwise have caused suffering. Such skills include:

Resilience
Conflict
Self-awareness
Empathy
Influence
Listening
Rapport / social skills

3. Keep the conversation going

This subject does come with a tremendous stigma. And we know that ignorance is born from a lack of knowledge and skill. But, obtaining knowledge and honing skills is only part of the battle against this crippling problem that costs your business money, damages productivity and harms your people's health.

Keeping the conversation going between employer and employee is essential if workforces are to achieve change. When emotional hygiene is a normal topic of conversation then the ignorance and stigma will be defeated. Managers play an important role but by no means should the conversations be restricted by hierarchy. An employee should feel comfortable to talk about their emotional injury in the same way they would a physical injury.

Some ways to keep the conversation going are: