World Mental Health Day is held annually on the 10 October, it is an opportunity to think about how best to support mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. In this article, we look specifically at how to do this for staff working overseas.

Working abroad can have huge benefits for an employee and their family. It brings a breadth of experience that is difficult to rival but there is another side to it too. The upheaval of a move on top of accepting a new role can be really stressful and creates stresses for the family of an employee.

We need to consider how to support everyone who is relocating. Setting up home when moving overseas will bring different challenges for the direct employee, a partner or children – who may find it difficult leaving friends back home and settling into a new school. Supporting the whole family makes good business sense, as family issues are a common cause of overseas assignments failing. Preventing issues ahead of time supports productivity and helps everyone get the most out of the experience.

The mental health charity Mind has ‘5 ways to Wellbeing’, which I really like. I think it is a really accessible way to think about the straightforward, practical things we can do to support mental health for the whole family unit. It’s a useful place for HR teams to start when considering what else they could organise or offer.

Mind’s 5 Ways to Wellbeing are:

In the context of caring for families overseas, here are some ideas of how employers could take this model to develop support for the wellbeing of staff and their families wherever they relocate to.

Connect

Connect is all about making sure individuals don’t get isolated. Encourage employees to join local groups to help them connect and make new friends while on placement. Buddy schemes where expat families can meet up with others who have been in the area longer and have a bit of local knowledge can really help partners and children to settle in. Making sure that employees and their families all know about and are encouraged to use employee assistance programs (EAPs) that are in place is a good idea.

Be Active

The interconnectivity between mental and physical health is well known, Be Active encourages individuals to pursue some active pastimes. Organising family fun days and sports teams that are open to partners as well as employees is a great way to encourage the whole family to join in.

Take Notice

Take Notice is about being aware in the moment. There is mounting evidence that being present in the moment enhances wellbeing, which is probably why mindfulness has become such a buzzword.  Providing access to classes and encouraging staff to take breaks away from their desks is a good starting point for this.

Learn

According to Mind, setting goals – related to adult learning in particular – has been shown to be strongly associated with higher levels of wellbeing. Offering local language classes to expat staff and their family members for would have obvious practical benefits too.

Give

The act of being kind to others has also been shown to be beneficial for mental wellbeing. Facilitating staff involvement in charity and fundraising for good causes is win-win. By organising family-orientated fundraisers for local charities and volunteering opportunities we can extend the benefit to the whole family. Volunteering could include supporting other new families as they arrive in a new area.

Whatever you have decided to do to mark World Mental Health Day, I hope you find these ideas helpful.