b'THE HR HANDBOOKBalancing Mental and Physical HealthSAFETY IS THEnumber one priority for everyaction with other people. Unlike physical harm, a single organization. Given the inherent dangers in manynegative emotional incident with a co-worker or super-aspects of agriculture production and manufacturing,visor is recoverable. However, like repetitive motion inju-we must build expectations and systems that guide orries, continuous negative working conditions can wear mandate behaviors. However, we tend to give almoston mental well-being. Such small, repeated injuries can all of our focus to preventing physical harm, oftenbe from boredom; a lack of fit in the culture; not having forgetting about mental harm that might be caused byour talents used or ideas recognized. More serious to work conditions. mental well-being is a constant threat of being under-mined by a team member or manager; ambiguity in Handling Seasonal Peaks and Work Cycles ones role, or a lack of organizational stability.BY JONATHAN SHAVER,What intentional processes have you developed in Seed World U.S.your workplace to protect the mental health andExternal Pressures Contributing to Mental HarmContributor safety of employees? Conditions outside of work can also be mentally An obvious place to start is the number of hourstaxing. The sources of mental harm could be very or travel required at seasonal peaks. Most productionlong. Therefore, its not easy to create an SOP for ag employees know that work comes in cycles. Duringevery potential hazard. Instead, it should be a standard most of the year, employees wear multiple hats atpractice safety for each team leader to have a direct work and home. During these peaks, they must turnpulse on the mental well-being of every team member. off those other roles leading to undue pressure or guiltThis happens by askingasking regularly, repeatedly that they are not fulfilling the other roles. What guide- and confirming that it has been done. It should also be lines and support do you have in place to ensure thatstandard practices about positive mental health and all of your employees are able to handle the multiplesafety just as we do physical health and safety.roles during these peak times? You are likely one of the most important people at work to your team member. Be aware of their life Challenging Historical Notions of Work Ethic outside of work. Be aware of the nature of their inter-Just like building guidelines for physical safety, startactions with team members. Know that caring for the by challenging the historical heroism you may havephysical and mental well-being of your employees is around work ethic. Since it is hard for individualyour priority.employees to challenge cultural expectations, com-pany leaders should take it upon themselves to exam- Mental Health Extremes and Resourcesine, for example, whether the work is getting spreadLike physical health topics, mental health can span over 12 hours or if it could safely get done in 10 or less.from the ergonomical discomfort to life-threatening. Or what would be the impact of a .5 FTE employee?I do not want to suggest that work conditions lead Just as we dont want employees physically tired, weto suicide and that anyone should take the blame for dont want them mentally tired. Consider mandatorysuicide onto themselves. Suicide is beyond our scope days off, additional automation, and be aware of theto prevent ourselves.If you or someone you know is behaviors that overtime pay promotes. contemplating suicide, please call the National Mental Health Hotline at 866-903-3787 or call or text 988. Mental Harm From Workplace Interactions You may also visit http://mentalhealthhotline.org. For Most mental harm unfortunately comes from our inter- emergencies, call 911.SW48/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2024'