There is no hope unmingled with fear, no fear unmingled with hope – Baruch Spinoza
Organizations today are focusing a lot on wellbeing and one of the key focuses is women’s health. Pinktober is the perfect time to reflect on how this cause can be supported within an organization - differently.
Often, it just ends with a talk on the topic followed by freebies to the women team members. But the real show of support should come from removing the stigma around the dreaded disease and building mechanisms that can support the recovery from mental and financial trauma that it causes so that those who go through it emerge winners after being the warriors. Here are three things all organizations can look at implementing in order to make this not a once-a-year exercise but something that’s ingrained in its DNA.
Wellness Fund: In order to support employees who end up having to deal with such eventualities, companies should look at creating a fund which can help employees during the difficult times while fighting the disease. This can be funded through minimal contributions from the employees themselves on a monthly/quarterly basis as well as part of it should come from the company so that it’s a burden on neither as well as employees can contribute to the cause in a meaningful way.
Employee Assistance Programs: Such programs can provide the needed support and guidance – mentally to employees dealing with health exigencies beyond the treatment they need to recover. The war against this disease is usually won by those who are mentally strong to overcome it hence it's important to ensure the availability of such resources. In fact, these not only benefit the employees impacted but in general are great ways to support the mental health of entire populations of employees.
Manager Support: Last but not the least, support of Employee’s Manager is the most essential. As soon as the employee’s Manager comes to know about their team member’s diagnosis, they should extend every support they can by allowing increased flexibility and regular connects to show that they are there. We all know how important the support of people who we interact on daily basis with – counts. So as Managers, of such individuals, these little acts go a long way.
It would be great to make this a yearlong endeavor and each day should be a ‘Breast Cancer Support’ Day.
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