Supporting Mental Health for Remote and In-Office Employees

Intentional Communication

This goes beyond task updates. Managers should schedule dedicated, non-task-related check-ins. That means having discussions about how the employee is doing, what's going on in their life, and showing genuine interest. When communicating about work, always default to documented methods (like project management tools or shared notes) to ensure remote employees are never disadvantaged by information shared in a hallway conversations - it's very easy to relay additional annecdotal information to office based employees and forget that remote employees haven't been privy to that. Check in on people, not just on their progress. Ask simple, open-ended questions like, "How are you feeling about your workload this week?"

Promoting Digital Well-being

To protect remote work mental well-being, organisational policy must discourage the habit of sending emails and messages outside of standard working hours. Consider implementing technology that pauses notifications after a certain time, or create a team norm where an out-of-hours email is always accompanied by a note stating, "Please do not action this until tomorrow." This models a healthy boundary from the top down. Red Umbrella's directors have a note in their signature saying that they work flexible hours and while they may send emails outside of normal working hours, they don't expect a response, and they encourage you to consider work/life balance.

Encouraging Breaks and Boundaries

We must explicitly validate the need for employees to step away from their screens. For supporting remote employees, this can be done by encouraging "walk-and-talk" meetings (using a mobile phone for a quick call while taking a walk) or blocking out 30 minutes in the middle of the day specifically for lunch, treating it like any other mandatory meeting on the calendar. Leaders need to set the example by talking about their own boundaries - something we're not always very good at holding! if you have an employee who struggles to take regular breaks, sit down with them and discuss why this might be the case. It could be they're struggling with workload, or have some other underlying issue (I'm looking at you Imposter Syndrome).

Virtual Social Connection

While it can feel forced, intentional virtual social time is crucial. For in office staff this happens naturally - the little chats in the kitchen while making a drink for example. For remote staff there are less opportunities for this. Organise short, fun activities that have nothing to do with work—a 15-minute virtual coffee break, a collaborative online puzzle, or a themed dress-up day. These small interactions are vital for maintaining the social fabric and combating the isolation inherent in the hybrid workplace mental health model.

Facilitating In-Person Connection

Since fewer people are in the office daily, connection needs to be facilitated. Consider structured "Collaboration Days" where everyone on a team commits to coming in. Organise simple, non-mandatory events like a communal lunch on a Tuesday or a brief team huddle dedicated to sharing personal wins, not just work updates.

Managing Office Dynamics

Managers need to be acutely aware of "proximity bias," where they subconsciously give more weight or opportunity to the people they see. They must actively ensure performance reviews, promotions, and recognition are applied fairly across both cohorts, preventing a culture where only those who appear in person thrive. This is fundamental to ensuring flexible work mental health equity.

Bridging the Gap: Ensuring Equity and Inclusion

The ultimate goal of managing hybrid workplace mental health is to ensure that all employees—whether remote or in-office—feel equally valued, connected, and supported.

The golden rule here is simple: default to remote communication standards. If one person is joining a meeting remotely, every participant should join the meeting via their own laptop, regardless of whether they are sitting next to each other in a conference room. This ensures that everyone has a clear visual and audio feed, and that the remote person isn't relegated to a silent, ignored voice coming out of a single speaker.

This approach ensures career development opportunities, mentorship, and key decisions are transparently communicated to everyone, effectively supporting remote employees and ensuring their remote work mental well-being is prioritised alongside their in-office colleagues. True inclusion means acknowledging that we are all on the same team, regardless of where we plug in our laptop.