Oana Popa, Regina Maria: “Creating a work environment is fundamental for mental health and physical health”

“Collaboration with leaders, both at the HR and management levels, is fundamental to achieve success when implementing a physical health or mental health program. There are studies that show that the impact of managers on the physical and mental health of employees is significant.

It is important for us as managers to understand the impact that our actions and behaviours have on the organization and on the people we work with. We must understand that creating a work environment is also fundamental for mental health and physical health. In addition, we must learn to stop acting on autopilot when we have impulsive reactions,” Oana Popa, Health & Wellbeing Lead, Regina Maria said at Work Compass HR Conference organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

Key statements:

• At the heart of our behaviours are two fundamental emotions – anger and fear – that we all have and that lead us in a more or less desired direction. If we as leaders act out of fear or anger, of course this will also be reflected on the organization and employees.
• From my point of view, managers can contribute as promoters of change and support for employee health and what we call wellbeing.
• We are witnessing a profound change in mentality, which we should have both as employees and as employers. If until now we were in a parental-type situation, in which the employer said that you have to be there during a certain time period and do certain things in exchange for a salary, now we need flexibility, which implies being able to adapt to change. This means that we need to get out of this parent-child relationship – a slightly forced comparison – and move on to an adult-adult relationship, in which the employee and the employer know that they have rights and obligations and know very well why they are entering into a work collaboration.
• Flexibility means that employees benefit from the confidence that they have the ability and all the necessary tools to do their job, and employers to let go of fear and the need to control employees.
• Our needs are not so different depending on the generation. Our needs as humans are the same regardless of age. We need attention, we need validation, we need to be seen, appreciated, loved. What I find very interesting is the need for meaning, the search for meaning that is now happening from a younger age. From an evolutionary point of view, this allows you to do some actions and transformational work.
• AI can make our lives a lot easier, structure us, help us keep pace with the increasingly frequent changes, but that’s about it. On a neurological level, certain parts of our brains are activated when we interact with a machine versus when we interact with other people. AI cannot replace us, but it can complement us. We can use technology but be aware of its limits.