Making mental health and well-being a community priority

October 10, 2024 | 6 minute read
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Good mental health and awareness of our personal well-being has never been more important. World Mental Health Day brings this into the spotlight by urging everyone to make mental health and well-being for all a global priority. It’s a timely message. From climate change to public health, some of the biggest challenges facing us today are global in scale and bigger than any one person’s ability to handle. The same goes for mental health issues and well-being. 

Claire Hallmey
Claire Hallmey
International Wellbeing Manager

It starts with community

Corporate Wellness Magazine recently noted a sharp decline in employee mental health over the past year. Clearly, it’s time to act. Oracle has known for a long time that employers have a crucial role to play in reversing this trend. That’s why we’ve traditionally championed community building, underpinned by strong supports and benefits geared towards wellness. 

International Wellbeing Manager, Claire Hallmey sees awareness as a vital starting point of getting this done.

“We all have a responsibility to look out for others in our community, the more we can do to educate ourselves on the challenges others might be facing and how best to support them, the better. The COVID-19 pandemic really showed us this and the importance of kindness, non-judgement, and listening.”

Senior Benefits Analyst and Wellness Consultant, Kelly Zigich agrees—while also emphasizing the importance of empathy.

“It’s important to remember that while we are all individuals who handle well-being in our own way, there are so many common threads among each of us within our communities—there are others who have the same struggles, feel the same feelings, and who have the same concerns as us. I think being aware of this helps each of us remember that we are not alone.”

Tracy McGrath
Tracy McGrath
Oracle Diverse Abilities Network Co-Chair

Stronger together

Employee Resource groups (ERGs) are a vital part of community-building. Centered on diversity and inclusion, they work to give all employees a voice and represent their unique needs—including mental health and well-being—in the larger business.

A big part of their remit is open communication. Oracle groups like the Military Affiliated Veteran Employee Network (MAVEN) and the Oracle Diverse Abilities Network (ODAN) have already devoted time to mental health discussions by sharing personal experiences and learning resources. ODAN is currently trialing peer-to-peer support which will give members a space to share lows, highs and everything in between in person or via Zoom. 

ODAN Co-Chair, Tracy McGrath describes it as an ‘around the room’ approach which gives everyone a chance to contribute at their own pace. “The goal of this group is not to solve problems, but simply to be a listening space,” she emphasizes.

Everyone benefits 
Community-building like this goes hand-in-hand with strong benefits. Employee assistance programs (EAPs) have been around for a long time. However, they’re often thought of as just a set of emergency measures to be called on in a crisis. While this is part of their function, EAPs also have an important part to play as a more well-rounded safety net.

Oracle Human Resources Vice President for Latin America, Carla Alves takes a holistic view.

Carla Alves
Carla Alves
VP, Human Resources for Latin America

"Oracle's benefits are designed to help our people and their families have a more balanced life, achieving better synergy between the various areas of our lives in a healthier way," she explains. 

It’s an outlook shared by Kelly, who explains how Oracle benefits take a more flexible approach. 

“We offer a variety of programs and resources to our employees, so they can determine what best meets their needs, and customize their own mental and emotional well-being ‘toolkit’.”

Diving into data
Claire, meanwhile, is keen to point out how we’re uniquely placed to handle data and put it to work making life better for employees.

“As a data driven company, we look at the data internally and externally to ensure we are aware of and providing appropriate and timely support for employees, and those closest to them,” she explains. 

“Our mental health support is clinically robust and built on relevant research. We listen to our employees through our annual survey, employee resource groups, and tailor our support to people’s needs.”

Quality of life
Quality of life (QoL) updates are something everyone in tech will recognize as part of delivering great products. But what if the same could be done for our work lives? 

Along with larger initiatives, Oracle’s company culture values incremental improvements that give everyone the freedom to succeed their way. 

From walking meetings to meeting-free days, team wellness challenges, and location-flexible working—we’re always responding to employee suggestions for QoL updates to work-life balance. 

Leading by example
It’s a reflection of a larger culture of psychological safety where top-down and bottom-up change combine for real results. Grassroots, employee-led organization is a powerful force for raising awareness and getting things done, but it can be supercharged by support from leadership. 

Wellness Champions have a role to play here by actively advocating for employee mental health issues. This has most recently led to a new Slack channel where employees can come together to support one another.

This kind of thinking means that leadership stays aware of well-being issues and is always ready to act. For example, the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure team recently hosted sessions on combating workplace burnout in response to wider industry trends.

While Oracle Singapore's Human Resources team kicked off a two-week Wellness Event that holistically covered aspects of mental, physical and financial wellness, enabling people to participate onsite and virtually.

Team mental health events are also top-of-mind for management, and team leads frequently collaborate to share their findings.  It’s an effective approach and keeps mental health policies front and center. 

Kelly Zigich
Kelly Zigich
Sr. Benefits Analyst & Wellness Consultant

Global priority

We can always do more to make mental health and well-being a priority in the workplace, but some things are essential. Kelly identifies openness as a key value we can all work on. 

“Simply talking openly about mental and emotional well-being is a great place to start in an effort to decrease stigma. It’s much easier for us to talk about our broken arm, or the knee surgery we just had than it is to talk about how we are feeling mentally and emotionally.” 

She sees this as crucial to building wider social acceptance, and hopes than one day, mental health checkups will be fully normalized.

“Most of us go to the doctor each year for an annual physical, and this is a practice that started when we were young. What if we started normalizing at least an annual visit with a therapist as well?”

Empowering self-care
Tracy wants to take this one step further by putting technology to work keeping vital information flowing where it can do the most good.

“We should be leveraging technology to ensure information is easy to access and navigate, while partnering with leading experts in mental health to ensure the information being shared is up to date.” 

Claire reminds us that it’s OK to prioritize our own needs at home and at work. Afterall, self-care is the foundation of good mental health, and is often forgotten.

“So often we prioritize others,” she says. “We’ve all heard of the ‘put your oxygen mask on first’ analogy and that is to be said for mental health and well-being. If we prioritize ourselves, we are in a much stronger position to effectively help, learn and support making mental health and well-being a priority for others.”

Do you want to work somewhere that makes mental health and well-being for all a global priority today and every day? Apply for one of our open roles and come create the future with us.

Oracle Careers Editorial Team

The editorial team is comprised of members of the Oracle Talent Advisory group, with a wide-range of employer branding responsibilities. They partner with employees across Oracle to capture stories that showcase our company, culture and career opportunities, and help candidates envision their #LifeAtOracle.


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