Holistic HR - Part I: Is Mental Wellness Relevant?

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As we are navigating the new ways of work, one aftermath of the pandemic for many of us is the unpleasant discovery of unvisited or neglected matters: our mental wellness. More than ever HR has to embrace its evolving approach to its core responsibility: HR is about "the whole person".

The pandemic has brought to the surface so many elements that neither HR nor the people had thought about, although always existing. To me, the two major concerns about mental wellness are depression and domestic violence. I have to admit that I never seriously thought about it until I lost sleep myself and couldn't understand why I was so inexplicably restless and unfocused. Quite a few people I talked to shared similar occurrences. This can only be exacerbated by the sense of isolation from familiar working environment as we work from home or are still transitioning to go back to work. If any of this happened to you, you are quite normal in highly abnormal times, and in an environment that has become so dramatically toxic, globally. 

According to WHO "Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community." Although stress is part of life, its heightened level is now part of the new normal. Covid-19 has tested us: we lost sleep, had nightmares, became restless, could focus less on work. It has awakened us to a "dormant" part of ourselves. We became so aware of our inability to change things to our desires or needs. We realized the immensity of inequality and inequity in a global world in crisis. Some aspects of the new normal uncovers concerns that we did not always have to worry about.

I have always believed that HR has a role to play in preserving mental wellness of the people that we call "human resources". I have practiced it, implemented programs for the matter, and found out that some organizations or societies were dismissive of it because, in their context, HR was to be mostly transactional and/or social issues were not to be any concern of any business. And while transactional HR is necessary, today it has also evolved with technology, and I think we can learn from different perspectives. If people are the foundation of the business, they are as much an asset as physical ones and it is helpful to learn to read beyond the database. Data are not for strictly computational purposes in order to reach the best financial and/or operational outcomes. They also call for a "human" interpretation, which is an essential part of the overall picture of the business. We need to aim for optimal. So should we not finally move from the "human resources" or "human capital" approach to the not so new holistic one, considering "people" as just such, with their flaws and environmental baggage, and yet key elements of the business?

There is so much going on out there, in the streets, in the world and that impacts all of us individually, impacts the whole person who works for any organization. That is now a part of HR concern that can no longer be put on the back burner. Time for an accountable, socially responsible,  holistic HR.


La pandémie, c'est comme une tâche d'huile indélébile qui nous marque de si différentes manières, et à la fois, nous partageons cette blessure.  Parlant de tâche d'huile...Le monde brûle-t-il? La peur de cette maladie inconnue, le confinement, l'isolation, le travail à la maison ou le chômage partiel, l'attente, l'inconnu du nouveau "normal", ça prend un tollé sur chacun de nous. En tous cas, si en tant que RH nous n'avons pas encore saisi l'importance de l'individu, il est plus que temps de le réaliser. Quoique je doive admettre qu'en France l'on se penche plus sur l'aspect humain et social de l’employé que dans certaines autres parties du monde, grâce à la collaboration avec les travailleurs sociaux et à une différente approche et définition du travail social... C'est incroyable que des politiques organisationnelles que l'on a pratiqué en France depuis des décades de cela, on commence seulement à les découvrir aux Etats-Unis, par exemple. Selon l'OMS  "La santé mentale est un état de bien-être dans lequel une personne peut  se réaliser, surmonter les tensions normales de la vie, accomplir un travail productif et contribuer à la vie de sa communauté. Dans ce sens positif, la santé mentale est le fondement du bien-être d’un individu et du bon fonctionnement d’une communauté." Puisque les RH font désormais plus que partie intégrante du business, l'approche "holistique" des Ressources Humaines, ça ne peut plus attendre et c'est une responsabilité sociale...
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