Ørsted: Men need a proactive nudge

Men rarely talk about their crises – and that can have serious consequences.

If you look at statistics alone, you might assume that men are mentally stronger than women, since significantly fewer men make use of the psychological support services offered by employers when facing stress or low wellbeing.

Chairman of the Danish Men’s Health Forum and research leader at Rigshospitalet, Svend Åge Madsen, explained on Danish National Radio (P1):

“It has never been productive for men in early civilization to walk around talking about how they feel. When you had to go out and solve tasks, it was an advantage to simply push through.

For women, who historically were responsible for family and children, it was beneficial to be attentive to emotions – both their own and others’.

But this difference is not an advantage when it comes to crises and mental distress. Here, it becomes a disadvantage for men that they struggle to talk about it.”

Research consistently shows that the need for psychological support among men and women is equally high:

– The number of men needing psychological support is nearly the same as women
– Around three times as many women as men receive psychological counseling
– Men are willing to accept help – but others often need to initiate it

HR-ON Wellbeing provides that proactive and supportive nudge.

The method, where employees regularly measure their wellbeing through five reflective questions combined with proactive outreach from an occupational psychologist when wellbeing declines, has proven highly effective in reaching men – often at such an early stage that one or two conversations are enough to restore balance.

Ørsted is one of the companies using HR-ON Wellbeing.

The company is widely recognized for its strong safety culture. In addition to prioritizing physical safety, Ørsted works ambitiously to improve employees’ psychological working environment and prevent stress.

The use of HR-ON Wellbeing is one of the initiatives aimed at strengthening the psychosocial work environment.

“We have now used HR-ON Wellbeing for approximately one year in our UK offshore unit. The unit consists of 85% men who work at sea servicing wind turbines. There is generally no strong culture of talking about emotions or ‘how you are feeling.’

Our hope with HR-ON Wellbeing was not only to encourage individuals to reflect on their wellbeing but also to provide the team with factual wellbeing data to talk about, since it can feel difficult to ask directly about emotions. HR-ON Wellbeing is a valuable tool for maintaining focus on wellbeing and stress prevention while moving toward a more open culture,” says HSE Specialist at Ørsted, Trine Fernando Smidt.

“We were curious whether we could truly reach this group and initially experienced some skepticism. However, as employees began using the tool, we received increasingly positive feedback.

In particular, employees have appreciated the proactive calls. Around 20% of employees have participated in HR-ON Wellbeing conversations – significantly more than expected – demonstrating the effectiveness of the approach,” she adds.

The same pattern is recognized by psychologist Ditte Ahm from Falck Healthcare.

“For many years, we have provided psychological support services to employees in both public and private organizations. We generally see a different gender distribution in telephone counseling compared to face-to-face sessions, where women are typically overrepresented.

Telephone counseling feels less formal and less demanding – it doesn’t require ‘starting a whole machinery.’

When HR-ON Wellbeing is initiated by the employer and employees are continuously encouraged to participate, it becomes more legitimate for men to engage and talk about their wellbeing.

It creates a space that men are more likely to step into.”