By: Nathan Swihart

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health cases have risen exponentially: 93% more people are seeking treatment for depression and 63% more people are seeking treatment for anxiety.[i] Statistically speaking, any given company will have many employees struggling with mental illness. Therefore, supervisors and executives must devise new plans to better address mental health—doing so will help increase productivity and profitability for the company.

While there are many reasons why employers should invest more resources into employee mental health, some of the most important are that current efforts are falling short, employees have more leverage over their employers, and companies risk losing their best employees if solutions for mental health do not improve.

Shortcomings

First, I must acknowledge that business leaders already understand mental health is an important issue. For example, a 2021 survey by Modern Health found that 72% of supervisors claimed their job to be more difficult without adequate mental health resources for their employees.[ii] This need is growing even wider with the effects of the pandemic.

Russell Glass, the CEO of Ginger (an on-demand mental health platform), stated that “the pandemic is a perfect storm of mental health . . . loneliness and social isolation leads to depression, which leads to anxiety around the uncertainty of when things are going to get back to normal.”[iii] With this in mind, many employers have stepped up their efforts to support their employees. However, while 88% of executives and HR leaders think they are doing a good job, only 66% of their employees agree.[iv]

Digging even deeper, a 2021 study by Mind Share Partners reveals that only 49% of workers described their experience talking about mental health at work as positive or that they received a positive or supportive response.[v] Surely business leaders will find this alarming!

Recent data suggests an interesting disparity: while progress is encouraging and ongoing, current efforts to address mental health in the workplace are falling short.

Leverage

Another reason why employers should invest more resources into mental health is that employees have more leverage in the employee-employer relationship than ever before. Workers are no longer content with the “put your head down and work” philosophy; they now expect their leaders to see them as individuals and support them in their challenges and successes.[vi]

Employees are speaking out more against job burnout. Patricia Grabarek, co-founder of workplace wellness consulting firm Workr Beeing, describes burnout as “feelings of emotional or physical exhaustion, a sense of being disconnected from your job or family, and feeling that you’re getting less effective at getting tasks accomplished.”[vii] With this in mind, what kind of accommodations are employees advocating for?

Jennan Phillips, a researcher studying work-life balance, states that “workers want strong leadership, consistent communication, team support, clear organizational strategies, and psychologically safe environments to protect their health and well-being.”[viii] She goes on to suggest specific things employers can do to address these concerns: “Adequate paid sick leave, flexible work environments, open communication, involvement in planning the pace and direction of work, and an organizational culture of health and safety demonstrate compassion and support.”[ix]

Another unique recommendation is to implement “job crafting,” which is an informal, employee-initiated approach to altering specific job requirements to increase person-job fit.[x] Admittedly, job crafting is difficult to do effectively, but the benefits are clear: having employees do what they are best at will help prevent burnout and increase productivity in the company. Despite the increased power employees now hold, business leaders should see clear implications and great opportunities resulting from listening to their employees, including an overall atmosphere of trust and increased productivity (and ultimately profitability) in daily operations.

Turnover

A third reason why business leaders need to prioritize mental health is because employees are more likely to leave their jobs now than ever before. The sudden uptick in job turnover during the pandemic has been dubbed “The Great Resignation.”[xi] Historically, employees looked for the highest salary and were willing to tolerate poor working conditions to make more money. Since the pandemic, however, attitudes have shifted; current research suggests that 64% of employees rank a flexible and supportive work environment over salary and are prepared to change jobs to find it.[xii]

Workers are increasingly drawn to day-to-day support rather than the temporary solutions typically seen. Creating a more open culture around mental health is key to helping employees feel supported.[xiii] As Clint Wallace, head of human resources for the U.S. wing of Sanofi, stated, “Businesses have to look at this as an investment, not a cost, to enable people to be their best selves when they come to work every day.”[xiv]

So how do companies create a more open culture? Many solutions focus on using proper employee recognition. Stacia Sherman Garr, a principal analyst for a top HR research firm, explained how “employee recognition is an important talent management tool that can help guide employee performance, maintain increased employee engagement, reduce employee turnover, and ultimately drive business performance.”[xv] Effective methods of employee recognition will be discussed in the recommendations portion of this article.

Another effective way to create good company culture is through training supervisors and others with regular, direct contact with employees. The chart below shares encouraging evidence of how employer attitudes are changing.[xvi] A 2021 study argues that supervisors should be trained to support employees through interventions that target reductions in employee stress. By helping to reduce workplace stress, supervisors “can make a significant difference in improving employee emotional well-being, which in turn can have significant positive effects on their workplace behavior and attitudes.”[xvii] Through whatever methods prove effective for their company, employers should seek out ways to help their employees feel supported.

 

Values represent the percent of employees that believe employers succeeded in these three categories:

• Was mental health prioritized?
• Are company leaders advocates for mental health?
• Are managers prepared to support those struggling with mental illness?

Recommendations

Because mental health is such a personal issue, no simple recommendations exist to better address mental health. Each business leader must discover what works best for their company. Despite this disclaimer, I will still offer two suggestions that have proven to be effective and are likely to help any business improve: provide telehealth services and formulate better methods for recognizing employees.

Telehealth Services

Employers should provide access to telehealth services to all employees. Doing so diminishes two major barriers to receiving help: physically going to a location for treatment and sacrificing anonymity.

First, telehealth services help those who need to receive mental health support but want to avoid the stigma of going to a provider. Ideally, stigma surrounding mental health will disappear in coming years, but until then, many patients feel safer attending therapy from the comfort of their own home. Telehealth is also convenient. Ginger reported that their average miss rate in 2021 was less than 5%, while that of traditional healthcare is approximately 25%.[xviii]

Second, telehealth services allow users to be anonymous to their employers. A 2019 study commissioned by Ginger reports that even before COVID isolation, workers harbored concerns that if they used company mental health benefits it might hurt their careers.[xix] Telehealth eliminates this barrier. While users stay anonymous, some services will provide employers with the primary reasons for employee visits so the company knows how best to address root causes.

Employee Recognition

Workers are more likely to feel appreciated and supported when they feel like they are truly making a difference in the company. Regular recognition does not just impact employee mental health—it also impacts profitability. A study by Bersin & Associates found that companies that excel at employee recognition are, on average, twelve times more likely to generate stronger business results than their peers.[xx] The study also recommends five practices for effective employee recognition:

• Set the tone for recognition with senior leaders and clear goals.
• Create clear recognition criteria.
• Use technology to make recognition easier, more flexible, and more frequent.
• Engage in a multi-front recognition offensive (use a mixture of casual and formal recognition).
• Provide recognition and rewards that employees value.

Conclusion

Employers need to invest more resources into employee mental health. This investment will help increase productivity and profitability for the company. For generations, employees have been expected to work hard for their leaders; now is the time for leaders to work hard for their employees.

 

 

 

 

1. Place, Alyssa. “A Perfect Storm: Ginger’s CEO Shares what’s in Store for Employee Mental Health: “There’s Going to be a Long Tail of Mental Health Issues as we Come Out of the Pandemic because the Reasons that Lead to these Mental Health Increases are Still there.”.” Employee Benefit News35, no. 4 (Aug 01, 2021): 7. http://erl.lib.byu.edu/login/?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/perfect-storm-gingers-ceo-shares-whats-store/docview/2557218098/se-2?accountid=4488.
2. Jack Lynch, “Mind the Mental Health Gap: Execs Say they’re Providing Good Mental Health Benefits, but Employees Disagree: Modern Health Surveys Executives, HR Leaders, and Employees about the Current State and Future of Mental Health Benefits at Work.” PR Newswire,Sep 14, 2021, http://erl.lib.byu.edu/login/?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/mind-mental-health-gap-execs-say-theyre-providing/docview/2572247794/se-2?accountid=4488.
3. Place, “Perfect Storm.”
4. Lynch, “Mental Health Gap.”
5. Tomaro, Nina and Erica Evans, “New Study from Mind Share Partners in Partnership with Qualtrics and ServiceNow: Employee Mental Health Challenges Now Impact the Majority of U.S. Workers—Persisting Longer and Pushing More Employees to Leave their Jobs.” Business Wire,Oct 04, 2021, http://erl.lib.byu.edu/login/?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/new-study-mind-share-partners-partnership-with/docview/2578707885/se-2?accountid=4488.
6. Lynch, “Mental Health Gap.”
7. Vincent, Roger, “BUSINESS; Virus Frays Worker Mental Health; Employers can no Longer Afford to Tune Out their Employees’ Emotional Needs, Experts Say.” Los Angeles Times,Mar 29, 2021, http://erl.lib.byu.edu/login/?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/business-virus-frays-worker-mental-health/docview/2506126783/se-2?accountid=4488.
8. Phillips, Jennan A., “Work-Life Fit during A Pandemic.” Workplace Health & Safety68, no. 10 (October 2020): 502–503. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2165079920953830.

 

9. Phillip, “Work-Life Fit,” 502-503.
10. Hennekam, Sophie, Kayla Follmer, and Joy Beatty, “Exploring Mental Illness in the Workplace: The Role of HR Professionals and Processes.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management32, no. 15 (September 2021): 3135–3156. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2021.1960751.
11. Tomaro and Evans, “Mind Share.”
12. Lynch, “Mental Health Gap.”
13. Tomaro and Evans, “Mind Share.”
14. Vincent, “Virus Frays Worker Mental Health.”
15. “New Bersin & Associates Research shows Organizations that Excel at Employee Recognition are 12 Times More Likely to Generate Strong Business Results: Bersin & Associates New Employee Recognition Maturity Model Underscores the Value of Saying ‘Thank You’ in the Workplace—just in Time for Thanksgiving.” PR Newswire,Nov 7, 2012. http://erl.lib.byu.edu/login/?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/new-bersin-amp-associates-research-shows/docview/1139652245/se-2?accountid=4488.
16. Tomaro and Evans, “Mind Share.”
17. Mohr, Cynthia D. et al., “Can Supervisor Support Improve Daily Employee well‐being? Evidence of Supervisor Training Effectiveness in a Study of Veteran Employee Emotions.” Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology94, no. 2 (June 2021): 400–426. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joop.12342.
18. Place, “Perfect Storm.”
19. Vincent, “Virus Frays Worker Mental Health.”
20. “Bersin & Associates Research.”