What’s your plan for the employee mental health revolution?
The mental health revolution calls for a new approach to benefit strategy.
Signs of a growing mental health crisis are everywhere. Call it burnout, malaise or chronic stress—employees of all ages across roles and industries are feeling it. According to recent research by Gallup, mental health and emotional well-being have plunged to their lowest levels since 2001. Another study charted a 50% rise in depression and a 60% drop in focus among all ages in the workplace at the start of the year.
While it’s tempting to see this crisis as connected to the pandemic, economic recession and other stressors of 2020, it isn’t just that. In fact, mental health at work was called one of the most far-reaching workplace issues of 2019—well before COVID.
Related: Balancing the return to work with mental wellbeing
Something has to change. Employees want and need better mental health support, and employers can’t afford to ignore it. Why? Research shows mental health is connected to collaboration, engagement, productivity and the bottom line.
Nearly 60% of employees struggling with mental health challenges indicated that their employer does not provide helpful or effective mental health benefits. The growing demand for expanded, enhanced, and effective support for employee mental health and well-being is not a trend. It’s a shift in the market, and it will affect everything from recovery to the front lines in a new war for talent.
The mental health revolution calls for a new approach to benefit strategy: offering expanded benefits keyed to emerging needs through a blend of coverage and support resources. In this market shift, employers will look to their benefit advisors to help navigate changes to the employee benefits landscape. Here’s how to prepare:
Effective support for mental health and well-being
Providing effective benefits is within employers’ control—and because the right benefits can address employees’ needs and stressors, there are direct connections like reduction in turnover and protection for the bottom line. Shrinking primary plans have created coverage voids, making traditional coverage insufficient for mental health care. Employee assistance plans (EAPs) may offer some resources, but often fall short in addressing or paying for present and future needs.
To meet the market shift of the mental health revolution, advisors can work with employers’ HR leaders to identify where employees are struggling and create the right benefit mix to better support them.
Evaluate coverage
The first step is starting with the primary plan to understand what it covers and identify what poses barriers to care. These include high deductibles, high out-of-network costs for behavioral care and limits to coverage for provider visits and prescriptions. Clear evaluation can help advisers and employers focus on what expanded coverage can best address.
Gain insight
Keeping a finger on the pulse of employees’ overall well-being is important. Survey tools and regular communication can help advisers and employers learn more about where employees are struggling. This not only provides information critical to benefit strategy but also contributes to greater openness on the importance of mental health in the workplace.
Build top-down support
Programs to support better mental health and well-being need the support and buy-in of management to be truly successful. Championing change can take many forms, from promoting open discussion that destigmatizes mental health challenges to modeling healthy behavior to communicating why the company is putting new benefits in place. Advisers and HR can work together on the right strategy for the situation.
Reduce barriers
The right support reduces barriers to care by ensuring easy access to a full spectrum of care resources for everyday and crisis needs. In addition, a solution that takes a holistic view of well-being can better meet emerging and evolving needs.
Look for easy access
Benefits with on-demand access, easy scheduling and other user-friendly features can boost usage, especially among younger, digitally savvy members of the workforce. In addition, benefits that incorporate human connection are especially valuable during and after this period of social isolation. This can include member services as well as counselors and other care providers.
Broaden the spectrum
Millions of employees are struggling with their mental health, but not everyone needs a therapist. Many will benefit from support for everyday needs, like difficulty sleeping, grief and loss or stress related to caregiving. Enhanced benefits with flexibility can help employers meet evolving needs, now and in the future.
Promote well-being
Taking a strategic approach to well-being can benefit the full workforce. Benefits that combine coverage for wellness treatments like prescribed massage therapy and acupuncture with care resources for a full spectrum of support can help employees cope with stress in healthier ways. Ultimately, a preventive approach to well-being can boost engagement and productivity. In addition, these benefits may help companies position themselves as employers of choice.
Benefit advisers are uniquely positioned to help employers nurture healthy, productive and supported employees. Developing a strong approach now for the mental health revolution ensures that advisers and employers will be ready to respond in meaningful ways.
Charlotta Winslow-Jenkins is chief marketing & product officer at ArmadaCare. An innovative marketing, branding and product professional, Charlotta brings deep knowledge of the complementary insurance market to her executive role at ArmadaCare. She has over 30 years of global, strategic-level business leadership experience that spans a multitude of industries.
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