Addressing workplace mental health: The long-term financial and behavioral implications
While there are many aspects to addressing mental health in today’s society, one area that must not be overlooked is mental health in the workplace.
It’s no secret that the U.S. is in the midst of a behavioral and mental health crisis, which is being fueled in large part by the ongoing pandemic. As a result, we are seeing the White House hone in on addressing the crisis. President Biden has laid out a mental health strategy designed to “strengthen system capacity, connect more Americans to care, and create a continuum of support–transforming our health and social services infrastructure to address mental health holistically and equitably.”
While there are many key aspects to addressing mental health in today’s society, one area that must not be overlooked is mental health in the workplace. Savvy employers are starting to recognize that investing in employee mental health pays financial dividends. According to SilverCloud’s 2021 Employee Health and Mental Wellbeing Report, about 55% of employees are languishing on the mental health spectrum in a state of mild to moderate distress, and that has major repercussions: People with such levels of distress report over 3.25 of unproductive work hours per day (compared to two hours for non-distressed employees).
For severely distressed people, almost four hours each workday are unproductive. This lack of productivity translates to real dollars—it’s calculated that a company with 500 employees making an average of $50,000 per year, for example, is likely losing 268 productive hours every day and $1.7 million per year.
Related: The ‘wellness’ of your employee mental health benefits
Employees in the survey note that in general, they have coping mechanisms to manage feelings of stress, anxiety or depression. But their ability to deploy those coping strategies varies.
When they’re outside their work settings:
- 45% of employees seek out family or friends to help feel more like themselves
- 50% seek to feel better through exercise
- 54% escape reality through a book, movie or video game
- 34% seek alone time to recharge
However, employees note that it’s considerably harder to find space to step back and recharge while they’re in the workplace: The coping mechanisms above often just aren’t available to them. About 18% of respondents said they don’t have any go-to coping mechanism to feel better when they’re at work. As such, there is a huge opportunity for employers to play a role in creating space for better mental health, and employees themselves offered suggestions for what they wished their employer would do to help them cope with negative feelings and other mental health needs while at work:
- Nearly 20% of responses suggested employers could help just by being more human and acknowledging that it’s ok to not always be ok – a compelling finding as stigma about discussing individual mental health needs evolves and acceptance of the need for change slowly enters workplaces.
- 37% called for physical or mental space from work, including quiet places to take breaks.
- 32% explicitly requested mental health resources such as counseling or mental health insurance coverage.
So, what tangible actions can employers do to make changes that have a measurable impact for 2022 to unlock the full potential of employees in the workplace and ultimately reduce turnover and boost outcomes? Some important considerations include the following:
- Increasing the availability of physical spaces used for recharging and taking a break.
- Encouraging mental spaces to “turn off” and unwind at certain moments in the day.
- Acknowledging mental health issues openly and foster conversations around mental wellbeing. Commonly, and more than even money and financial reward, employees simply called for empathy from employers.
- Modeling good behavior. Training managers in emotional intelligence and in coping with negative feelings, so their own mental state is a source of strength for their direct reports rather than a source of additional stress—remembering that often people don’t quit jobs, they quit managers.
- Calling out mental health as part of the organization’s plan for the future, as a key component of the post-pandemic strategy as a way to future-proof the company.
- Offer digital mental health solutions. Mental health is not a one size fits all approach. It’s critical for employees to have access to evidence-based, clinically-proven, and accessible solutions that are available any time of day.
There is some encouraging news. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), work can be good for your mental health in general as it helps us feel productive and validated, and it creates a time in which we are focused on a bigger objective.
The sooner we recognize that mental health is a state that we are both individually and collectively responsible for nurturing, the greater our capacity to optimize the performance of our teams and our companies. If taken seriously and done the right way, improving wellbeing across the board can create a positive work culture that builds employee satisfaction overall, not to mention the potentially huge economic windfall for companies as a direct consequence.
Jorge Palacios, MD, PhD, is senior digital health scientist at SilverCloud Health.
Read more: