3 ways to encourage employees to reap the benefits of mental health care offerings

Cue the buzzwords: quiet quitting, anxiety, burnout. With more than half of US employees disengaged and 87% reporting work-related stress, it stands to reason that employees should be snapping up mental health benefits. But they’re not. Even as open enrollment season rolls out the red carpet for an ever-broadening menu of wellness options, workers’ use of mental health care benefits still hovers below 10%. So, how can company leaders help employees help themselves?

Here are three ways to look beyond open enrollment and inspire employees to engage in benefits that will better their mental health — and the company’s bottom line.

Don’t require, inspire

For employees to buy into mental health offerings, they need to be inspired. How company leaders deliver that inspiration (and support) should be defined by who is on the receiving end of the offers. For example, a tech-savvy mom-to-be working in Seattle will respond differently to messaging than a 56-year-old factory worker in Topeka. While she may love a 6 a.m. in-app prenatal yoga class reminder, he may respond better to an after-work SMS with a 60-second stress-busting video. Knowing the cultural, generational and geographical nuances of your diverse workforce and how to communicate effectively to them is vital to getting them to use the resources available.

When seeking new ways to inspire your team further, keep in mind that hearing from new voices might capture an employee’s attention better than the standard HR communication. Don’t be afraid to lean on vendors for help. Their branding, energy and delivery may resonate in a fresh way, even if the actual information is the same.

Curate wellbeing benefits to fit employees’ needs

Start by listening.

Survey your employees and take the time to hear and understand what they want and need, particularly in terms of mental health and wellness. What are their priorities? What are their struggles? Are they seeking clinical help or something entirely different? Do they need support for their loved ones? What’s working and what isn’t?

Medical benefits tend to top employee wish lists. And while, traditional, clinical treatment offers one route to better mental health, a holistic approach to mental health augments those standard medical options and increases both the likelihood of participation and of ultimate success. For example, we all are very familiar with the science and research on how sleep, nutrition and exercise affect anxiety and vice versa.

What’s more, even if employees see a prescribing clinician, that alone may not provide the relief they need. According to The Wall Street Journal, 40% of people taking anxiety medications don’t see any difference in their life. Implementing a benefits strategy that takes into account mental, physical, emotional and even financial health can serve to better address employee demands and improve workplace culture at the same time.

Adding to the list of obstacles employees face when seeking mental health support is the massive shortage of therapists. The CDC reports that just one clinician is available for every 350 people actively seeking mental health care. It’s worth exploring what alternatives are out there to address employee struggles when therapists aren’t available. Keep in mind that employees may be seeking off-ramps as well as on-ramps to treatment.

Keep the door open

While open enrollment is an initial opportunity to introduce a variety of offerings to employees, it can be an intense and overwhelming time for everyone involved. Consider implementing monthly or quarterly reminders that highlight ways to engage in mental health and wellness programs. Don’t miss an opportunity to also make it fun. Maybe kick off the new year with a resolution-inspired campaign or celebrate March Madness with a fitness-goal challenge.

Another way leaders can continually point teams to these resources is by sharing their own experiences and personal commitment to wellbeing. Company leaders must use and share the resources they want employees to adopt. By discussing these topics without fear and personally embracing them, it destigmatizes the topic of mental health in the workplace.

Read more: Employers should look deeper to address mental health

The takeaway: Employee wellness translates into a healthy bottom line

Everyone aspires to build a workforce of resilient, healthy, happy employees. Helping match employees with wellness solutions that fit their needs is not only the right thing to do, it’s also the right thing for the company’s bottom line. The hard truth is this: a workforce of simultaneously tired, stressed out and unhappy people will not — and cannot — deliver stellar outcomes. Grokker Innovation Labs research, based on Santa Barbara Actuaries independent analysis, illustrate that employee participation in wellbeing and mental health solutions boosts employee retention and engagement by up to 68%. With employee disengagement costing businesses $8.8 trillion, according to Gallup’s 2023 report, helping employees help themselves is ultimately a win-win.

Lorna Borenstein, CEO of Grokker