The past few years have shone a spotlight on mental health challenges in the workplace. Many employers have begun to incorporate wellness benefits and training in their offerings. However, knowing how to effectively help employee mental health in a dispersed work environment can be challenging.
According to the Integrated Benefits Institute’s recent analysis, fully remote (40%) and hybrid work (38%) is associated with an increased likelihood of anxiety and depression symptoms compared to in person (35%). The rate of individuals taking a mental health prescription medication has increased from 20% to 22%, and the unmet need for counseling has also increased from 12% to 14%. However, overall symptoms of anxiety or depression have declined from 40% during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to 35%.
Learning and development (L&D) teams play an important role in ensuring that employees get the support they need. L&D programs and employee wellness initiatives should not be siloed from one another. Employee well-being should be at the heart of every program. In this article, we’ll review best practices to offering mental health awareness programs in your organization.
Educate Employees
It’s important for employees to know of benefits and program offerings — from employer-sponsored programs to mindfulness programs and telehealth. Employees can’t take advantage of wellness benefits if they don’t know about it. To encourage more participation, designate a few employees as ambassadors or champions of company wellness offerings. Employees may be more apt to participate if they see their peers doing so.
L&D leaders should also educate employees on workplace wellness. Partner with a mental health professional to offer awareness workshops to teach employees how to become more aware of their mental health and how it affects their work. These workshops can facilitate training on how to manage stress and overcome burnout. Additional training on time management, self care and resilience can also work to improve employee well-being and help create a positive work environment.
Train Leadership
Mental well-being must be approached from the top down with 100% buy-in from leadership and C-suite. Leadership teams play an integral role in fostering a transparent and supportive culture. Managers are often in the best position to recognize symptoms and should be trained on what to look for and what resources they can offer to employees. Managers should learn soft skills like active listening so they can positively communicate with their teams.
Eight in 10 workers say shame and stigma prevent them from seeking treatment for a mental health condition according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Hearing a manager discuss mental health and creating a safe space for conversation can encourage employees to seek help. Managers can work to reduce stigma around mental health and help humanize these challenges.
Encourage Feedback
Fostering open lines of communication with employees is critical for success. Give employees the opportunity to provide constructive feedback on how the programs are working and where their needs still aren’t being met. L&D teams can work alongside human resources (HR) to generate surveys and questionnaires to ensure employees are getting exactly what they want out of both their training experiences and the workplace as a whole. Having regular conversations with employees can offer insight into how they’re feeling and what’s impacting their daily lives.
Measure Outcomes
To address the challenges of the past two years, many employers have implemented multiple benefit offerings and programs to address mental health and well-being. But how can employers know which solutions are working? It’s important to collect as much data as possible, going deeper than just the participation and completion rate. Gather specific data like reduction in absenteeism and improvement in productivity and performance. HR can also to take a close look at the number of claims filed for medical and pharmacy benefits to track overall program success.
It’s clear that the pandemic has exacerbated the mental health crisis, and that access to quality care and programs is critical. It’s also clear that many leaders were forced into this crisis with little to no training to help support their employees, and as a result, have become victims of stress and burnout themselves. Mental health awareness and wellness training should be a cornerstone of L&D — to provide our people support and guidance in this fast-paced world of work.
