The need for better mental health awareness in corporate America has never been more evident. Many adults report feeling stressed, anxious and depressed, and their workplaces often can play a significant role in those feelings. Responsible employers must do all they can to improve employee mental health to stop this trend.

Taking care of your workers’ mental health does more than protect employees. Declining mental well-being or a lack of respect from employers can push workers to become disengaged and pursue other roles. Consequently, boosting workplace morale can improve employee retention. Here are five ways training managers can promote employees’ mental health and improve engagement.

1. Ask employees about their goals and needs.

One simple yet effective way to improve knowledge retention and mental health in training is to ask employees about their goals and what they wish to get out of their training experience. For instance, during onboarding, ask what employees want to accomplish in their current role and beyond. In doing so, you can demonstrate that the company cares about their specific career goals and aspirations.

According to Society of Human Resource Management, 68% of employees would stay with an employer for their whole career if they had sufficient upskilling opportunities. When you know the job trajectory workers want to take, you can connect them to relevant career-advancement opportunities. In addition to boosting their retention, this effort can make new hires feel more welcome from day one.

Over time, commonalities between what employees say they want can reveal areas where the company can improve. Pay attention to any trends in these responses to see if there are any common unmet needs among the workforce.

2. Be transparent.

It also helps to be upfront about what employees can expect from the organization. Disappointment, misleading job listings and unclear expectations can all hinder workers’ mental health. By contrast, if they know what they’re getting into from the start, they’re more likely to feel satisfied in their roles.

Setting clear expectations is about more than telling employees what they must do. You should also be transparent about the positives, like the compensation new hires can expect and how they can pursue and achieve promotions. Clarifying progression paths can make it easier for employees to remain engaged, which benefits mental health and retention.

Transparency provides an opportunity to reveal how competitive a position is. If you compare your enterprise’s compensation to industry averages to prove it’s higher, you’ll build trust and show respect for what the employee’s work is worth.

3. Encourage open communication.

Similarly, encouraging communication is a crucial step to improve employee mental health. People want to know their leadership hears and respects their input. It goes both ways, too, as 82% of employees appreciate feedback from higher-ups.

Encourage new hires to ask questions during training and provide thorough answers to any they ask. If someone struggles with anything in their first few weeks, ask how you can help them instead of reprimanding their performance. By fostering open dialogue and being constructive in feedback, you’ll help them feel appreciated and encourage healthy conversation when they encounter obstacles.

This dialogue shouldn’t end with training, either. Setting up regular check-ins and posting anonymous feedback forms are great ways to maintain this communication standard throughout employees’ tenure.

4. Provide mental health resources.

Any role is likely to come with some stress down the line. In light of that, it’s essential to ensure workers have the appropriate resources to manage it healthily. Businesses can do that by setting up in-house mental health resources.

Many schools offer counseling services and businesses can take a similar approach. Consider making mental health care coverage part of the standard compensation package. Companies can also set up open mediation spaces, start employee resource groups (ERGs), pay for holistic employee well-being programs or offer free career development training.

Once these resources are in place, emphasize them in onboarding and training. Point them out to employees and explain their benefits to encourage participation. That way, workers know you care for their mental health from the beginning, which can improve employee retention.

5. Integrate mental health training into onboarding.

You can also promote better workplace mental health by integrating awareness into onboarding. Part of employees’ training should be recognizing common mental health issues and learning healthy strategies to manage them.

Awareness is the first part of this mental health training. That includes teaching employees how mental health issues arise in and out of the workplace, how they impact people and that no one should feel ashamed for experiencing them. Next, training should cover mitigation like stress management tips, using company mental health resources and practicing open communication.

Mental health training has two primary benefits. First, it demonstrates the enterprise takes employees’ well-being seriously, boosting retention. Second, it equips workers with the tools needed to overcome obstacles, creating a healthier workplace.

Improve Employee Mental Health to Boost Retention

Many company leaders today want to find ways to improve employee retention. However, fewer realize retention is intrinsically linked to workers’ mental health. If management addresses the latter, the former will also improve.

Like many workplace shifts, better mental health begins in the training process. If training managers follow these five steps, they can help foster a healthier, happier workforce that will stay with the company longer.