How employers can support employees’ mental wellbeing.

One of the biggest recent challenges for employers to tackle is employee mental health. Despite it being widely documented that poor mental health and stress can negatively affect job performance, productivity and physical capability, many employers find mental wellbeing a difficult topic to broach.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states, “Mental health disorders are among the most burdensome health concerns in the United States … by addressing mental health issues in the workplace, employers can reduce health care costs for their businesses and employees.”

Let’s take a closer look at why some people resist getting help with their mental health and what employers can do to help support employee mental wellbeing.

Why people hesitate to discuss mental health

In order to tackle employee mental health, employers need to understand the reasons why people don’t want to talk about it. According to a Deloitte study, 10% of those who disclosed a mental health problem at work were dismissed, demoted or disciplined.

Additionally, some of the top reasons provided by employees for not sharing mental health concerns with their HR teams includes employees who thought it was unlikely that support would be provided, worries about confidentiality and wanting to keep it private.

Employers must create a safe space for employees to discuss and access mental health resources.

Employer action steps

Deloitte’s recommendations for employers include tackling the stigma around mental health and improving awareness.

Action steps can include:

• Ensuring that those who seek support for mental health are not penalized or stigmatized.
• Initiating two-way conversations about mental health without overwhelming employees with information.
• Increasing employee awareness of the resources available to them, such as self-assessment tools, online or app therapy, in-person counseling, videos, etc.
• Supporting front-line managers with training to recognize the signs of stress and depression. Recognize that managers also have stresses of their own.
• Creating quiet spaces that allow workers to relax and rejuvenate.

One of the difficulties in supporting mental wellbeing lies in the fact that no two people respond to situations in the same way. Another is that some employee stress is caused by factors outside the workplace. However, employers have tremendous power to normalize discussions about mental health and make resources available. By offering support and working to destigmatize getting help for mental health, employers can help employees stay mentally well and reduce health care costs.

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