Stress in America: Leveraging Employee Mental Health & Wellness Programs for a Better Workplace

I. Introduction

Mental health has become a growing concern in the United States in the last several years. Why do you think it has become more prevalent as of late? A lot of people would attribute mental health issues to the use of social media. Even though science has proven time and time again that it is addictive and causes depression, there is still good to be found out of utilizing social media, so we keep on scrolling despite the side eAects. There has been some speculation that mental health has increased during and after COVID-19 due to isolation and the uncertainty of it all. As humans, we are born to be sociable and putting us in a position where we are locked down and our normal routines were stripped away had a major impact on some. Our mental health can impact our overall health, our friends, our family, and even our workplace. So, what is being done to remedy this growing problem? How is your workplace providing support for your mental health to ensure that your job is not what is contributing to the problem? How can you as an employee benefit from these services? Being able to catch this early and be able to prevent problems from arising is key. This is not something that is going to go away overnight, but with time and the right programs in place, hopefully we can see these issues start to diminish over time.

II. Mental Health & Wellness Programs

Employers, sometimes you cannot live with them, and we certainly cannot live without them. We must get up in the mornings and go to work to make the money to pay our bills, put gas in our cars, and food on our tables. It is not the way our ancestors had intended for us to live but here we are. Going through that day in and day out grind, showing up, hoping to be appreciated, dealing with your boss or supervisor who seems to be on you constantly. Or at least this is how it may seem to some. I know this is not the case for all, but at the end of the day, if we could find a way to have more home life and less work, just to be free of the confines of our job, we would all be much happier people. In the world we live in today, finding that balance to keep you happy while holding a job can be a fine line. There must be some checks and balances in place in order to make sure the mental health of the overall workforce is maintained. There must be something to look forward to, to motivate, and to keep us focused and mentally health. We will discuss a few programs that employers have put into place in order to do just that.

Work Life Balance

Work life balance seems like it comes up discussions more and more when talking about what people are looking for in their new roles. According to an article published by the American Psychology Association, Dr. Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, APA’s chief executive oAicer, states that, “On average, we spend 90,000 hours of our lifetimes at work,”. (Novotney, 2022) He goes on to discuss why it is not only important, but employers have a responsibility to their employees to provide environments that support them mentally because it is just better for business, for the employee, and for their families. This has not always been a priority on company’s radars until lately. They have begun to provide options such as hybrid work or even remote in some cases. A hybrid schedule allows for the employees to work certain days in the oAice while spending some time at home, whereas a remote schedule would mean that they worked entirely from home and did not have to come in. These options help give the employees more freedom and balance when it comes to their schedule. While hybrid and work schedules are not commonly known as mental health programs, they are an option to help alleviate mental health problems from becoming an issue.

Mental Health Days

This was a very foreign concept during my time in the military, but it has become increasingly popular in the last several years. Mental health days, or flexible time oA, are used to give people time away from work, when and as they need it. This gives employees a day to take oA and meditate or recharge their batteries so they can help themselves get back to a good mental space. It is suggested that when utilizing a mental health day, they take time to unplug form social media and do something that they enjoy. These opportunities will help to reduce burn out and improve morale throughout. Dr. Angela Thiesen states that, “The phrase "mental health day" is a bit of a misnomer because it may not be a single day. It could be used to describe an hour, half-day or even a month away from stressful situations. There is no perfect length of time either. A mental health day should be long enough to experience the benefits but not too long as to create more problems in the long term.”. (Thiesen, 2022) It does not have to be a whole day for mental health, sometimes you may need to step away for an hour or two, but it is important to do what you need to do in order to take care of your mental health.

Employee Resource Groups

These groups, also known as Peer Support Groups in some circles, are beneficial in that they pair you with a group of people who are just like you. The origin of ERG’s dates back to the 1960’s during a time of civil unrest. A group of African-American employees came together and formed was formerly known as a caucus, while working for Xerox. They wanted to provide a space that was safe to share their thoughts and to be able to network within the company in hopes of providing opportunities for growth and promotions. (Ratcliff, 2023) These groups help you to know that you are not alone on days when it may feel like it. These groups have become increasingly popular within companies, creating groups for diff

erent such as those who are a minority, women, veterans, disabled, or even LGBTQIA. This helps to boost morale because you have people with the same background who can share ideas and problems and be able to lean on each other, creating a sense of community. Once you know that you are not alone in your struggle, it makes your burden a little easier to bare and sometimes can even make you realize that even though your struggles seem great, there are people out there who are dealing with much more. Being able to talk to people within the group gives you a sense of camaraderie and creates a safe space for people to share.

III. Employee Benefits

Having these programs in place will allow for a better workforce, higher morale, and over all better mental health of everyone. The more programs you are able to put into place and encourage your employees to participate in, the less likely you are to have employees with mental health issues. People trying to cope with mental health issues will look in all directions to find some way to cope with their issues. This could potentially lead to health issues due to the stress that their mental health issues, such as high blood pressure, strokes, and more. Some people will turn to the use of illegal substances and alcohol which can create addiction issues that you may have to deal with as an employer too. Having employees with addiction issues can lead to more problems such as being under manned and even safety issues. Some of the more common side eAects of mental health issues would be burnout and stress which can create performance problems with some employees. It is important for the employees to have safe and confidential options when it comes to these programs so they can deal with them before they become something far more serious.

IV. Return on Investment

Putting these programs into place will have many benefits but the important thing is to be able to track and see what is working and how it is helping the overall workforce. Here are a few key performance indicators that you might be able to use to gauge how successful you are being.

1. Absenteeism Rates- Being able to track and see trends in absent employees can be a good indicator of how successful your programs have been. Doing the research to see how many have been missing because of planned time off as opposed to those with unplanned time would be a good indicator. Once you notice the unplanned time off starts to taper off, this would be a good sign that the programs you have in place are working.

2. Retention- As anyone in recruiting will tell you, this is a good indicator as to the health of a company. If people are leaving constantly, there is obviously an issue that needs to be addressed. By implementing some of the programs we have mentioned before, you may notice a change in the turnover within your organization. Employees want to be a part of a company where they are valued and feel like they belong and when you show how much you care by providing programs, it will continue to be somewhere they want to stay. At the same time, it may help your recruiting eAorts too because if someone enjoys where they work, they will encourage others to come work there as well. Seeing an increase in new hires as well as those retained is another key performance indicator that your programs are working well.

3. Feedback- This is not something I have seen done a lot but the companies I have been with who do surveys with their employees usually have a better overall culture. I know that to some it may seem tedious and time-consuming to go through these, but the information that is provided can be very valuable. Conducting surveys a couple times a year is more beneficial because it can give you an idea of areas that need to be addressed and once, they are addressed, six months later you will be able to see if you are making progress. These surveys may even bring issues to light that you have not even considered. Having surveys for new hires on the hiring process can give you a better understanding of where the employee is at the time they come into the company and then following up six months later will help you to understand where they are at as far as overall satisfaction and mental health. Exit surveys are important as well because they will help to point out areas that may need to be improved to avoid others wanting to leave the company as well. Surveys can be tailored to gauge all sorts of diAerent things, but utilizing this tool can be a great key performance indicator to help you to understand the mental health of the company. Keeping these anonymous is very important to help make sure you maintain a safe confidential environment.

V. Conclusion

We have looked at many aspects of mental health and how it can aAect the workplace and even provided a few solutions to help alleviate these problems, hopefully before they happen. In today’s work landscape, there are no guarantees on how to completely avoid having employees burn out and become stressed because we can only control what happens within the confines of our organization. Having stopgaps in place is certainly heading in the right direction to helping our people to deal with issues that they face. Following up and KPI’s will continue to give us intel as to if what we are doing is working and what may need to change or if additional programs need to be added. At the end of the day, people just want to know that you care. By instituting programs and informing employees of the potential benefits, this will be one way to show that you truly do care for them not only as employees but human beings. There is an old saying that no one can find the origins of, but it still holds true, and it says something along the lines of, ‘People do not care how much you know, unless they know how much you care.’ As human resource professionals, it is your job to keep the ‘personal’ in personnel. Show your people you care and take care of them and their mental health. It will make your job easier in the long run and make for a great experience within your organization for all.

References:

Novotney, A. (2022, October 22). Why mental health needs to be a top priority in the workplace. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/news/apa/2022/surgeon-general-workplace-well-being

Angela Theisen, L. C. S. W. (2022, October 4). Recharge with a mental health day. Mayo Clinic Health System. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown health/speaking-of-health/recharge-with-planned-mental-health-day

Ratcliff, G. (2023, July). The Lived Experiences of Former Employee Resource Group (ERG) Leaders with Knowledge Sharing from Executive Sponsors. (Doctoral Dissertation/ The Chicago School of Professional Psychology)