19 May Five Tips For Supporting Your Employees Mental Health

The future is looking bright as the weather warms up and the economy is reopening. However, it will still take some time for us to fully heal from the events of the last year. Our society is coping with varying levels of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

CNBC recently reported nearly half of U.S. workers suffer from mental health issues since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. In addition, 1 in 3 patients that have recovered from Covid-19 can experience neurological or psychological after-effects for an extended time.

With this in mind, employers need to focus on ways to help employees navigate mental health challenges. Here are suggestions to support the mental health of your employees.

1. Minimize Drama

Keep mental health at the top of your mind and make a conscious effort to minimize your employees’ exposure to undue stress. If you can diffuse or change a situation to avoid employee distress, try to do so. Use your good judgment to identify some simple changes that may reduce your team’s anxiety. For example, perhaps you can move those 7 am Monday morning meetings to 9 am?

2. Review Your Benefits Plans

Employees expect relevant and new-age benefits. Employers are expanding employee benefits for virtual (tele) healthcare and increasing access to programs that help improve and maintain mental health and well-being. Make sure your employees have access to affordable and high-quality mental healthcare.

3. Promote Programs

As the Covid pandemic was emerging, almost half of the workers surveyed said their company had not proactively shared information about available mental health resources. Lesson learned.

Make your employees aware of the resources you are providing. You want your employees to understand the investment you are making in them, and you want them to use these resources, so they are healthy and productive.

4. Demonstrate Self-Care

Flex your leadership by sharing your own experiences during this time. Have you faced burnout yourself? If you talk about it and model self-care, you’ll set the stage for others to do the same. This will help reduce the stigma of mental health challenges in your workplace.

5. Measure and adjust

Ensuring your people are doing well does not have to be complicated. You can regularly run employee surveys to understand their primary stressors and needs. With this feedback, you can build and adjust employee programs as needed.

Reach out to us to learn more about how you can support your employees’ well-being.

Sources:

1. https://disabilitycompendium.org/
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/allisonnorlian/2020/06/22/workers-with-disabilities-disproportionately-impacted-by-covid-19-pandemic/?sh=7a72e0bc1ad1
3. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2020/unemployment-rate-for-people-with-a-disability-declines-to-7-point-3-percent-in-2019.htm
4. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/communications-media/accessibility-advantage