Challenge
- Long hours, high demands and work-family conflicts could be as harmful to health as secondhand smoke. COVID-19 accelerated the mental strain for many.
- Exhausted people aren’t productive and tend to resign.
Opportunity
- Prioritizing mental wellness at workplaces makes both people and the company better off. Mental health support is valued higher than gym memberships and free meals.
Get Started
- Take care of yourself first. Reducing doomscrolling and phone usage are good first targets. Keep working hours at a sane level. Exercise every now and then. Try to maintain a somewhat balanced diet.
- Build a culture of connection within your team and company. Check-in regularly with colleagues and employees. Listen thoroughly and carefully, but don’t intrude. Understand the real worries beneath the surface.
- Offer flexibilityto easen up the burden.New parents need daycare. Caretakers need fewer hours. Some want to work from different places. Everyone’s different, make it inclusive.
- Provide access to new tools. Ginger offers on-demand mental care remotely. Headspace builds meditation habits. SleepScore tracks recharging at nights. Leverage the wellness app ecosystem.
- Set an example. The change starts from the top. Share your own experiences, if you have them. As Paul Greenberg puts it: “As soon as you normalize it, other people do too.”
Tools
- Ginger, Talkspace, BetterHelp, Modern Health – On-demand corporate mental health
- Calm, Headspace, SleepScore – Meditation, mindfulness, sleep
- Wisdo – Share experiences
- Lyra – An all-around platform
- Ladder – Mental health services for BIPOC
- Real Therapy, Cerebral – Subscription-based therapy
- Thyself – Chrome extension for mental health
- Spring Health – Precision mental care
- Mantra Health – Mental care for university students
Pros
- Mental health investments on average have 5:1 returns.
- Proactive cultural change, training and raising awareness yield the best results (6:1 ROI).
- Reactive therapy is less effective, but still very positive (3:1 ROI).
- Additional benefits: increased productivity, commitment, engagement, talent acquisition and quality of work.
- There’s a link between the mind and the body. People who feel well tend to look after their physical fitness too. On the other hand, movement can arm you against stress.
Cons
- Don’t go for reactive or bolt-on programs. Solve problems before they arise. Make wellbeing a core value.
- The total effect of COVID-19 on mental health is unclear. A long tail of mental health problems could form.
Cases
- Starbucks offers 20 therapist sessions per year for employees and family members.
- Zappos‘ benefits include paid paternity leave, pet adoption and wellness challenges.
- KKR extended mental health resources to employee families, reimburses 250$ for virtual classes and $300 for improving your home office setup.
- SAP launched daycare, flextime for parents and a mental health program. Operating profit increased $900M in 5 years.
- Propellernet invests 5% of monthly profits to a wellbeing fund. They also fulfill one dream each quarter.
Forecast
- Stigmas continue to decrease. What was once taboo is now mainstream. Big Tech is trying to help by integrating mental wellness to their apps and services.
- Depression and anxiety will become more socially acceptable, and it starts with the C-level example. “Hiding breeds shame. Shame is destructive.”
- New services are virtual. This is a double-edged sword. Remote services solve distance and time issues but can lack human connection and body language.
Resources
- How’s your mental health? – Advice from the trenches.
- Being open about my mental health makes me a better boss – Ryan Bonnici shares his therapy session bookings openly in his calendar.
- Mental health and employers: Refreshing the case for investment – Deloitte’s report includes over 30 case studies and ROI figures for mental health initiatives.
- The Best Mental Health and Business Podcasts for Entrepreneurs – A list of 9 podcasts covering mental health.
Takeaways
- Investing in mental wellness has a real, proven return on investment. And often it’s big.
- Top management has to set the example. Stigma is decreasing, but it’s still there. Lead by example, be vulnerable.
- It’s all about the people. Check how they are, listen to their worries, support and provide help when they need it.