Mental Health Action: A Brief for Employers

The rise in workers reporting mental health challenges, such as anxiety, stress and depression, has been well documented. About half of adults say that worry or stress about the pandemic has impacted their mental health; 30% have gone as far as to report symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, compared to 11% in 2019.
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Employers are taking note. Recent polling shows that 70% now recognize mental health as a serious workplace concern, up from 59% in June of 2020. Yet there is a clear disconnect between employers and employees on the level of mental health support being provided in the workplace.
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The reasons for employers to provide meaningful support are compelling. Employee mental health conditions cost employers $100 billion and 217 million lost workdays each year. More companies are reporting that employee mental health is having a severe or significant financial impact on their company.
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By openly addressing mental health in the workplace, reducing the stigma of mental health conditions, and investing in mental health care for workers, employers can reinforce employee well-being and boost performance, productivity, and retention.

Your Role as an Employer

As a highly trusted source of information, employers have a powerful opportunity to promote mental well-being.

The Goals

Support employee mental health by demonstrating leadership. Improve access to mental health care, and communicate about its availability. By encouraging and empowering your employees, customers and community to take action, you can develop a culture of mental well-being, free of stigma, that helps workers become their full, healthy, productive selves.

Become a Leader in Mental Health

How

Here are some of the ways employers can support employee mental health and promote resiliency:

Educate your employees, customers and community about mental health.

Create digital content on your company website or employee intranet. On social media, highlight the resources listed below (and also see the tips for communicating about mental health at the end of the document).
Convene public events, such as wellness activities for employees and customers.
Run PSAs in your stores or places of business.
Embed links on your homepage or in your product, sharing insights about mental health and resources.

Embrace discussions about mental health throughout your organization.

Encourage open dialogue about mental health. Consider convening employees in small groups, online town hall meetings, and at company-wide forums to break the silence and open the door for employees to seek help when needed.
Consider appointing a mental health leader to monitor employee well-being, examining benefits and access to treatment, and the effectiveness of workplace programs.
Ask senior leaders to speak out about their own mental health journey if they feel comfortable. They might wish to share how it has impacted their career and why taking action is critical for personal and professional well-being. This could be done in a company email, a conversation over Zoom or through another medium authentic to your organization.
Tailor your approach to the needs of the diverse communities within your workforce. Cultivate trusted messengers who can express empathy, listen for the challenges their co-workers are facing and help them seek support.
Reach out to your state or local public health department to explore what resources may already exist in your community to support employee mental health. Consider working together to identify ways to strengthen mental health services and support for workers, customers and communities where you operate.

Encourage employees to consider their own mental health.

Block off an hour, a half day or a full day for employees to support their own mental health.
Help your employees understand what services are covered by their insurance — it’s one of the most commonly reported barriers to accessing mental healthcare. Distribute materials such as mental health benefit tips from your insurance plan, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other benefits vendors.
Announce new mental health benefits or highlight existing ones. You may also choose to offer a wellness stipend or other vehicles to support employees as they take action on mental health.
Provide your company’s leaders with opportunities to showcase their own actions, as an example for members of their team. For example, leaders might share how they prioritize balance, mental health or relaxation in a series of blogs on your employee intranet.
Host an employee wellness event. An engaging speaker or event can bring employees together and help them better understand mental health and the resources they have at their disposal. Your insurance plan, EAP or other benefits vendors will be able to help you identify an expert speaker.

Create and empower Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).

Build ERGs centered around mental health as a platform for storytelling and support. Set proactive goals for ERGs including:

Raising awareness about the importance of mental well-being
De-stigmatizing mental health
Fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion
Promoting access to evidence-based mental health care resources

Suggested Resources

How Right Now, supported by the CDC Foundation, helps people identify their emotions and find helpful resources.
Right Direction, a joint initiative of the Center for Workplace Mental Health and Employers Health Coalition, Inc., provides free information, tools, and resources to address depression in the workplace.
Employee Mental Health Report, from the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), shares best practices and case studies for the workplace.
ICU, an anti-stigma campaign by DuPont and Center for Workplace Mental Health, offers a five-minute video that teaches employees about the importance of mental health.
Screening program, by Mental Health America, provides a collection of free screening tools that can help employees diagnose their mental health.
Strength Over Silence, from National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), is an ongoing docuseries that highlights mental health experiences across cultures.
Coping 19, a website from the CDC, the CDC Foundation and the Ad Council, provides tips, tools and resources for well-being.
Supporting a Nation in Crisis, from the de Beaumont Foundation and Well Being Trust, provides recommendations to address mental health in the immediate and recovery phases of the pandemic.
The Health Action Alliance has also put together a Pandemic Stress and Anxiety Resource for Employees and Workers, a handout with links to several resources, including those listed above.

Tips for Communicating About Mental Health

CBS This Morning shared an excellent segment with advice from experts on how to talk about mental health in ways that reduce stigma and invite conversation. Here are a few highlights:

Use language in line with how you describe other medical conditions, and don’t refer to people by their illness.
Avoid words like “suffering” or “victim,” and instead emphasize that people are “living with” conditions like depression and anxiety.
Don’t refer to mental health conditions as “issues;” they are a condition.

And this recent segment on CNBC provided low-pressure questions managers can ask employees to begin a conversation about mental health:

How was this week?
What were the highs and lows?
What can I do for you next week to make things easier?
What can we do for each other?