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Employee mental health is quickly becoming a major concern for companies as they attempt to retain workers during the pandemic.
Why is this important: Companies that grapple with mental health are ready to win the war for talent.
“These days, there are labor shortages everywhere,” says Chris Swift, CEO of The Hartford, a financial services and insurance company. Mental health is a huge contributor to this, he says.
What is happening: The pandemic has continued and people face even more loss and isolation – at the same time as the opioid crisis in the United States has worsened. Burnout and drug addiction infiltrate the world of work.
- Despite the fact that we have grown used to living in the era of a pandemic, burnout is on the increase. 44% of workers say they feel tired at work, up from 34% in 2020, according to a study conducted by human resources consulting firm Robert Half.
- Drug overdose deaths increased 30% in 2020 – to nearly 100,000 – and most were from opioid overdoses, Bloomberg reports. Deaths and addictions contribute to the global shortage of workers.
It hurts workplaces.
- A whopping 52% of US employers say they ‘have significant problems in the workplace’ with substance abuse or addiction by employees, according to a new survey from The Hartford. This is up from 36% in March 2020.
- 31% of U.S. employers say the mental health of the workforce has a serious or significant financial impact on the business, up from just 20% in March 2020.
Employers can help by providing resources, like mental health days and online therapy sessions. But middle managers must also play a key role, experts say.
- Managers should make regular contact with workers and should themselves be responsible for creating an environment in which workers feel comfortable discussing their personal issues, write Kelly Greenwood and Natasha Krol of Mind Share Partners. , a nonprofit workplace mental health advocacy organization in the Harvard Business Review.
But, but, but: Helping workers is not that easy. According to The Hartford study, 72% of American employers say the stigma associated with mental health and substance abuse prevents workers from seeking help. The more we talk about it, the faster the stigma goes, says Swift.
And after: As the workforce moves to remote or hybrid, it will be even more essential for managers to check employee mental health, says Bryan Hancock, who heads McKinsey’s Global Talent Practice.
- Without chance encounters at the water cooler, we can get into the habit of chatting only with co-workers. Managers will need to explicitly schedule time with their employees to ask them how they are doing.
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