Workplace stress can manifest in emotional health concerns like depression, anxiety and burnout. This comes at a real cost to employers: an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety, amounting to US$ 1 trillion per year in lost productivity. Employers therefore have a big role to play in helping employees when it comes to their emotional health. In this week’s blog, we discuss ways employers can support emotional wellness for employees in the workplace.
Why emotional wellness in the workplace is important.
Job performance and emotional wellness are inextricably linked. When one suffers, so does the other, which is why emotional wellness offerings should be part of overall workplace well-being programs. Employers now understand that ignoring the emotional wellness of their employees puts them at serious risk for burnout, increased absenteeism, lower productivity, and higher turnover. And that translates directly to the bottom line.
Lastly, there is no longer any doubt that employees want their employers to provide support for emotional health concerns. Research we conducted found that 7 in 10 employees feel their employer should offer emotional health programs. When we looked at the data by generation, we found that 80% of Gen Zers and 69% of millennials agree emotional health should be supported in the workplace.
How to promote emotional wellness at work.
So what can organizations and managers do to promote emotional wellness at work? We have a few suggestions:
1. Help employees create better boundaries.
Modern technology and our “always on” culture can blur the boundaries between work and life. To protect emotional well-being, organizations need to facilitate norms around work:
- Encourage employees to set and communicate regular working hours, and block their calendars for self-care or focus time.
- Consider sending reminders to shut down at a reasonable hour and schedule “quiet periods” when employees refrain from sending or replying to emails.
- Reevaluate time off and vacation policies so that employees are incentivized to take time off regularly. Possibly schedule mandatory company-wide “holidays” to encourage R&R.
2. Make sure leaders model healthy behaviors.
As the saying goes, it starts at the top!
- Senior leaders should become comfortable addressing emotional health in all-employee forums like town halls. This helps to normalize the topic even more.
- Managers can role-model healthy emotional wellness by setting work boundaries for themselves, engaging in proven stress-reducing practices like exercise and mindfulness, and being open about their own emotional health concerns where it makes sense.
- Managers should hold weekly check-ins with team members about what’s on their plate professionally and personally—provided employees are comfortable sharing. A regular cadence of check-ins and showing empathy and compassion in these discussions can help spot concerns before they become more significant struggles.
3. Ensure psychological safety.
Ensuring employees feel “psychologically safe” at work is important. Psychological safety is the shared belief held by team members that others will not embarrass, reject, or punish anyone for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.
It’s the kind of environment that allows employees to take risks and feel comfortable being themselves at work. Not surprisingly, such an environment reduces stress, leading to better emotional health. The presence or absence of psychological safety also influences how comfortable employees are speaking up about emotional health issues and seeking care when they need it.
4. Offer evidence-backed programs and benefits to support emotional wellness.
Good emotional health isn’t one-size-fits-all, so offer an array of emotional wellness initiatives, programs, and activities like:
- A reimagined EAP with easier scheduling and more free counseling sessions for employees and family members.
- Access to a well-being coach to discuss anything that’s causing stress at work.
- Child or elder care assistance—a massive source of stress for employees.
- Fitness programs, whether virtual or onsite—as physical activity is a known mood-booster.
- Free mindfulness, meditation, and sleep apps.
- Help limiting screen time and reducing social media consumption.
- Programs to increase mental health literacy in the employee population, including mental health first aid certifications.
- Stress management and resilience training programs.
- Virtual mental health visits and onsite counselors for those in the office.
- Training and tools for managers to become more empathetic, spot mental health concerns on their team, and direct people to the right resources.
- Ways to stay socially connected through community service and employee resource groups.
A good well-being program helps employees live healthier across all the dimensions of well-being, and emotional health is a huge component. Offering robust care for emotional health is a differentiator for employers who are looking to attract and retain the best talent. For more information on how your organization can better support employee emotional health, visit our website or contact us at connect@webmd.net.
