Best Practice #5: Develop A Workplace Mental Health Strategy
By Matthew Bahl, JD
Director, Health & Productivity Analytics
Prudential Group Insurance
By Kristin Tugman, PhD
VP Health & Productivity Analytics
Prudential Group Insurance
Increasingly, employers are seeking to understand and develop strategies to help their workforce deal with mental health issues, and for good reason. The CDC estimates that in any given year nearly 1 in 10 adults suffers from a depressive illness in the general population.1 As our workforce ages, the risks of mental health related absence increases, with some studies estimating that 20% of people age 55 and older suffer from some type of mental health issue.2 The financial impact of mental health on the workplace is also well documented. Depression alone is estimated to cause 200 million lost workdays each year costing employers between $17 and $44 billion dollars.2
Despite these demographic and financial realities, developing a workplace mental health strategy is easier said than done. Most employers are aware of their ADA obligations to provide reasonable accommodations to employees facing mental health challenges. But how can employers take their workplace mental health strategy beyond compliance alone?
It starts with employers understanding that they can play a key role in promoting (or undermining) the mental health of their workforce. Employers are continuously evaluating and adding employee assistance programs (EAPs) and other specialty mental health resources to better equip their workplace to address mental health. However, if employers rely only on programs, they could be missing an opportunity to take their mental health strategy to the next level.
Educating employees, managers, and executives on mental health issues plays a crucial role in elevating a workplace mental health strategy. In educating a workforce, employers can implement a number of steps — that often cost nothing — to better promote and support the mental health of their workforce. Specifically:
- Stay in Touch. Keep a connection with employees while they are off work. Missing work, regardless of the reason, can add stress and anxiety. Keeping open the lines of communication with employees who are out of work is one way employers can help mitigate additional stress.
- Support Return to Work (RTW). Communicate openly regarding the ability to return to work. Ensuring that employees know they have a supportive pathway back to work can not only help facilitate return-to-work efforts, but also help promote stay-at-work initiatives.
- Flexibility Matters. Be flexible to create a safe environment. There is an important balance between flexibility and productivity. Flexibility can often be the friend of productivity, but it is important to set accurate expectations by communicating the value of returning to work. Employees can return at less than 100% in a capacity that best suits them while meeting the employer’s expectations, with the expectation that the employer will help them ramp up to full capacity.
- Actively Eliminate Stigma: Avoid the pitfall of assumptions. Mental health can carry stigmas that unnecessarily complicate and exacerbate feelings of inadequacy. Employers should have a clear understanding of restrictions and limitations to ensure a healthy and incremental return to work, and not assume anything about what an employee can and cannot do.3
Ultimately, having proactive mental health programming in combination with education and best-in-class RTW services can help employers elevate their mental health strategies.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013). Depression. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/health-strategies/depression/index.html
- American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry (2008). Geriatrics and Mental Health—The Facts. Retrieved from http://www.aagponline.org/
- K Tugman. Prudential (2017). Exploring the Psychology Behind Return to Work. Retrieved from http://research.prudential.com/documents/rp/1438866_Exp_Psychology_of_RTW_WP_rF.pdf