How Mental Wellbeing Initiatives Strengthen Engagement and Boost Productivity
As per a recent McKinsey research paper, since the inception of Covid, almost 42% of global workforce has reported some degree of deterioration in mental health. Employee mental wellbeing is becoming a key focus area for employers considering the challenges of hybrid working, evolving technologies like generative AI endangering jobs & increased burn-out rates at work.
Trends over last few years like Mass resignation, protests on work from office, employee suicide cases are all increasingly pointing towards the need to be watchful of the psychological issues employees are facing. This has a cost attached and as per WHO, Anxiety disorders, and other mental conditions cost the global economy $1 trillion annually in lost productivity.
The new working norms and flexible work arrangements like Hybrid working and remote working are only adding to the psychological stress by causing physical isolation
The impact on organizations is profound but not explicit. Most of the time, Mental health challenges remain undiagnosed or fail to receive timely treatment at the workplace. Such issues impact the productivity of organizations, leading to problems such as burnout, high absenteeism, accidents, suicides, and adverse behaviors such as violence and bullying in the workplace.
Culture at the workplace also suffers because of the contagious effect. There is a business case to take this seriously, as per Deloitte’s 2021 report, ROI on mental wellness programs can range from 4:1 to 11:1 in the long term; hence, organizations must invest in addressing such challenges.
Unfortunately, when we discuss disability in organizational setup, it is primarily construed as physical. The biggest challenge is that mental health does not have any physical manifestations. Organizations treat mental ailments as a taboo while the fact is that it is a good indicator of true diversity. Employees will feel encouraged & confident to divulge mental health issues when they believe work environment is truly inclusive.
From a conceptual lens, Mental health is not a binary concept, it is generally a continuum and mental state can shift between good mental health to mental illness depending on circumstances. World Health organization incorporates the principles from relevant conventions & recommendations of ILO and defines a 3-stage model for Mental health:
Prevent Stage
This is pre identification stage. It talks about organizational measures & interventions towards creating a work environment which mitigates psychosocial risks &
Timely detection & disclosure of Mental health challenges is the starting point for addressing & treating employe se Mental health issues at workplace. A lot of organizations while espousing a strong intent to positively address mental health issues lack required organizational capability to create mechanisms for openness and acceptance of such issues.
While mental health as an area is much advanced in terms of acceptance in Canadian & European countries, organizations in India are at nascent stage. In Indian context, organizations in are still maturing to handle such issues considering they are still not equipped and evolved to manage sensitivity around such problems hence this is a relevant and pressing area for workplaces to address.
The author carried out a study based on structured interviews done with a set of certified counsellors, HR professionals and employees to understand key reasons for employee inhibition and what can be done to create an enabling environment espousing confidence & comfort. The objective of this study was to primarily examine factors why employees suppress or repress such emotions through perspectives of certified counselors, HR professionals and employees.
Importance of detection & disclosures at workplace
Importance of timely detection and identification of such issues cannot be understated. The interventions in India are highly reactive & skewed towards curative counselling services. A large number of employees who suffer from common mental health problems are undiagnosed and do not receive treatment, or do not receive diagnosis at the workplace.
Unfortunately, approximately 50% to 60% of adults with mental illness do not receive the mental health services they need and those who do receive care often suffer for years, typically a decade or more, before receiving treatment, during which time additional problems may arise, including physical, social, and other emotional impairments.
Workplace becomes very important because detection of such symptoms becomes easy in a team setup. Timely detection & treatment becomes important to ensure employment continuity.
Minimizing Inhibiting Reasons for disclosure
Organizations need to start identifying factors which discourage or inhibit employees from reporting such issues at workplace. Five key factors are important which organizations need to watch out for. These are reflected in employee mindset and behaviours:
1-Awareness among Employees
Awareness among employees is prerequisite requirement for them to express mental health issues. Currently, there is a lack of basic understanding & awareness among employees that they are suffering from a mental health issue. There is lack of realisation around such issues. Employees many a times not sure if they are suffering from a mental health issue and not able to make out if the associated symptoms are related to mental health.
The other area lacking awareness is the knowledge of available redressal mechanisms, where to go, whom to approach within the organization. Most of the time assumption is that they will need to reach out for some external help or help within the family.
2-Denial Attitude of Afflicted Employees
Individual attitude of the employees suffering from this is another important factor inhibiting disclosure. One commonly seen challenge is attitude low on acceptance and seriousness. Mental health issues are considered a stigma, and nobody wants to accept that they are facing such an ailment.
Accepting that one has a mental health issue is traumatic and hence acceptance is very difficult. Even if there is a realization that something is wrong psychologically, there is this false belief and overconfidence that they can handle it themselves. It is considered too personal to be shared with someone.
Attitude of false confidence is the other impediment with a lot of male members carrying a false pretence that boys don’t cry.
3-Disclosure Capability
The individual going through this face becomes so vulnerable and confused that asking for help becomes a challenge. Mental health weakness itself becomes an impediment. People feel they are drowning and find it difficult to shout.
4-Fear of Stigma
Fear of adverse consequences on job, identity, image are some of the biggest factors why people don’t come forward. This is something which cannot be easily identified but is one of the biggest psychological impediments.
They fear adverse impact on their work in terms of loss of job, poor performance evaluation, career advancement, team involvement, additional job responsibilities. There is fear that other people might get to know about it which will impact the image.
Confidentiality is the biggest apprehension among employees. They feel this might go out which will impact their social image. It is socially embarrassing and not considered socially acceptable. They are scared to face the reality and many of them go into shell.
They believe it is considered a social stigma and sharing with others will bring shame. Employees fear HR might share with the manager or manager might share this with top management. Employees may also feel other people might consider it an excuse, that this is being done to evade work.
5- Organization Capability
Perception of organizational capability in terms of resources or confidence in organizational readiness to handle such issues is another factor why employees don’t open. Employees often think organization has limited expertise and they will only get some uninformed & informal advice which might not be useful.
Encouraging factors
The next dimension which emerged from interviews is the factors which encourage employees to disclose mental health issues at the workplace. Let us look at aspects which make them comfortable to open up:
1-Safety Net
Employees believe that their workplace is a safe and trustworthy place that plays an important role in encouraging them to open up, where their problems will not be taken lightly, and they will be supported fairly. There should be awareness and belief among employees that they have a safety net.
2-Success Stories
Employees get confidence from knowing how such mental health cases have been treated by their organization in the past. This gives them comfort and confidence to come forward. They would like to know other employees have benefited by sharing their issues at workplace, what has organization done to support them.. Organizations should continuously create awareness around such employee success stories.
3-Relationships at work
Presence of deeper and meaningful relationships is a key to sharing at workplace. Organizations should create a culture where relationships are strong. The degree of understanding between employee and manager can create trust and confidence and encourage the individual to share problems without fear.
4-Identifying Organization Interventions
The practices that will help organizations in promoting & protecting mental health. It covers the key measures organizations can take towards creating a healthy culture:
5-Create Awareness on Symptoms & Redressal mechanisms
Creating awareness around mental health issues and available redressal mechanisms can go a long way in helping employees identify and reach out for such issues. Symptoms of mental health issues like burnout, stress, depression, anxiety, lack of focus etc should be clarified and educated so that employees are able to easily identify them.
Organizations must also clearly specify various channels available to seek help. Organizations should educate employees that mental ailments like Anxiety, depression are treatable and should be timely reported.
6-Build Organizational Capability
It is important that organization has systems and resources to manage mental health issues. Employees do assess readiness of their organization to support them before divulging such problems. Organization should create safe space through anonymous channels like Email, Helpline no., etc for employees to reach out comfortably.
Investing in counselling capabilities like Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) services is helpful for employees to deal with such situations. Organizations should conduct training programs and micro learning programs & invite health specialists regularly to keep reinforcing key messages.
7-Leadership Advocacy
Leaders play a very important role in building trust and confidence by sharing organization intent & seriousness with employees. Their involvement and time investment are important for success of such initiatives. By talking about their own experiences and examples, they convey that it is okay to talk about such matters.
Leaders should give a centre stage to mental health issues and talk about them openly in multiple forums. Leaders must emphasize strong intent by recognizing Mental Health wellbeing as an important part of Organizational culture. Leaders must also demonstrate vulnerability and self-exposure.
8-Strengthening Role of Managers
Managers are closest to employees hence are in best position to pick up any such issues. They can play an important and active role in creating an inclusive culture. Their relationship with employees can define how open the culture is. \
Managers should be trained on unconscious biases so that they are able to address these issues with an open mind. They should be trained on importance of nurturing personal relationships with subordinates to create a feeling of mutual trust and safety.
Managers should be trained on emotional intelligence which will help how they respond to such issues with empathy.
9-Policy/ Process Enablement
Right policies and processes will help in supporting Mental health at work. Organizations must define Mental wellbeing policies & processes clearly. Mental health must be integral part of company’s DEI strategy and should be linked with company’s Reward strategy, Communication strategy and Career strategy.
From a process perspective, Mental health should be projected as a benefit to new joinees as part of their Induction. This will help in building confidence right at the start.
Processes like intermittent surveys of the type of Amber should also check on psychological wellbeing of employees’ time to time. Performance management policy should help keep performance out of mental health situations. They should not be mixed because then mental issues will not be looked objectively.
Organizations can design and come up with specific employee or process-level interventions that help develop and manage the mental health wellbeing. They can take the initiative to create awareness and literacy around mental health making the employees more aware of such challenges and available options to share and seek help thus guiding them on what needs to be done in such situations .
The organizations can hold educational programs on mental well-being for employees, build capability in terms of channels and forums to report such issues along with inhouse expertise to handle such matters, strengthen the role of managers in identifying such issues, get leaders to speak on such issues in terms of their commitment and own experiences, put in place appropriate policies and processes across employee lifecycle to strengthen mental health wellbeing. Organizations can run focused programs to reinforce these actions.
Organizations should work with external stakeholders like certified counselors, medical community and government agencies to strengthen mental health ecosystem. Creating internal experts through trainings and certifications can build required organizational capability. Organizations can invite experts to take sessions on identifying symptoms of such psychological challenges.
Such sessions should be conducted right from time of joining in form of Induction to regular refresher sessions. Regular communication in forms of teasers, posters and videos is helpful to reinforce these points.
Developing and communicating anonymous and confidential reporting channels will encourage employees to come forward and share their problems. Tie-up for EAP (Employee Assistance Program) services is a good way for employees to seek counselling services.
Managers play a key role in recognizing such issues hence their training and sensitization is important. Every manager should be certified to manage such issues in their teams. Programs on emotional intelligence help build sensitivity towards such issues.
Leaders should take a centre stage and share their own stories and experiences. This gives a lot of confidence to employees.
In terms of policies and processes, managing performance appraisal of such employees is important to avoid any discrimination. This phenomenon should become a part of company’s Diversity and Inclusion policy to create inclusion towards such people.
Executing the Mental Health Openness Framework
Creating an openness and Candor towards Mental health issues requires a multi-pronged approach with strong sponsorship from leadership team. These are essentially cultural changes which take time and require a systematic approach.
The comfort takes time to build up and decision to disclose takes a lot of courage and time. The change has to start from top with leaders leading by example and embracing mental health issues.
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