According to a study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 25% of Americans suffer from mental disorders each year. The majority of these mental disorders go completely untreated and unreported; the result of this weighs heavily on businesses which experience an estimated loss of over $220 billion.
While terms such as anxiety, stress and depression might seem too ‘mainstream’ to actually cause real problems, they are the root cause of high turnovers and decreased productivity at the office. Because there is little motivation to continue working, employees often experience a lot of burnout which only serves to compound their mental problems.
Data generated by health care workers also seems to agree with this trend. A majority of health claims are directly related to mental disorders such as anxiety and stress. It has become a viral outbreak causing pandemonium all across the US, which can result in worker suicides.
Improving mental wellness offering of the workplace
One of the preferred solutions of combating mental disorders at the office is to introduce mental wellness programs. An increasing number of businesses have started taking advantage of consultants and mental advisers to combat this epidemic. The problem however is the way these programs are marketed, most employees don’t believe they have any mental disorders and don’t participate in mental wellness programs.
This is because of the stigma attached to mental disorders. No one wants to be identified as ‘mentally sick’. Either way, most employees don’t even know if their company offers mental health programs.
Companies that want to improve the mental well being of their employees can start using these three steps to help millions of employees who suffer in silence.
1) Introduce wellness programs into the office
The use of effective wellness programs can serve to eliminate the general trend of silence surrounding mental illnesses. But any well being program needs to grab the employee’s attention. This is not easy because all work environments and staff respond differently to these programs; after all, mental health is a very sensitive topic. The onus is on the HR personnel and executives to develop tailored messages to break through the barrier of miscommunication.
To avoid making the mistake of targeting a single employee, employers should cast the wellness program to the entire organization. You can measure the success of your wellness campaign by calculating intangible benefits at the end of the program such as testimonials.
2) Help from the higher ups
When CEOs and other executives start making a personal initiative towards the well being program, it is guaranteed to succeed. By talking about their own personal struggles to overcome their mental disorders, they can encourage the rest of the staff to participate in droves. If the higher-ups can have mental problems, then it is an entirely normal affair isn’t it?
3) Showing that you care
Often times the best means of addressing poor health is to observe your employees. Being late at work, frequent mood swings and boredom are signs that something is wrong. Employers should take the initiative to ask them questions such as, “How are you doing today?” They won’t open up immediately, but after enough prompts, you might see them disclose the source of their problems to you. You can then go about solving this problem and eliminate it from the life force of your business.
