The lines between work and home have become blurred thanks to the pandemic-driven transitions into a remote or hybrid work structure for many companies. As a result, mental health is an issue gaining an increasing amount of spotlight in the workplace. In fact, from March 2020, the amount of depression and anxiety reported have more than doubled. Employees find themselves juggling caregiving duties, grief or health impacts from Covid’s wide and ongoing effects. A lack of connectedness with colleagues in the remote workplace is top of mind, not to mention rising costs and the current economic downturn have added other challenging layers to declining employee wellbeing. Employees are experiencing burnout; many are rethinking their relationship with work and opting to move to a workplace that offers better balance or deciding to exit the workforce altogether.
A survey on workplace mental health reveals concerning data about the state of mental health among employees.
- Nearly a third of employees report declining mental health in the last year
- A majority of employees (a whopping 84%) reported experiencing at least one mental health crisis in the last year
- Most (62%) benefits professionals said that had higher expectations of their company’s mental health support.
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that there is even a new trend of employees regretting job change decisions made in The Great Resignation.
In this landscape, companies that prioritize mental health have a competitive advantage in attracting talent. Over half of the companies surveyed said they planned to offer more mental health benefits in 2022. Options for these benefits have grown dramatically in recent years as acceptance and understanding of mental health has grown. Evaluating the options and choosing those that are right for your company/employees can be daunting. PracticalESG.com members can stay on top of the workplace mental health crisis using these helpful – and newly added – checklists:
