Companies have been trying to find the right approach to mental health for years (Representational)
Layoffs, returns to the office and concerns about jobs being replaced by artificial intelligence have raised employee stress levels, highlighting a workplace flaw: Too few managers know how to appropriately deal with workers’ mental health concerns have to settle.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nine out of ten American adults believe the country is facing a mental-health crisis. While workplaces typically have basic guidelines for managers on how to address employee issues such as anxiety and depression, some have guardrails so they know what not to say. This leads to what experts say are haphazard attempts by bosses to fuel mental-health conflicts in the workplace, which, though well-meaning, can add to the pressure on workers. More than seven in 10 employees polled by professional network Fishbowl said they are not comfortable discussing their mental-health needs and challenges with their managers.
“Managers are lost,” said Christina McCarthy, executive director of the mental-health nonprofit One Mind at Work. “The people who are on the frontline, the middle managers, are fundamentally sick.”
Spurred by the pandemic-fueled rise in mental-health issues among workers, organizations have increased awareness and investment. With long-standing stigmas diminished, once guarded business leaders now speak honestly about the challenges they’ve faced. Two out of three CEOs said they talk about their mental health in the workplace, according to a survey conducted last year by Headspace Health, up from one in three who said so in 2020. But that doesn’t mean they are doing it the right way.
Companies and their leaders have been trying to find the right approach to workplace mental health for years. In 2015, a corporate consultant named Mike Robbins gave a TED talk titled “Bringing Your Whole Self to Work”, saying that the key to success is bringing “all of who we are” into an organization, including our “fear”. , doubts and insecurities”. His speech builds on earlier work by researcher Brené Brown, who highlighted the “power of vulnerability”.
But as these new-age leadership approaches have gained traction, employees have begun complaining on workplace blogs that managers encourage employees to bare their souls before budget meetings. One even set up a “grief corner” during team calls, where employees were expected to open up about recent misfortunes such as the death of a parent.
“Managers are not therapists—it’s an obligation,” McCarthy said. “Most organizations would be concerned if they heard their managers were acting in this way because of the potential for unintended consequences.”
Melanie Naranjo, vice president of people at Athena, a training platform, recalls having a boss at the beginning of the pandemic who wanted her to talk about things she’d rather keep private.
“Employees want to know that managers care about their well-being and their success,” she said. “It doesn’t mean, ‘Hey, I struggle with depression. I want to open it up and see who has it!’
Leaders who do this are like “psychological vampires,” according to James Pratt, a former human-resources executive who battled bipolar disorder. “They take away everyone’s pain, and people can be very hurt by that.”
Experts say training helps, and is more prevalent nowadays, but only goes so far. “It’s just click the box and move on,” said Bernie Wong, senior manager of insight and principal at mental-health nonprofit Mind Share Partners. The best advice the experts have for a layman dealing with co-worker problems is: listen and guide them to an appropriate source of help.
Employers are trying to reform. Tax and audit giant KPMG is piloting a program in which managers call and test the firm’s employee-assistance program (EAP), a confidential service that connects employees with mental-health resources . In doing so, they gain a better understanding of how the process works for when an employee really needs help.
“If someone came to us and was bleeding, we wouldn’t ask anyone to be a doctor,” said Jason LaRue, who oversees benefits and wellness plans at KPMG as the U.S. Total Rewards leader. . “You steer them toward the help they need.”
One concern is that mental-health resources may become victims of cost-cutting campaigns that continue to gain steam in the economy. Just 25% of employees surveyed last year by Headspace Health said their companies have increased their focus on the issue as the pandemic subsides. That would be unwise, said Wong of Mind Share Partners.
“In a recession, when employers feel they need to buckle down, that’s when employees are looking for support the most,” he said.