Mental health in the workplace is a significant issue that’s not improving. Statistics reveal that one in two employees are grappling with stress, anxiety, and depression. This reality underscores the importance of leaders actively promoting mental health at work. Here are some practical tips to help create a supportive and mentally healthy work environment for your team.
They Don’t Care
As both a manager and employee, I’ve said and heard those words countless times, often peppered with expletives, within well-established organizations. Leaders are charged with ensuring workers align with the mission and bottom line, but the human energy driving that mission is often overlooked—and your team notices.
When the focus is solely on productivity and speed, with little regard for the people making it happen, employees inevitably feel unsupported and conclude, “They don’t care about us.” Think about being in a relationship where you no longer felt cared for. How did that work out?
The reality is people have long been unhappy, stressed, overworked, and disconnected from their work. According to the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health, more workdays are lost due to stress and emotional health issues than many chronic conditions like diabetes, asthma, and arthritis. Add the current uncertainty around layoffs, economic instability, and the struggle to balance demands at work with personal priorities, and it’s clear why employees are increasingly reevaluating not just their well-being but their great purpose and fit within organizations. This period of reflection and new demands has prompted many to reassess their personal needs and aspirations, leading to a collective wake-up call about their priorities.
Why Should Leaders Care About the Value Shift of Employees?
Ignoring employee well-being directly impacts the company’s bottom line. While the economic focus might have shifted from turnover to managing with less human capital (with looming layoffs), the cost of neglecting our teams’ emotional and actualized needs remains significant. Research suggests that happy employees can be up to 20% more productive than unhappy ones, with even higher increases in productivity for sales roles.
The threat isn’t just in losing employees but also the cost of those who remain and are emotionally checked out. Invisible costs to the company include absenteeism—missing work due to emotional or physical health issues—and presenteeism—employees who are physically present but mentally and emotionally absent. These “invisible” costs slowly erode productivity and engagement.
We often talk about these half-life worker bees as “stealing time,” but it’s more than that. It’s a sign that your team may be overwhelmed, underutilized, exhausted, and needing attention. As a workshop facilitator, I’m always amazed at the level of unrecognized stress and the lack of emotional resources to bridge the gaps within organizations. Instead of questioning how much more they can do, consider their message: they need more support. Addressing these concerns can turn a disengaged workforce into a motivated and productive team.
How Can Leaders Respond to The Crisis of Mental Health at Work?
Work on cultivating a culture of caring that includes normalizing the conversation of mental health, assessing the needs of your employees, and implementing onsite and ongoing support is key.
There is a false sense of comfort in tasking wellness to only Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to address workplace mental health concerns or health insurance because the reality is, it isn’t enough. Most EAP’s only cover approx six sessions, and finding a mental health provider with availability that takes your insurance is like performing a magic trick, especially for minority populations. So, while those ideas are good, they shouldn’t be the only strategy to support your team. Crisis calls for more intentionality and creativity.
3 Simple Ways Leaders Can Promote Mental Health
Value and Encourage Employee Input (aka Listen to your people)
I was once in a meeting being welcomed by executive leadership, and everything was going well. They sounded glad to have me on board and painted an open-door policy. Then I accidently asked, “So if I have an issue, can I come to you directly?” To which the lights dimmed, her eyes glared, a wisp of cool air entered the room, and a professional no fell out of her mouth.
I understand that there is a hierarchy to how we do things. However, if leadership is drawing a line between genuinely knowing what is happening in the lower ranks and positing themselves to respond, it is already creating an atmosphere for chaos. I walked out of that meeting thinking they don’t give a shit what happens, and they lived up to that with poor dissemination of information, limited support, and ineffective leadership. Guess who left that job?
As a leader, you need a strong voice and boundaries, but also need to know when to listen. Employees who provide direct service are the lifeline of your organization. Making decisions without them, and they can’t see themselves in your larger vision, can easily contribute to a crisis.
Active and empathic listening will allow managers and leaders to ask questions that get to real concerns before they become costly issues. Creating space for engagement and dialogue fosters a sense of belonging and respect. It also allows you the opportunity to grasp innovative ideas for your best assets that will eventually contribute to your bottom line. Engaged and included employees are more likely to navigate stress and overwhelm and less likely to use lunch breaks for job interviews.
Create Opportunities for Advancement
Humans crave progress. Employees must feel they are on a meaningful path and part of an evolving workplace culture.
Do you know the areas where your team members need the most support or want to develop? Is it communication, managing emotions, resolving conflicts, or enhancing professional skills? Do you allow them to focus on these areas during their workday?
Have you created space for continuing education and critical conversations that address and dismantle race-based biases limiting upward mobility within your organization? We live in one of the most diverse times in history, at the crossroads of our beliefs, experiences, community trauma, and survival. This reality enters your workplace daily, impacting your staff’s emotional safety, well-being, and productivity.
While recognizing the importance of mental health at work is a positive shift, it can still be a struggle to conceptualize where to start and what steps to take next. This is where external expertise can make a significant difference. Bringing in professionals who aren’t entangled in company dynamics can provide fresh perspectives, essential skills, and much-needed support.
Investing in wellbeing and leadership training may seem costly, however, when compared to the expenses associated with losing the expertise of staff, intellectual property, and the hidden costs of presenteeism and burnout, it’s a minor investment in your retention strategy. Prioritizing a mentally healthy workforce is essential for overall organizational health.
Amanda Fludd, LCSW-R, and Katiuscia Gray, LCSW-R, are Licensed Psychotherapists and Mental Health Consultants. They work in partnership with organizations and institutions like law firms, schools, and women’s organizations to assess an organization’s emotional health and craft customized mental health and wellness workshops and trainings incorporating evidence-based approaches like Mindfulness, Yoga, Movement, and Human Behavior Strategies. To request further details contact: 347-868-7813
