It’s Time to Make Mental Health in the Workplace Actionable

 By Jerry Ford, CEO of MarathonHealth

Mental Health America has found that depression ranks among the top three workplace problems for employee assistance professionals, coming in third behind family crisis and stress. Despite this issue, Mental Health America finds that depressed employees often don’t seek treatment due to confidentiality concerns and fears of the affect their diagnosis will have on their job. Ben Congleton, CEO of Olark, made headlines when praising an employee for taking time to focus on her mental health. Building on Congleton’s congenial gesture, senior leadership should ensure that all employees mind their mental well-being and take the time they need to stay healthy. With this in mind, here are three key steps employers can take to make a measurable difference in improving the mental health of their workforce:

1.     Identify a need for mental health services and address those needs. A crucial first step companies can take to assess the health of their workforce is to identify the population in need of assistance—learning who they are, how many there are, and what their pain points are. Sheetz, a privately held convenience store chain, saw the need for integrating mental health services into their healthcare plan after costs for mental healthcare continued to increase. Bill Young, director of total rewards, talent acquisition and risk management at Sheetz, noted that, “three of our top 25 prescriptions relate to behavioral health. It was clear that this needed our attention and that our traditional telephonic EAP solution was underutilized.” Coupling this with the fact that behavioral health was identified as the second leading condition for intervention behind musculoskeletal issues, Sheetz added mental health services as part of their comprehensive onsite health management program in 2014. 

2.     Offer a convenient, uplifting way for employees and their families to receive help that eliminates stigma. Nothing is more important than meeting your employees where they are, especially when the issues they are facing are sensitive in nature. After identifying the need for mental health services, Sheetz launched a pilot program to address rising behavioral health concerns and improve overall participation in EAP programs. Confidential, free, onsite counseling was offered on a part-time basis for employees and dependents but quickly turned into a full-time service and later expanded to their distribution facility in North Carolina. By offering convenient and confidential counseling that builds trustworthiness, employees and their families are more receptive to receiving mental healthcare and therefore more likely to be treated than to continue to suffer in silence.

3.     Motivate employees to take stock of their mental health from the top down. Full integration of mental health services via onsite health centers does not come overnight and relies heavily on senior leadership carrying the conversation. As we found with Ben Congleton’s words of encouragement, a personal reminder to take care of your health goes a long way. At Sheetz, employees are also made aware of the mental health program by way of newsletter stories, departmental meetings, lunch-and-learns, and executive support. Leaders like Bill Young will note that, “it is the right thing to do,” but beyond being the right thing to do—these services produce results. Seventy percent of employees require no further referrals after completing prescribed sessions, and the program has contributed to patient satisfaction rates averaging 98 percent overall. Of those needing a referral for more specific treatment, the counselors are able to assist them in providing the appropriate local resources. 

An important conversation has started that we cannot afford to let die out and must act upon. By identifying those who need assistance, meeting them at the point of care, and motivating all to see the importance in their mental health starts with those who are willing to lead the conversation for actionable change.

Jerry Ford is the CEO of Marathon Health, a provider of onsite health centers that enable employers to optimize the health of their workforce and business.. Ford spent 15 years as vice president of operations at IDX Systems Corporation, where he was responsible for 300 large and complex healthcare delivery system customers.

Three Tips to Improve Your Corporate Wellness Program

By Emma Maurer, Director of Enterprise Health for Peerfit,

Corporate wellness programs play a vital role in office culture today. When done well, they can improve employees’ overall happiness and well-being, increase engagement in the company’s mission and goals, and bolster employee morale.

However, these programs have a reputation for being expensive, failing to produce real engagement, and requiring tons of paperwork that HR professionals don’t have the time to complete.

As a result, organizations have deferred to selecting programs that don’t meet the needs of their employees. They find something to check the wellness box—a big box gym subsidy, wearable fitness devices or on-site fitness center—and then move on. While employees have a wellness option, it’s doomed for failure. Without engagement, the benefits of a wellness program are not fully realized.

Strong corporate wellness programs do exist, and they aren’t out of reach for companies today. Below are three ways to improve your corporate wellness program and create a workplace that is engaged, productive, and healthy.

1.     Appoint a wellness champion

All successful wellness programs have one thing in common—they have an owner to manage the program. This task typically falls on the shoulders of the HR department and can be viewed as an extra burden for HR professionals who already have many responsibilities.

Instead, organizations should designate a leader for the wellness program—a person who serves as the champion for the program and helps direct strategy and execution toward program success. It can be someone within the HR department or an employee who’s passionate about wellness. Either way, someone with expertise in this area will ensure that the program runs smoothly, and this person typically has more success in terms of employee engagement.

2.     Tailor the program to your employee group

It’s important to understand the qualities of your staff and their regular behaviors when developing your wellness program. For instance, if your employees work the night shift, it would be really unfortunate if your on-site fitness center is only open during the day.

Find something that can be customized to your employee group and their preferences. If you’re unsure of what their preferences are, just ask. Employee interest surveys are a great way to get feedback and find out what employees want out of a wellness program. Then you can build a program around their interests and suggestions.

3.     Choose a program that offers personalization and variety

Wellness isn’t a one-size fits all solution, yet many wellness programs take this approach. What employees crave is something that is personalized to their fitness levels, schedules, and workout preferences. Find a program that offers something for all of your employees and allows them to add variety to their workout routine.

There’s a tendency to value quantity over quality, but that doesn’t need to be the case. Instead of employing multiple providers, look for one provider that can offer your employees a number of fitness options.

Corporate wellness programs can have incredible benefits to employee morale and productivity, and should therefore be a top priority for organizations today. If your employees are happy, your business will thrive, and that’s something that we can all get behind.

Emma Maurer is director of enterprise health for Peerfit, which helps companies redefine their wellness programs by personalizing fitness experiences to drive engagement.