By Charles Ingoglia, President and CEO of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing on May 19, 2022
This month, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing has scheduled a mental health day to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Month. This is a modest but important step to help our hardworking staff, and the benefits are significant.
Like all employers, we recognize that structural and organizational approaches to time management and stress reduction can help working adults better cope with burnout, anxiety and other challenges. This month, we encourage employers to identify and respond to the needs of their employees.
The Associated Press reported this week that estimates show that untreated mental illness can cost companies up to $ 300 billion annually., largely due to productivity, higher absenteeism and increasing medical and disability costs. That estimate is included in a new study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
In addition, only 32% of human resources professionals say offering mental health resources such as employee assistance programs is a high priority for their organization, according to a joint survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the SHRM Foundation and the global healthcare company Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
For younger workers and groups that are less historically representative, it is even more important that employers strive to address employees ’mental health and substance use challenges. According to Mind Share Partners’ 2021 Mental Health at Work Reportin partnership with Qualtrics and ServiceNow, millennials and Gen Zers, as well as LGBTQ+, Black, and Latinx respondents are more likely to experience mental health symptoms than other adult workers.
Thus, we can do better to help people access treatment through programs offered at work, especially when more people return to the workplace.
First Aid Training Can Help with Mental Health at Work
Approximately 94% of human resources professionals believe that offering mental health resources can improve the overall health of employees, while 88% said these benefits can increase productivity. and 86% said these resources could improve employee retention, the SHRM report found.
A Harvard Business Review story recently met First aid to mental health (MHFA) as the most popular program of its kind available, and First Aid for Mental Health at Work is an MHFA -based corporate training program that teaches participants how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health or substance use challenges with colleagues and direct work reports.
Studies show that people trained in Mental Health First Aid are more knowledgeable and confident when it comes to identifying and helping an individual who is in distress. MHFA is specifically focused on Work in the workplace and can benefit businesses of all sizes and in all sectors by empowering employees with mental health knowledge tools and skills.
The MHFA at Work saw a huge increase in demand after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as companies in all industries recognized the MHFA at Work as a recruitment and retention tool. Since October 2020, we have added more than 140 new clients, thanks in large part to our transition to virtual training. These include MHFA and Work clients such as Delta Air Lines, Ford Motor Co., IKEA and Kate Spade.
If you can show that you really care about the health and well -being of your employees – especially now, in the midst of the Great Resignation – you’ll more easily attract the right kind of people who will help your company succeed in the long run. Investing in employees by providing training to identify mental health and substance use challenges and then make treatment available will help all working adults, the organizations they work for and our economy. .
To learn more about bringing Mental Health First Aid at Work to your workplace, email [email protected].