Discussing mental health in the workplace is often considered taboo, but a DC-based entrepreneur and business owner says normalizing discussion of how employees are thinking and feeling will reap financial benefits.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Discussing mental health in the workplace is often considered taboo, but a D.C.-based entrepreneur and business owner says normalizing discussion of how employees are thinking and feeling will reap financial benefits.<\/p>\n
In his recent TED Talk<\/a>, Dan Simons, co-owner of Founding Farmers Restaurant Group, and host of WTOP\u2019s \u201cFounding DC\u201d podcast<\/a>, opened with a question to business leaders: \u201cYou\u2019re telling me, when we\u2019re in the workplace, we can talk about our broken ankle, we can talk about our torn ACL, but we can\u2019t talk about our depression and anxiety?\u201d<\/p>\n Simons told business leaders \u201cmental health is a workplace topic,\u201d despite the current status quo in most companies when it comes to mental health: \u201cThe employee hides it, the employer ignores it, or when it does come to the surface, the person is just sort of pushed over to that silo of \u2018human resources.’\u201d<\/p>\n In a WTOP interview, Simons said the idea of expecting employees to leave their problems at home makes no sense.<\/p>\n \n Entrepreneur Dan Simons says supporting mental health yields profits<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can leave your problems at the door, then I can presume you must be able to leave your left leg at the door. I just don\u2019t believe people can truly separate parts of themselves, nor should they, nor is it the most productive way to live,\u201d Simons said.<\/p>\n He said bosses should encourage employees \u201cto bring their whole selves\u201d to the workplace. \u201cNo boss would encourage their employees to leave reading glasses at home, because their vision problems are a health problem and not appropriate for the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked how business leaders might embrace the notion of supporting mental health, Simons said it starts with normalizing and destigmatizing conversations around mental health.<\/p>\n \u201cHelping everybody to understand that the \u2018human condition\u2019 is what\u2019s normal, it\u2019s what we all have in common,\u201d Simons said.<\/p>\n He compares a person\u2019s mental health to a smartphone\u2019s operating system. \u201cWe\u2019re OK that sometimes they need to be rebooted, sometimes they need to be restarted and have glitches. The human brain simply has a human operating system, like our iPhone has the iPhone operating system.\u201d<\/p>\n In his business, new employees are provided with a phone app, which provides free access to mental health providers.<\/p>\n Simons dismisses the idea that supporting employees\u2019 mental health will hurt a company\u2019s bottom line.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a business proposition \u2014 this is a capitalist\u2019s approach to productivity,\u201d and that case studies back that up. \u201cA dollar invested into mental health will yield 5x return, with productivity, higher retention, less absenteeism, lower error rates,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In his TED Talk, Simons boiled it down, in encouraging business leaders: \u201cMental health is health,\u201d and that making it a workplace topic, \u201cand showing that our brains, and our employees, and our companies, flourish into the most valuable versions possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Simons said when supporting mental health in the workplace, \u201cyou\u2019re not only lifting up your employees and your company, you\u2019re impacting your community, and the world around you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerson by person, this is about changing the world, one workplace at a time,\u201d Simons finished, to applause.<\/p>\n \n Dan Simons: Supporting mental health makes good business sense<\/p>\n