Workplace attention on mental health has come a long way \u2014 but it\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0not a lot more work employers can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 10 years ago it was taboo, especially on the HR side,\u201d said Pamela McGee, SHRM-CP, CEO of HR consulting firm Genuine Executive Management Solutions and a past president of Greater Orlando SHRM, in Apopka, Fla. \u201cCOVID really brought it to the forefront drastically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, company leaders increasingly recognize the connection between employee well-being and business outcomes. Yet while awareness has grown, many organizations have not fully integrated mental health into leadership practices, culture, or strategy, said McGee, who will speak about mental health in the workplace at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo in June in Orlando<\/a>. Her session, \u201cThe Hidden ROI of Mental Health: Building Recovery-Ready Workplaces That Retain and Revitalize Talent<\/a>,\u201d will be June 17.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still in a transition stage,\u201d she said. \u201cMany companies acknowledge the problem, but\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0not fully integrating mental health into their leadership development, performance conversations, or sometimes even their business strategy. Awareness\u00a0definitely has\u00a0to improve.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n SHRM recently spoke with McGee to discuss the\u00a0state of mental health benefits<\/a>, how workplaces can improve mental health efforts, and her upcoming session at SHRM Annual.<\/p>\n Why is mental health such an important focus for HR leaders today?<\/b><\/p>\n McGee<\/b>: What made me start talking about this even more was the fact that after COVID, you had so many HR professionals trying to help their teams and their employees, but they\u00a0weren’t\u00a0helping themselves. Once you start looking internally at what\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0going through as far as an HR professional, you can do a better job of being able to help others.<\/p>\n If we\u00a0don’t\u00a0look at our employees as whole people and try to find ways to help them perform effectively by addressing their mental health, then\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0going to constantly be having an uphill battle with our teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related Article<\/b>: 10 Ways HR Leaders Say They Prioritize Their Own Mental Health<\/a><\/p>\n What would you like to see employers do\u00a0more of\u00a0to support mental well-being at work?<\/b><\/p>\n McGee<\/b>: A lot of it is going past just offering\u00a0benefits, but\u00a0truly building a recovery-ready workplace.<\/p>\n Mental health\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0sit just inside the HR policy or employee\u00a0assistance\u00a0program (EAP). A lot of times the EAP\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0aligned with current medical benefits. Once the EAP is done \u2013 you may have had three or five sessions\u2014 if that doctor is not part of the regular medical plan or benefit options, then that\u00a0person\u2019s\u00a0left out there hanging. They\u00a0have to\u00a0look beyond the EAP. Employers need to develop programs for leadership and develop behavior training for the management team and for the everyday workplace.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Leaders need to have practical tools. They need to recognize \u2014 and\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0got to train them \u2014 about recognizing burnout. A lot of people go through stress because they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0feel psychologically safe at work. So how can we train our teams, our leaders, to do a better job at that to improve the culture?<\/p>\n You mentioned EAPs. In general, where do you think employers\u00a0stand\u00a0with\u00a0their mental health benefits and where can they do a better job?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n McGee<\/b>: Some of them do it just to check a box to say that they have it.<\/p>\n But also, a lot of companies have some awesome benefits, but either employees\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know about the benefits or\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know how to access them. Sometimes\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0just a flyer on a board in the break room. Some just wait for\u00a0open enrollment<\/a>. We need to have time periods where we talk about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n HR also needs to evaluate the benefits they have \u2014 look at dashboards, look at analytics, look\u00a0at the\u00a0utilization\u00a0rates of some of the benefits.\u00a0And we need to get employee feedback to see if there are any barriers and find ways to make it better for employees and make the programs more effective.<\/p>\n What results do organizations see when they prioritize mental health?<\/b><\/p>\n McGee<\/b>: The easiest and quickest\u00a0things\u00a0they\u2019ll\u00a0see is lower absenteeism.\u00a0You\u2019ve\u00a0got stronger engagement, and then your retention improves too.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0going to be harder to lose a person who\u2019s trained and has the skills to do their job because [employers\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0help them when they were going through a mental health crisis] than trying to bring in someone new.<\/p>\n