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Harvard Business Review
30-05-2025
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
HBR's Best Practices for Supporting Employee Mental Health
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, people across the globe faced new anxieties about their health, families, income, and stability. For company leaders, all that upheaval put worker mental health into the can't-ignore category of issues affecting their organizations. External forces affecting employee mental health have continued to proliferate since: The fast pace of AI implementation is changing the shape of many careers, geopolitical tumult brings worry about stability, and murky and shifting economic outlooks can lead to cost-cutting measures like layoffs. In short, your people have a lot to worry about right now. A new survey from the workplace wellness consultancy Mind Share Partners in partnership with Qualtrics of over 1,100 U.S. employees found that 90% of participants reported 'at least minor levels of one mental health challenge,' with the top three stressors being U.S. politics, global events, and personal finances. As a leader, you're likely feeling it, too: A 2024 Businessolver survey of 3,000 CEOs, HR professionals, and employees found that 55% of CEOs reported experiencing a mental health issue (such as anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout, and obsessive compulsive disorder) in the past year. It's time for leaders to recommit to supporting their employees' mental health—and their own. HBR's archive has plenty of strategies for how to do it right. Change Systems, Not Individuals Companies are making larger investments in employee wellness programs than ever; however, data suggests those programs aren't actually resulting in better well-being outcomes for employees. According to a trio of authors drawing on a wide body of workplace wellness research, individual-level interventions like well-being apps and employee assistance programs are likely to be ineffective unless paired with systemic interventions. To take a more holistic approach to workplace well-being, the authors suggest leaders become 'behavioral architects' by embedding well-being strategies—and support—into all levels of the organization. Consider changes like increasing flexibility (even trying a four-day workweek) to give employees more control over their work-life balance, putting together volunteer-led 'well-being champion networks' to provide them with peer support, and training managers to support their team members' mental health. Consider Identity Workplace mental health expert Morra Aarons-Mele points out that 'work is about people, and people are messy and difficult.' That may appear obvious at first glance, but identity —the interrelated elements that make up our concept of ourselves—is a critical dimension of how people experience and talk about mental health challenges. Employees from younger generations may be more comfortable discussing mental health than their older counterparts, for example, and men may feel more stigma around mental health than women do. Aarons-Mele has a few suggestions for how to counter these differing perspectives: Create an organization-wide shared language and baseline of knowledge about mental health. Ensure men are visible in mental health conversations. Create opportunities for people who share lived experiences and dimensions of identity to connect with one another. Look to Your Own Leadership Behaviors As a leader, your day-to-day behaviors can inadvertently cause your employees undue stress and anxiety. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic put together a list of five common behaviors to watch out for. For example, are you adding unnecessary complexity by making employees guess at what you'll do next? Are you telegraphing pessimism, leading them to assume a situation is worse than it is? Being more aware of how your actions affect your employees can help you 'bring out the best in people even in the worst of times,' according to Chamorro-Premuzic. And while many conversations about mental health have moved out of the shadows and into the open over the past few years, both stigma and concerns about repercussions persist. As a leader, you have influence, and discussing your own mental health can make your employees feel more comfortable discussing theirs. As Kelly Greenwood, founder and former CEO of Mind Share Partners, puts it, telling your own story 'reduces stigma and normalizes the ups and downs of being human—especially as a high-performing professional' and 'positions vulnerability as a strength instead of a weakness and shows it's possible to succeed and thrive with a mental health challenge.' Greenwood offers a guide to crafting an authentic, compelling story for employees in a way that's both inclusive and protective of your own boundaries. Improve Uptake of Programs Storytelling may also help increase employee participation in the mental health programs you've invested in. A team of behavioral scientists and organizational behavior scholars recently conducted a study of 2,400 employees at the Swiss pharma company Novartis to test their participation in the company's peer-to-peer Mental Health First Aid support program. While plenty of employees had volunteered to be mental health first aiders (i.e., a source of support for colleagues), overall uptake in the program remained low. The authors presented participants with various anonymous stories of their colleagues accessing the program, varying in severity from work-related stress and anxiety to depression and panic attacks caused by external factors. Their initial findings showed that 'simply hearing about colleagues' struggles [could] normalize access to mental health support at work and increase uptake of an existing peer-to-peer support mental health program by as much as 8%.' That might not sound significant, but the authors note that at a large corporation like Novartis (comprising approximately 78,000 employees), the increased uptake could translate to 2,000 employees making use of the resource. Don't Neglect Your Own Mental Health To be effective at leading others, it's critical that you take care of yourself. If today's roller coaster of uncertainty is (understandably) making you anxious, Morra Aarons-Mele emphasizes how important it is that you address it: 'If you don't look your anxiety in the face at some point, it will take you down.' Instead of ignoring it or trying to push through it, she offers a four-stage process for managing your anxiety. First, you'll do some reflecting, looking inward to better understand what you're feeling and why. Then, you'll start developing tactics for managing your anxiety, including (healthy) compartmentalizing and connecting with others. Next, you'll learn how to be vulnerable with peers and employees—without oversharing or letting the conversation go off the rails. Finally, you'll put together a support system outside the organization to help gut-check your decision-making and advise you on more sensitive situations. Doing this, Aarons-Mele notes, 'means you'll have better workdays, both when things are status quo and during transitions and tough times.' . . . The past few years have taught us a couple things: It's not reasonable to expect employees (or yourself) to check their emotions at the door when they come into work, and simply spending money on interventions like wellness apps isn't sufficient on its own to support them. As a leader, taking a more holistic view of your employees' mental health—and working through and sharing your own experiences—can make them feel more engaged and improve the health of your organization. More Resources
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Meet Three Companies Making Mental Health A Core Business Priority
Businesspeople talking together around a conference table during a boardroom meeting By Jen Porter, Managing Director at Mind Share Partners What looked like a shift in investment towards worker well-being during the pandemic has, in some cases, turned out to be short-term. Employee mental health is on the decline. Ninety percent of workers, according to our new national survey, say they have experienced some level of a mental health challenge—most commonly burnout, depression, and anxiety. Much of the downward shift is happening at well-intentioned companies investing in outdated, treatment-focused mental health approaches that aren't meeting current workforce needs. Today, leaders must view mental health as an ongoing employee priority aligned with their business outcomes, rather than a health crisis served through a benefits lens. Three companies–two of which are Mind Share Partners' clients (Hyatt and OLLY)—illustrate how to take the first steps towards integrating their well-being investments, including their values, employee feedback, and products. The pandemic hit the hospitality industry hard, with travel demand plummeting and unemployment surpassing even the 2008 financial crisis, experiencing even greater impacts than both hospitals and factories. To cope with the downturn, Hyatt responded by temporarily suspending operations at many of its hotels and implementing wide-scale workforce adjustments. The company knew that to emerge strong once the industry rebounded, it needed to continue investing in its workforce (known internally as 'colleagues'). As a global hospitality company, Hyatt took a holistic approach to colleague well-being—one that transcended business models, recognizing that its application and impact would vary by country and location. As a hospitality company, well-being is a foundational aspect to Hyatt's purpose, 'We care for people so they can be their best,' and is at the heart of everything it does. In 2022, Hyatt introduced well-being as a company-wide value – one of six that guide colleague behaviors, which are posted back-of-house in hotels, celebrated on quarterly town hall meetings, and serve as the basis for colleague recognition. Hyatt also added well-being questions into its engagement survey to better understand and action on colleague feedback. In 2024, we helped guide Hyatt on a global listening tour to understand how mental health is perceived across regions and roles. This process uncovered a varied understanding of mental health across cultures, inherent challenges working in a 24-7 industry, and a high level of trust in the company's commitment to care. Building on these insights, Hyatt launched a company-wide well-being strategy aimed at embedding mental health more deeply into the colleague experience. Hyatt convened a cohort of global colleagues to shape messaging and resources that would resonate across cultures and roles. Senior leaders, including Hyatt's President and CEO, are sharing their own mental health stories through an internal video series, with plans to extend storytelling opportunities to global colleagues later this year. Moving forward, Hyatt remains committed to leaning into its purpose and values as it navigates the challenges and opportunities involved in designing for a global population on this deeply personal topic. The end goal? To continue building a culture where mental health is understood, valued, and supported. The airline industry faced similar challenges during the pandemic. As Delta began their response to the physical health crisis, they also tackled the challenges with access to mental health care for their employees. To gather more data about the problem, Delta sought feedback from employees. 'Our culture puts our people first, which requires us to listen,' said Dr. Alyson Smith, Managing Director of Health and Wellness at Delta. Delta instituted the company-wide Flourishing Index, and sent a data analysis expert into each company hub where she interviewed hundreds of employees. Employees shared challenges in the process to access the EAP, finding care during non-work hours, and matching providers to an individual's cultural needs. In response, Delta focused its efforts on changes to mental health resources to improve the experience of care as well as access and quality. In order to best support employees who don't work typical business hours, Delta expanded the hours for in-house therapists in airports and reservations centers, and changed their EAP provider to have round-the-clock appointment options. They integrated their EAP with their health insurance plan, allowing a seamless transition for employees who need longer care. OLLY, a Bay-Area based vitamin and supplement company, has made mental health its north star. The brand is focused on three pillars of this social mission, including destigmatizing the conversation around mental health, expanding awareness of resources and transforming the modern workplace. The company's CEO, Hanneke Willenborg, is passionate about prioritizing mental health in the workplace, and sees it as true team effort. 'Culture is our biggest competitive advantage, and true culture change around mental health must be built together,' Willenborg wrote to her team. OLLY has continued to prioritize mental health in its benefits, and day-to-day workplace. Notably, the brand has monthly Mental Health Fridays, a day off every month for each employee to take time to care for themselves. In order to take this effort to the next level, OLLY implemented all-team trainings to increase awareness and build skills for navigating mental health at work. They have prioritized recruitment and retention by highlighting mental health in job descriptions and onboarding, created a yearly roadmap for how to improve the culture of work and conduct annual employee surveys. The company also launched an internal Mental Health Advisory Committee, as a continued step in driving important change. Having data is a key element to driving change and evaluating progress. OLLY's 2023 survey, for instance, uncovered challenges in mental health awareness of benefits, hesitancy to talk about mental health at work, and trust in the company's commitment. But in the company's survey a year later, almost half of employees had talked about mental health at work (up from 38%). A majority of employees knew how to seek mental health support at work (up from 39% in 2023). Mental health is an ongoing journey, and one that OLLY is committed to navigating. As the modern workplace continues to experience change, workers at organizations with cultures grounded in well-being will be better equipped to handle the stress and uncertainty that often accompany it. To keep pace, mental health and well-being strategies must move beyond short-term fixes and be treated as long-term business priorities—like Hyatt, Delta, and OLLY demonstrate above. Employers making the shift towards long-term investment in employee well-being see increased trust and better retention among their employees, including in leadership roles. When organizations invest in the well-being of their workforce, they're not just supporting individuals—they're investing in the long-term strength and success of their business.
