4 Mental Health Resources to Offer Your Employees
There’s a growing need for employers to step in and help with employees’ mental health. More and more individuals are feeling physically and mentally burned out. These feelings can lead to more serious mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. While employers can’t prevent these types of disorders, they can establish practices to intervene and assist employees in getting the help they need. Below are mental health resources to consider offering your employees.
Mental Health Resources for Your Employees
1. Covering Mental Health Copays
Unfortunately, mental health care can be expensive. For those struggling with depression, anxiety, or another mental health disorder, paying for help can be a barrier. They may assume they can handle it on their own and avoid asking for help knowing that it’s going to cost them. If you want employees to prioritize their mental well-being, it may be necessary to cover all or part of their copays.
To keep this fair across the company, you may offer a set allowance for mental health through your current healthcare insurance provider. How you define mental health costs is up to you. For example, it could be used for online therapy sessions, meditation app subscriptions, or in-patient services for mental health rehab. Having this allowance will make the services more accessible to your employees, no matter their salary.
2. Offering Flexible Working Options
The pandemic showed that employees value flexibility. They want to know that their employer trusts them to work from home, whether every day or just a few days a week. They appreciate the flexibility that comes with deciding when and how they will show up to work. Offering flexible working options can also reduce stress levels and lead to better work-life balance.
If your company is fully remote, then there’s no need to change what you’re doing. However, if you are requiring your employees to be in the office five days a week, you may want to relook at your policy. Survey your current employees and ask them if they would be interested in a flexible working option and how often they would like to come to work each week. You can also offer a set number of flex weeks, meaning weeks where employees can decide where they would like to work. Doing so can increase employee retention, boost morale, and increase overall satisfaction with the employer.
3. Providing Mental Health Days
Along with flexible working options, it can also be advantageous to provide specific mental health days. When a company includes mental health days in its vacation or PTO offerings, it sends a signal that these days are important. Employees will feel like their employer is taking care of them and anticipating their needs. They understand that they can take these days whenever they see fit throughout the year.
You may assume that offering additional days off will reduce productivity, but the opposite is often true. If an employee is showing up burned out and exhausted, their output is going to be minimal. However, when they show up refreshed and ready to tackle the day, they will accomplish more.
For this benefit, you can either add a few additional days to an employee’s allotted PTO or include mental health as a usage for the PTO days. Be sure to communicate this change openly and explain the importance of adding it. Employees should feel empowered to use these days, so motivate top leadership to openly use these days as well. When others see that these mental health days are available and being used, they are more likely to use them too.
4. Offering Free Wellness Subscriptions
Another added benefit that can assist employees in their daily mental and emotional health journey is offering free wellness subscriptions. There are more than 350,000 health apps available, with a whopping 250 new releases every day. A good portion of these are related specifically to mental health, including meditation, breathing, and talk therapy apps. These apps can help workers determine best practices for managing stress, improving mood, and supporting their overall well-being.
Many apps today — including Calm, Headspace, BetterHelp, and Peloton — offer corporate pricing plans. That means everyone on your team can benefit from the service, and there’s usually a discounted rate. When using this type of app as a team, it can be beneficial to have one employee within your HR department responsible for communicating with the app. This streamlines the process and helps with troubleshooting.
Takeaways
Today, employees are looking at their place of work as a resource for their mental health needs. A recent survey found that 81% of individuals said their employers’ mental health support will be a factor when deciding where to work. Since it can be a determining factor in future hires and retention, addressing these needs now can be advantageous to your company’s growth and success.
This doesn’t mean you need to overhaul your mental health plan and offerings overnight. Rather, start slow. This could look like starting with a meditation subscription for employees then moving on to addressing mental health PTO days. Bring your employees into the conversation, letting them be part of the decisions whenever possible and getting their opinions. Including them shows that you care about their needs and want to show up for them in the best way.
