Announcing Mental Health in the Workplace: 2022 Worker Survey
With employee turnover at an all-time high and mental wellness being prioritized in 2022, what does that mean for employers who need to maximize engagement and retention in their workforce? And what makes a mental wellness policy effective?
Those are questions on the minds of employers right now, especially with workplace mental health becoming a main area of focus according to a January 2022 report.
So we conducted a survey of our own on worker mental health, and 1,300 people responded – giving us multilateral insight into this crucial theme. The result is a comprehensive, data-packed report called, appropriately, Mental Health in the Workplace.
Out of the many insights from the survey, we have four major takeaways for you:
This is nothing new
Mental health has always been around for many – the pandemic simply added fuel to the call for more support in the workplace
To each their own
The mental health experience – and subsequent needs – depends on the individual. There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution.
Less talk, more space
It’s not about opening up the conversation, even though that’s important. It’s more about establishing a safe zone for your employees to thrive.
Proactivity is the key
Be proactive, inclusive and all-encompassing in your workplace mental health strategy. Don’t assume that your employees have everything they need.
Our survey also finds that two-thirds of employers have already prioritized employee mental health, and another quarter will prioritize it going forward – making 84.7% in all. Of those who don’t prioritize mental health, two out of five respondents say they don’t know why their company doesn’t have a spotlight on it.
Mental health is also, as a habit, an intensely private matter for many. One quarter of respondents say they’re not at all comfortable raising their mental health concerns with anyone at their workplace – and a disproportionate amount of those are respondents who identify as a minority or as male.
We also learned of other differences across genders and minority status in terms of what kind of support they receive, with more women than men procuring their mental health support and services outside of the workplace rather than using their employer’s existing resources.
The business case is clear for many employers, with 40% saying employee productivity and performance is a major reason for the emphasis on mental wellness in their company. But the know-how is another matter altogether.
In the end, inclusivity is the key. There’s no perfect solution, but a blanket policy for mental wellness in the workplace isn’t always going to work once you go deeper into those resources. With the wide-ranging responses around comfort (or lack of comfort) on the topic of mental wellness and mental health challenges, and the varying needs across different demographics, it’s crucial for employers to be proactive and flexible in their policy so that their employees can get what they need without needing to go through the strain of asking for it first.
These times of unprecedented employee turnover and diminishing numbers of job candidates tell us that people are not getting what they need from the existing workplace – and consequently, they’re dropping out of the system. Actively taking care of your employees – both current and future – may be a major key to candidate attraction and employee engagement.
