Win The Great Retention by Prioritizing Employee Mental Well-Being

By: John DiJulius
Published: May 24th, 2022

For a truly great organization, a leader’s first priority needs to be helping people lead great lives…we need to be the type of company that helps employees be their best selves and have a chance at building meaningful and constructive lives.

If you want to build a world-class employee experience culture, make sure you don’t leave out the most important part, employee well-being. Organizations provide their employees with medical, vision, and dental insurance. But what about mental health benefits? Many companies leave this out of the package. Meaning only the wealthy, who can afford to pay out of pocket for mental health issues, are the only ones who get it. Mental wellness cannot be a privilege for a minor part of our population, it must be accessible for everyone.

Businesses have to make investments to enable people to get the care that they need. There are numerous ways employers can and should invest; here are some examples of an integrated approach:

• Creating a culture that prioritizes mental health and well-being for both employees and their family members
• Assessing the effectiveness of employer-sponsored mental health resources on a regular basis and updating them as needed to maximize effectiveness
• Offering resources around the ‘Four F’s’: Family, Fitness (physical and mental), Finance, and Faith
• Addressing emotional distress and burnout, starting with workplace-specific mental health training for your leaders; offering mental health days to employees
• Training leaders on how to recognize and offer programs and resources to employees who may be suffering
• Customer service training for employees on recognizing the impact of stress and helping their family members with mental health interventions
• Enforcing vacation time usage versus payouts
• Best practices for a positive attitude
• Providing resources to subject matter experts, Apps, YouTube videos, podcasts, and books for the following:
  • Avoiding “doom-scrolling” and other digital habits that can increase depression
  • Blackhole conversations
  • Goal setting
  • Personal time management
  • Curing procrastination
  • Living a healthier lifestyle
  • How to purchase their first home
  • Financial planning and budgeting
  • Parenting
  • Building stronger relationships
  • Sleep and stress reduction
  • Yoga & meditation classes

Whether you recognize it or not, every company in America is impacted by the mental health crisis. By taking targeted action to support mental health challenges, organizations will reap the benefits now and for decades to come. It will make you a mental health champion in your current company. Not only will it be a relationship builder, greatly increasing employee satisfaction and employee well-being, but it will also help create a stronger, healthier, more compassionate society…and maybe even a customer service revolution.

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