By enhancing flexibility, offering the right mix of benefits, and leveraging management training, HR and business leaders can take steps to improve employee well-being and reduce absenteeism.
By Jenna Everhart
In the workplace, prolonged stress is taking a toll on U.S. employees, as emotional exhaustion, absenteeism, and diminished job satisfaction negatively influence job performance and absenteeism. Left unchecked, stress can lead to mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety, and physical conditions that impact cardiovascular health, immune systems, digestion, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
Numerous statistics point to the need for employers to understand and support employee mental health and wellness. For example, job stress costs U.S. employers over $300 billion every year due to absenteeism, reduced productivity, and workplace accidents, while work-related stress contributes to $190 billion in annual healthcare costs. In fact, it’s estimated that 1 million workers are absent each day due to stress-related issues. Among employees who do show up to work, 77% say they experience work-related stress, and 91% say overwhelming feelings of stress negatively affects the quality of their work.
In response, companies looking to attract and retain employees today are rethinking the ways they approach flexibility, benefits, management training, and wellness as they acknowledge the need for mental health support and seek to embed resources throughout their organizations.
“With 76% of people worldwide recognizing that mental health care can help resolve personal challenges, it’s clear that supporting mental well-being in the workplace is foundational to a thriving workplace,” says Melissa Hummelt, LPCC, senior clinical operations manager at BetterHelp. “When people feel like their mental health is supported, they show up to work with more focus, resilience, and connection.”
Here are four foundational areas HR leaders can consider as they build out effective initiatives to manage work-related stress.
- Flexibility. This has become a mandatory component to help employees more easily balance their work and life obligations. Remote and hybrid models offer employees the option to work from home, which reduces or eliminates commute times — and the stress it generates. Alternative work schedules, including four-day weeks, are proving an effective means to manage stress. A workplace trial of alternative schedules among 33 companies demonstrated less stress and burnout among employees, an overall positive effect on mental and physical health, and improvements in productivity and revenue growth.
- Comprehensive benefits. Offering the right mix of benefits for employees is essential. Health plans with convenient, timely, and affordable access to therapists are a baseline, often supplemented by employee assistance programs (EAPs) to help employees find help for legal, financial, and mental health situations. Employers who offer flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) can also direct participants to eligible mental health services, such as telehealth resources where employees can message therapists at any time. The added benefit is that employees can use their tax-advantaged FSA and HSA to pay for mental health services. BetterHelp, for example, accepts HSA/FSA cards and is recognized as an eligible expense by most HSA/FSA providers. Offering mental health days — in addition to PTO — can also give employees needed time away to recharge without jeopardizing their vacation schedules.
- Management training. Effective leaders are a key factor in reducing employee stress. Management training efforts related to stress management can include skills like active listening, recognizing workplace stress and burnout, building psychological safety, conflict resolution, and time management. Fostering a culture of open communication, checking in often with employees, and taking time to recognize and celebrate personal and professional achievements also contribute to an overall sense of employee well-being.
- Wellness programs go a long way to support employee mental health. In fact, 87% of employees choose employers based on the health and wellness programs available in the organization. Not surprisingly, among the most popular topics are stress management techniques such as breathing, mindfulness, meditation and progressive muscle relaxation, time management, access to mental health therapy, fitness, and nutrition. Organizations that offer tax-advantaged spending accounts can direct employees to online retailers for eligible products, services, and telehealth support related to health and wellness.
Addressing workplace stress is a complicated and multifaceted undertaking. Taking steps to do so, however, offers organizations measurable advantages: increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, lower healthcare costs, and a culture that attracts and retains top talent.
Jenna Everhart is senior vice president of human resources for Health-E Commerce.
