Employers Are ‘Still in a Transition Stage’ on Mental Health

Workplace attention on mental health has come a long way — but it doesn’t mean there’s not a lot more work employers can do.

“About 10 years ago it was taboo, especially on the HR side,” said Pamela McGee, SHRM-CP, CEO of HR consulting firm Genuine Executive Management Solutions and a past president of Greater Orlando SHRM, in Apopka, Fla. “COVID really brought it to the forefront drastically.”

Today, company leaders increasingly recognize the connection between employee well-being and business outcomes. Yet while awareness has grown, many organizations have not fully integrated mental health into leadership practices, culture, or strategy, said McGee, who will speak about mental health in the workplace at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo in June in Orlando. Her session, “The Hidden ROI of Mental Health: Building Recovery-Ready Workplaces That Retain and Revitalize Talent,” will be June 17.

“We are still in a transition stage,” she said. “Many companies acknowledge the problem, but they’re not fully integrating mental health into their leadership development, performance conversations, or sometimes even their business strategy. Awareness definitely has to improve.” 

SHRM recently spoke with McGee to discuss the state of mental health benefits, how workplaces can improve mental health efforts, and her upcoming session at SHRM Annual.

Why is mental health such an important focus for HR leaders today?

McGee: What made me start talking about this even more was the fact that after COVID, you had so many HR professionals trying to help their teams and their employees, but they weren't helping themselves. Once you start looking internally at what you’re going through as far as an HR professional, you can do a better job of being able to help others.

If we don't look at our employees as whole people and try to find ways to help them perform effectively by addressing their mental health, then we’re going to constantly be having an uphill battle with our teams. 

Related Article: 10 Ways HR Leaders Say They Prioritize Their Own Mental Health

What would you like to see employers do more of to support mental well-being at work?

McGee: A lot of it is going past just offering benefits, but truly building a recovery-ready workplace.

Mental health shouldn’t sit just inside the HR policy or employee assistance program (EAP). A lot of times the EAP isn’t aligned with current medical benefits. Once the EAP is done – you may have had three or five sessions— if that doctor is not part of the regular medical plan or benefit options, then that person’s left out there hanging. They have to look beyond the EAP. Employers need to develop programs for leadership and develop behavior training for the management team and for the everyday workplace.  

Leaders need to have practical tools. They need to recognize — and we’ve got to train them — about recognizing burnout. A lot of people go through stress because they don’t feel psychologically safe at work. So how can we train our teams, our leaders, to do a better job at that to improve the culture?

You mentioned EAPs. In general, where do you think employers stand with their mental health benefits and where can they do a better job? 

McGee: Some of them do it just to check a box to say that they have it.

But also, a lot of companies have some awesome benefits, but either employees don’t know about the benefits or don’t know how to access them. Sometimes there’s just a flyer on a board in the break room. Some just wait for open enrollment. We need to have time periods where we talk about it. 

HR also needs to evaluate the benefits they have — look at dashboards, look at analytics, look at the utilization rates of some of the benefits. And we need to get employee feedback to see if there are any barriers and find ways to make it better for employees and make the programs more effective.

What results do organizations see when they prioritize mental health?

McGee: The easiest and quickest things they’ll see is lower absenteeism. You’ve got stronger engagement, and then your retention improves too. It’s going to be harder to lose a person who’s trained and has the skills to do their job because [employers didn’t help them when they were going through a mental health crisis] than trying to bring in someone new.

Related Toolkit: Creating a Mental-Health-Friendly Workplace 

For a lot of business owners, we have to relate to the dollars. It makes sense for them.

What can attendees expect to learn in your session at SHRM Annual?

McGee: What I want them to take away is how to evaluate their own workplace readiness for mental health support. They will learn how to identify organizational risks like burnout and stigma, and how to build a recovery-ready workplace practice that supports both the employees and the business performance.