As workplaces continue to navigate culture changes exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more employers must consider how they can implement policies and programs that best support mental health. 

With an estimated one in five U.S. adults dealing with mental illness, it’s no surprise that a growing number of employees believe their condition is impacting the workday. 

According to Roseland-based ADP’s recently released annual People at Work survey, about half of the country’s workforce says stress and poor mental health is affecting job performance, productivity and engagement.  

As a result, an increasing number of organizations are looking to build mental health-friendly environments so that employees feel valued and supported, as well as connected to each other and their managers. 

As part of NJBIZ’s latest virtual discussion, panelists came together to reflect on the topic of mental health in the workplace, addressing such topics as promoting awareness of the issue, creating support systems and designing effective employee assistance programs.  

During the July 25 roundtable discussion, participants also weighed in on the importance for businesses to offer stress management and resilience training, as well as how to destigmatize mental health concerns and encourage employees to seek help. 

Moderated by NJBIZ Editor Jeffrey Kanige, the panel featured: 

• Lisa Hirsch, senior director, total rewards at Brother International Corp., a Bridgewater-based leader in the consumer electronics space for businesses and home offices; 
• Dr. Gary Small, chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center, a member of the state’s largest and most comprehensive healthcare system, Hackensack Meridian Health; 
• Deborah Visconi, president and chief executive officer of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, a Rutgers clinical affiliate in Paramus that is both the largest hospital in New Jersey, as well as the state’s biggest nursing home. 

While some stressors are out of the employer’s control, Small pointed to a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey that found about 40% of workers believe their job is “very or extremely stressful” and 1 in 4 respondents view work as the most stressful thing in their life. 

“We want to make sure that as employers, we’re not contributing to that stress,” he said. “What is the work environment like? What wellness programs are available? We don’t want to be part of the problem – we want to be part of the solution. And there are solutions, a lot of it is education and teaching people how to manage their stress, how to get help and have processes in place so that we can provide mental health care for our employees.” 

Small went on to say, “It’s a very important topic and it affects nearly everyone. It’s clear that there are things we can do. We don’t have to sit back and let mental problems disrupt the workforce. We can make the lives of our workers easier, which will lift up the organization.” 

Hirsch echoed the sentiment, saying, “When we really think about mental health in particular, there are so many things that we, as an employer, can do to help to get to that place of employee care. Do you know that only about 49[%] of employees say they have a supportive culture at the workplace? That says that the overwhelming majority of employees are not feeling their culture is supportive.” 

At a crossroads 

While the pandemic may have made some people more comfortable in discussing mental wellness, panelists agreed that there is still a stigma associated with it. 

Small said, “I think it’s still a hard thing for people to get their heads around. There’s a lot of misconceptions – that there’s nothing that can be done and that you’re weak-minded if you go for help. Part of what we need to do is educate people that there are effective treatments for these major problems and a lot of the wellness programs can actually help prevent some of the issues.” 

“We’re living in stressful times. And as the other panelists mentioned, the pandemic is only made matters worse and any of us in the health care world knows that mental health problems have just escalated with the pandemic,” Small said. 

However, there appears to be growing interest in the concept of holistic health, particularly by younger generations, according to Visconi. “We’re seeing more and more people…asking when you’re interviewing them about mental health days and work-life balance opportunities. So, I think we’re seeing a big shift in the culture with the younger people coming into the workforce,” said Visconi. 

However, she continued, “I think we’re sort of at a crossroads, where there’s still a little bit of that old school thinking where mental health is something to be ashamed of.” 

Creating that environment is something that Hirsch believes “absolutely starts at the top.” 

Replay: 2023 Mental Health in the Workplace Panel Discussion

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“But I think that there’s a lot of different components of that that are critical to the success of an organization’s ability to address some of these items. I think first and foremost is, you have to be okay with helping employees to understand that it’s okay to not be okay, and that most people aren’t okay all of the time, and that we, as an as an employer, support you during those difficult times, I think that being able to have those conversations is probably that very first step,” said Hirsch. 

She went on to speak about the importance of creating a supportive culture, saying it is made up of managers who are caring and empathetic.  

“That doesn’t mean they need to be trained on being a therapist or a doctor. It means that they just need to be able to show empathy and know when and how to be able to direct their employees to the right resources that they need,” she explained. “I’m very fortunate to work for an organization where we have you know, made sure through our budget that we provide resources, people who need them in the form of things like employee assistance programs that are confidential crisis support management work, life program, hybrid schedule, all kind of fantastic, I think benefits.” 

Visconi agreed, saying “It definitely starts at the top but certainly goes through all of our levels of management.” 

“We’re a provider of mental health services. We are stigma free. And that’s one of the things that we make sure is part of our culture that we treat mental health, illness, behavioral health, and as addictions as any other diseases. We listen to the voices of our employees and we are genuine. We implement employee engagement committees, we have yoga classes, gym memberships, all the things that the employees want us to bring forth that have really resonated with our workforce here,” said Visconi, adding, “We just recently started a softball league, which is an idea that came from the employees.” 

When it comes to attracting and retaining talent, Hirsch said benefit programs that allow employees to access mental wellness resources have become even more important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We are actually seeing the lowest trends in job satisfaction in 2023 that we’ve seen in over 10 years,” Hirsch stated. “I think that what that really speaks to is the idea that when you talk about concepts like the Great Resignation and some of the activity that we’ve seen as an employer over the last number of years.” 

“I think there’s a greater need for holistic well-being than probably ever before,” she added, attributing it to “the convergence of home life and work.” 

“When we talk about things like productivity in the workplace, in addition to attracting and retaining talent, I think that this is really where we need to understand what’s causing that barrier for our employees, so that we as employers can really begin to use our resources to start to meet those needs, so that what we’re getting in the workplace is an employee who’s engaged, attentive and committed to what they’re doing,” Hirsh said. 

Since every workplace has its own set of challenges, Hirsch recommended businesses take a closer look at their benefit program designs and how they relate to supporting the mental health needs of the employee population. 

“Equally important, is what I like to call health care equity, meaning that we might offer all of our employees the exact, same, robust rich benefits as it relates to something like mental health. But how we communicate that to different employee populations needs to be different,” she said. “So really backing off of the idea that benefits are no longer one size. We can’t treat it that way, even in the mental health space.” 

In addition to making sure the resources are accessible “to all different components of our population,” Hirsch said employers must understand their workforce and the stressors workers face. 

“For us, it’s about recognizing where we can lean in as leaders and provide some additional support to our employees. It’s recognizing that that doesn’t show up the same across the board, but that our ultimate goal is the same for all employees, regardless of where you work is to provide a place where people can feel safe and can feel successful,” said Hirsch. 

According to Visconi, just a few of the items that employers can offer include free or subsidized screenings for depression, health coverage with no or low out-of-pocket costs for depression medications and mental health counseling, free or subsidized lifestyle coaching and self-management programs. Companies could also provide resources to connect workers with community-run programs, workshops and seminars on activities like stress management and pet therapy.  

Visconi stated, “There’s not one cookie cutter way to do it. It’s really an evolution in the way we think about care and wellness of our employees. A lot of it is education. All of management has to be on the same page, follow through and make the employees really feel that it’s okay not to be okay.” 

Panelists also spoke about the use of workplace design as tool to encourage relaxation or socialization.  

For instance, at New Bridge, the hospital created a space hat has peaceful music and soft lighting where nurses can go to decompress, while at Brother, the company set up an area where employee can take a break and play board games. 

When it comes to motivating workers to start – or maintain – behaviors that promote physical, mental, financial and social wellness, Hirsch said there’s a few ways companies can do that. 

According to Hirsch, Brother offers two options within its wellness credits initiative: points that can be redeemed for gift cards and other items through a designation “recognition platform” or the ability to opt in for a credit against their employee contribution to medical plans. 

“We do believe very strongly that those things are connected and that you really can’t have one unless you have the others,” she said. “By incentivizing employees with things like recognition, credit or wellness credits, we have the ability to say, ‘Hey, we want to encourage you to do the things you may already be doing or that you may not already be doing.’” 

Resisting help

Besides having a positive effect on the overall culture of a business, employees who are healthy and happy can help the bottom line since they show up, ready to work and be productive, panelists said. 

However, if an employee’s mental health-related issues begin to impact performance, it needs to be addressed in a way that is respectful, the group said. 

Small said, “I know from being a psychiatrist for decades that it ain’t so easy to help people change. I think you have to do the best you can in terms of education, in terms of providing the resources and the opportunities,” he said.  

“But, if the person is not performing in their job, you have to have some guard rails and say, ‘Look, I want to help you, but here’s the specific performance deficits and you need to deal with it. Or, we’re going to have part ways,’” Small said. 

“You have to draw a line in the sand at some point because your job is not to provide supportive therapy to your employees. They’re part of the organization and you have to think of the organizational needs when I hire new people or when I’m talking to recruits, I say ‘I have two goals here or two challenges: organizational needs and your needs as an individual,” he explained. 

From there, he said, it’s about trying to balance the two. 

“Because a happy employee is going to really reflect positively on the entire organization people. You want a place where people come and they’re excited about being there because that excitement rubs off on everywhere, on everyone, and has a of course, a place where people want to work. And then you’re going to be successful,” Small explained. “What employees are ‘demanding’ in the workplace is that employers are providing the resources and the tools and the awareness. I think that that’s what our responsibility is as an employer.” 

Hirsch agreed, saying, “Our job is to make it available to them and make sure to meet them where they’re at when they need it.  We all ultimately do have a business to run and I think, at the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is provide a safe environment for employees to get the care that they need with those resources.” 

However, Hirsch said, “We do need to make sure that employees are still performing their jobs, and the resources we’re providing are intended to help them to do that easier and better. And so, where we have to have those difficult conversations around performance, we absolutely do, regardless of what the context is.” 

Visconi stressed the need of viewing behavioral health challenges “the same way you do any other illness,” especially if an employee’s performance isn’t up to par. 

“Then, we have to step in as employers, and say, ‘you have to either address your health issue regardless of what it is. Or, you’ll have to go on a leave.’…But, just like any other disease, you can’t make somebody seek treatment, but we do have a responsibility to run our businesses,” she said.  

Measuring progress 

How can a company know if its efforts to promote wellness are working? 

Employee engagement surveys and retention numbers are good ways to get a pulse, Visconi said. 

 “And of course, there’s always the number of people that take advantage of our programs. So, we always look at the volumes and things like that. It’s a pretty basic way to address and identify. And again, feedback from the employees on what they love, didn’t love and would rather have,” she added. 

According to Hirsch, reviewing data related to absenteeism is also helpful.  

“The other thing that I think you can look at over time is a correlation between mental health programs, resources, tools and high claimants,” she said. “In order for that data to be statistically sound, you need to have enough of it, which is what makes it a challenging data point to measure. But, I do believe that as you look at things like engagement in a wellness program over a course of time, ideally, what you’d like to see is potentially lower claims and some of those areas where you have high engagement.” 

While the panelists each come from large organizations, they all believe programs can be implemented by even the smallest of companies. 

Small said, “I think it all can be adapted. We’re always talking about scaling up here. We just scale down, and in some ways it’s a little easier… [and] I think all these principles hold true whether you have 8 employees or 80,000 employees.” 

Hirsch agreed, saying there are many initiatives that can “be easily scaled” to a smaller company. 

“Things like educating our managers to be empathetic, giving people a break and the work-life balance they need if it’s an organization that can have hybrid. Also, globally, all of the data suggests that people who can better balance their work in lives or happier employees and show up to work ready to really be productive,” she said. 

“These are all easy items to be able to provide to employees, to be able to say, ‘Hey, listen! You know what you’ve been working, you know, tremendous over time over the last number of weeks. So, we’re going to recognize that,’ Hirsch said. “Whether it’s with some additional time with your family or a gift card to have dinner with your spouse, or whatever that looks like. I think all of those things lend themselves to the recognition and also the work life balance that I think people need to be healthy.” 

Visconi recommended smaller employers look into community partnerships as a way to implement some programs. 

“There’s tremendous amount of resources within our counties and within our state and organizations…that are there to work with other companies as resources and partners in some of these initiatives,” she said.