'There is hope' battling mental health problems in the workplace

Brice Wallace 

The problems are out there. So, too, are the resources to help tackle them.

Mental health is in an increasingly bright spotlight, and its multifaceted, complex issues appear to be worsening.

And while the statistics about mental health and its impacts on workplaces are massive and growing, Becky Pickle, CEO of the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, recently tried to point people in the right direction. The keynote speaker at the Workplace Mental Health & Well-Being Summit in Salt Lake City, Pickle encouraged business owners and others to act to improve the mental health landscape.

“Often, when we talk about mental health, it’s hard,” Pickle told the crowd at the event, presented by Utah Community Builders and hosted at the Salt Lake Chamber. “It’s an emotional conversation. It’s painful. It’s scary. Sometimes we don’t know the information we need or don’t have access to what we need, so it can feel really gloomy and doomy.

“But what I want to share with you today is that there are resources available, there is hope, there is healing. There are things that we can do to prevent, to treat, to even cure different illnesses.”

Under the overall umbrella of “we have every reason to invest in mental health” are statistics showing the detrimental impact of mental health issues on businesses. Those include loss of productivity, lower employee retention and a smaller bottom line.

For example, employee absenteeism related to mental health costs the U.S. economy $47.6 billion in lost productivity each year. Mental health is the leading cause of disability globally and in the U.S. Employees struggling with mental health challenges miss four times more workdays than those who are not. Many workers report their job negatively affects their mental well-being. More than half of the workforce lacks access to mental health support services. And workers who report poor mental health average 12 sick days annually, nearly five times more than their peers.

Young and female workers are most likely to report poor mental health, and 40 percent of workers overall report that their job negatively affects their mental health. Only 30 percent report a positive impact from work.

But 57 percent of employees lack clear access to workplace mental health services. One-third of employees do not know if services are available and one-fourth confirm no such services exist.

Globally, the cost of burnout-related turnover and lost productivity is $322 billion. Somewhere between 15 percent and 20 percent of total payroll is lost to burnout-related turnover. Mental health issues have been shown to result in an increased number of sick days, decreased job performance and higher employee turnover rates.

Worldwide, 40 percent of adults experience depression or anxiety and the world has seen a decade-long steady rise in distress in the form of anger, stress, worry, sadness and physical pain.

Making matters worse, the U.S. has 76 nationally designated cancer centers but zero centers for mental health.

“We’ve got to come at this from a very scrappy angle,” Pickle said. “We can’t do things the same that we’ve been doing in the past. We have to figure this out. It’s not an option. Our globe is in crisis.”

To help address the gap between need and support, the foundation has partnered with the Ad Council to disseminate information about mental health and encourage businesses to provide help. A free resource, serving as a toolbox for businesses, is at loveyourmindtoday.org.

“We hear this so often: ‘We’re not sure what to do. We want something but it just seems overwhelming. We’re not sure what resources to offer, what to put in the workplace.’ This (toolbox) is a really great first step. It’s not the only step, but it’s a really great first step,” Pickle said.

“I think a lot of us are nervous about saying the wrong thing, so we say nothing, which isn’t always better.”

Among actions companies can implement to help are building a supportive culture, ensuring accessible mental health services and coverage, enabling work-life balance through flexible policies, creating safe spaces for open dialogue and support, and providing mental health training for all levels.

Pickle emphasized that whatever the fiscal impacts are for mental health issues in the workplace, “mostly human beings are a good reason to get involved, to take care of each other and to take care of human beings.”