Wellness Toolkit: Mental Health

With many employers preparing to bring their employees back to their physical workspace after more than a year of remote work, increased stress, and the emotional toll taken by the pandemic, the mental wellbeing of workers is top of mind for many companies. An employee’s mental health includes how they think, feel and act, and includes their emotional and social well-being. While mental health includes mental illness, the two aren’t interchangeable. An employee can go through a period of poor mental health but not necessarily have a diagnosable mental illness. Additionally, an employee’s mental health can change over time, depending on factors such as their workload, stress and work-life balance.

While 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness annually, a recent study by Deloitte revealed that less than half receive treatment. A study from the Mental Health in the Workplace Summit also found that mental illness is the leading cause of disability for U.S. adults ages 15 to 44 and that more workdays are lost to mental health-related absenteeism than any other injury or illness.

Given its prevalence, you can expect that employees at your organization are experiencing mental health challenges or mental illness. That’s why it’s so important that your organization creates a culture that supports employees’ mental health. While this may sound complicated, creating a workplace that is supportive of mental health and illness is easier than it seems.

We have compiled a toolkit that serves as an introduction to mental health and provides several ways that employers can help promote a stigma-free environment and support employees’ mental health.

This Mental Health toolkit includes information about mental health in the workplace and what employers can do to support employee mental health. Download the Mental Health toolkit here.