Employers Not Confident They Can Support Mental Health Issues

STRESS has a huge impact on our health and happiness. And with scientific data telling us that stress hormones, exercise and diet is correlated to chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s, there is no question that reducing stress is paramount to maintaining our mental health and overall health.
Companies are becoming more and more aware of the importance of supporting employees’ health. According to the latest Sun Life-Buffet National Wellness Survey, 90% of employers with over 50 or more employees offer at least one wellness initiative.  The report also found that the majority of organizations found that “work-related stress” was the major health risk for their employees. But even though companies recognize that mental health is a big issue and want to address it, 75% of organizations report that they don’t really know how to tackle this issue and acknowledge that they are not confident they have the knowledge or support to effectively address their employees’ mental health issues.
In today’s world, super-charged productivity is expected from employees and has become the driving message from employers to stay on top. The last thing an employer wants to hear from their employee is: “I am too stressed out!” Managers know that typical solutions to manage stress lean towards reducing workload and taking time off. This way of thinking is obviously not attractive to employers, and it’s also not realistic – you can’t tell your workforce to work less when you really want them to increase their productivity.  Employers think they have to sacrifice productivity for improved mental health.
Well Street’s Healthy Stress Program was developed to tackle this issue. “Not only are participants taught techniques to relax and be more present and alert, but we also help them ‘fall in love’ with their jobs again,” says Dr. Jaty Tam, ND, Medical Director at Well Street. “Everyone chooses their career and applies for their job for a reason – usually because there is some passion behind it. If we can help them reignite those reasons why they chose their job, their satisfaction goes up and their stress goes down.”
To learn more about Well Street’s Healthy Stress Program.