PLAYBOOK: How to

Build Mental Health into

Company Culture
It’s been a back-to-back day of Zoom meetings. Your eyesight
is starting to blur and your neck aches. And then the calendar
invitation pops up: employee happy hour time. It’s not that
you don’t want to hang out with your coworkers; it’s just that
the Zoom fatigue is real.

These well-intentioned initiatives are meant to be culture-

building moments, but happy hours aren’t what they once
were. Before COVID, you might leave the office a little earlier
than usual, stop by a neighborhood restaurant on the way
home and grab a bite with coworkers on the company’s dime.
It was a fun moment for camaraderie that, frankly, doesn’t
translate well to a work-from-home world.

But at the same time, we have never felt more distant

from friends, families, peers and coworkers. The combo of
COVID-19 and the resulting social isolation has even been
dubbed The Double Pandemic. That’s because, “being
socially connected in meaningful ways is actually key to
human health and survival” says Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad.
This second pandemic has led to heightened mental illness,
stress, anxiety, substance abuse, insomnia and a host of other
mental health issues.

These issues are a massive problem for individuals, but they

also cost companies $300B a year. Mental health struggles
lead to absenteeism, burnout, turnover, and, for self-insured
companies, healthcare costs.

In short, people today are struggling more than ever before,

and their mental health is generally getting worse. It’s costing

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companies a lot of money, and the tools we have gotten used
to (ahem, virtual happy hours) are not going to fix it. So, what
will?

In this whitepaper, we offer a new way of thinking about

your company’s approach to mental health and wellness-
-it’s actually an opportunity to develop healthier company
culture. While having a robust benefits package and set of
resources for your team is great, it can’t replace the value of
building a supportive and psychologically safe community.
This will not only lead to healthier teams, but more effective
ones too.

The Cost of Poor Corporate Culture

The impact of poor culture at a company often goes unseen
and unmeasured, but it has a major impact.

“One in five Americans have left a

job in the past five years due to bad
company culture. The cost of that
turnover is an estimated $223 billion.”
– Society for Human Resource Management

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But culture remains an elusive concept. How does it get
defined? What is culture, exactly? According to the Harvard
Business Review, the choices that companies make in terms
of employee wellbeing and working conditions turn into the
group norms that get created, and therefore a company’s
culture. These choices permeate every aspect of work, from
product to hiring practices to marketing campaigns.

And that’s often why a poorly timed virtual happy hour can
backfire.

Few people are actually opposed to social gatherings, but

when there is a miles-long to-do list and looming end-of-
day deadlines, feeling pressured to join in the fun makes
employees feel like leadership is not noticing root problems.
They are trying to “band aid” culture instead of thinking
critically about how to actually help employees and give
them the tools they actually want. Employees feel pressured
to join in the fun, but they don’t feel aligned with the
initiative; the deadlines still loom when they finish their beer.

“77% of professionals today say

they’ve experienced employee
burnout at work.”
– Forbes

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So, what are the root problems? Stress, burnout and work-life
balance.

Often taking the form of highly stressed employees, poor

culture translates to a whole host of costly issues--most
notably mental illness. According to The Psychiatric Times,
“an estimated 12 billion working days are lost due to mental
illness every year…. [and] mental disorders are on the rise in
every country in the world and will cost the global economy
$16 trillion by 2030.”

What Does--And Doesn’t--Work

Of course employees want to feel less stressed and enjoy
their time at work. So why has seeking out help for mental
health or stress issues been historically challenging for many
Americans?

First, seeking out help for mental health issues carries with
it a tremendous stigma, as well as historical discrimination.
People fear the social repercussions that could result from
being open and honest about their struggles.

Second, people lack support networks. Loneliness and

isolation show an inexorable link to mental illness. The MHA’s
report, 2021: The State of mental health in America, found
that, “70 percent [of those surveyed] reported that one of the
top three things contributing to their mental health concerns

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 was loneliness or isolation.” Similarly, according to the APA,
when it came time to seek out help, those who reported to
have emotional support were 110% more likely to make a
lifestyle change.

Additionally, sometimes the feelings feel too large to manage.

Particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,
psychologists have been acutely aware of the compounding
effects of constant stress, coining the term “crisis fatigue.” A
piece by Fast Company explained the following:

“There’s a feeling of resignation that sometimes results from having

crisis after crisis after stressor to manage,” says Arianna Galligher,
associate director of the STAR Trauma Recovery Center at The
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “Sometimes, it can
feel like it’s all too much. The risk is someone might adopt a ‘why
bother’ sort of attitude and get into an existential funk about it.”

In other words, someone might think, “if it’s all going to hell
anyway, what’s a healthy habit going to do?” This mentality
often leads to the development of negative habits, be it binge
eating, drinking or drug use.

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So, knowing that each employee’s mental health and self
care practices are unique, and the topic is quite sensitive,
many employers have added EAPs, or employee assistance
programs, into their mix of benefits.

[of those surveyed] reported that one of the top

three things contributing to their mental health
concerns was loneliness or isolation.” Similarly,
70% according to the APA, when it came time to seek out
help, those who reported to have emotional support
were 110% more likely to make a lifestyle change.

EAPs, which give HR team members a place to send

struggling employees for a whole host of on-demand services
like counseling or referrals to specialists, in theory provide a
make-it-yours-style solution. However, while ubiquitous, EAPs
are not working and are unpopular among employees.

“Little evidence exists that

demonstrates that EAPs are effective
in serving the goal of employers to
maintain productivity and healthy,
well employees.”
– The Balance Careers

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 So, while trying to respect boundaries in employees’ mental
health and stress management journeys, employers have
actually made matters worse. Employees do not get the
support, open conversation, and incremental check-ins that
they need, but instead are referred to a faceless platform that
doesn’t solve their problems.

Implementing Cultural Change

The choices that a company makes, in terms of its perks,
policies and benefits, add up to a culture with which
employees want to identify. Successful organizations
increasingly are expected to be purpose and people-driven by
millenials and Gen Z workers. Plus, there is a business case for
it. According to a survey of over 21,000 employees, feeling as
though your employer cares about your mental health results
in heightened engagement, retention, productivity and
overall sentiment. AKA, better culture.

When employees believe their employer cares

about their health and well-being, they are...
38%

28%

Less likely 17% 18%

to be hostile.

More engaged. More likely to still More likely to More likely to go

be working there recommend their the extra mile for
in 1 year. workplace. the organization.

10x

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Further, the more that a person does identify with the
purpose, mission and vision of the organization, the more
engaged they are with their work.

And when mental health comes into the equation, a

psychologically safe environment at work not only creates
healthier employees, but also higher performing ones.
According to the APA, when it came time to seek out help,
those who reported to have emotional support were 110%
more likely to make a lifestyle change.

Employers, therefore, need to implement mental health

solutions at their organizations that fit three major criteria.
Mental health solutions can lead to impactful cultural change
if they:

• Provide a social component where teams can feel the

support of their colleagues (create a support network).
• Bring teams together--especially post-COVID--around
open dialogue and discussion (eliminate isolation).
• Be a regular, active part of the company’s culture and
allow employees to take breaks to prioritize healthy habits
(prevent stress from getting too big to handle).

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Best Practices
To get started with implementing positive mental health
practices into your company culture, make sure that
initiatives are being supported from the top-down.

• Have managers encourage taking breaks or mental health

days, and make sure they are setting an example by doing
this themselves too.
• Put company-wide breaks or no meeting zones on the
calendar. Encourage employees to use this time to practice
self care or catch up with a colleague socially.

Similarly, look for solutions that allow employees to come

together, while also personalizing their experience. This
allows teams to develop a shared norm and a more private
way to manage their stress, should they feel worried about
stigma at certain moments.

• Look for content partners that offer a wide range of classes

or workshops -- which can be accessed as a team or
individually and on-demand.
• Replace happy hours with wellness hours. Gather teams
for a virtual group yoga class and allow members to
participate in the way that they feel comfortable, maybe
leaving their camera off at first.

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Make mental wellness feel approachable and bite-sized.
Rather than leading a 2-day workshop on mental wellness,
find small ways to implement healthy principles in a more
integrated way.

• Make a #wellness Slack channel and offer a daily or weekly

wellness prompt where coworkers can bond over their
favorite tips or topics.
• Create safe spaces for conversations. Host roundtable
discussions on stressful current events or invite employees
to have a “celebrations” meeting every week where they
can gather to lift one another up on a regular basis.

By focusing on creating shared experiences that are

implemented seamlessly across the organization and
supported by leadership, companies can develop healthier
employees, more productive workplaces, and ultimately
stronger corporate culture. Once people feel happy, heard
and not overwhelmed, then think about adding back in the
happy hour.

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