Jen Marr, Founder & CEO of Inspiring Comfort and author of Showing Up, develops solutions to bridge the gap between empathy and action.
Amidst a rampant mental health epidemic and a quickly evolving workplace landscape, there’s a new paradigm at play: creating cultures of care and connectedness for more productive—and cohesive—teams.
We can’t pretend anymore that mental health “isn’t our responsibility” as leaders. Right now, 81% of workers report they will be looking for places that support mental health in the future. Prioritizing and investing in a culture of care where employees feel seen, valued and cared for can lead to higher-performing, talent-attracting organizations.
It seems that caring is the #1 leadership skill in this new era, and it demonstrates a massive return on investment. Here’s why:
1. We know that people, particularly workers, are struggling.
With mental health alone, 81% of workers also face burnout or some kind of mental health issue, according to MIT. At a table of 10 employees, that’s over 8 of them. And if organizations don’t support these employees through their struggles, it’s increasingly likely that competing organizations will snap them up with that 81% looking for places that support mental health in the future.
2. These struggles are impacting work performance.
MIT also reported that 68% of workers say that mental health struggles and burnout are impacting their performance on a daily basis. On the other side, for employees who feel supported in their mental health organizations, 63% say they are committed to their work and 80% say they’re energized. In addition, organizations that prioritize staff well-being and mental health outperform their peers, with 11x lower absentee rates, 3x higher retention rates, and 2x more likely to exceed financial targets.
3. This ties directly into turnover.
These struggles not only decrease performance and engagement, but are tied directly to turnover, costing businesses anywhere from 50% to 200% of that employee’s salary. We saw this pattern in the Great Resignation and we’re seeing it again now. If workers don’t feel seen, valued, and cared for, they’ll leave. It is no longer the standard to ignore mental health and hope the employee “deals with it” on their own.
4. Leaders and managers play the most critical role.
What—or who—plays the most critical role in making sure employees feel supported in their mental health? Despite a prevalence of self-care apps, meditation classes, gym pass benefits or the urging that said employees see a therapist or mental health professional, these options are not always accessible to all workers. The answer lies with leaders and managers—to the extent that Forbes names caring the must-have ingredient in effective leadership.
According to a study from the Workforce Institute at UKG, for approximately 70% of people, their manager affected their mental health more than a therapist, doctor or their partner.
5. Yet, most leaders and managers don’t feel equipped to do so.
Despite feeling emotions of empathy and compassion, it seems that many struggle to act on it. Leaders in particular are witnessing the mental health struggles of their teams but don’t feel equipped to take action. Research shows that 93% of managers are finding that mental health of their employees is having a negative effect on their bottom line—yet, less than a third of managers globally felt equipped to “handle the mental health needs of their teams.”
The same research found that 80% of managers were worried about “saying the wrong thing” when addressing these issues. Gallup writes that based on their research, relationships with a manager who demonstrates care through actions drives employee engagement, which in turn drives the bottom line. But when said managers aren’t equipped to do so, the bottom line suffers.
It’s Time To Invest In Caring Leadership
So what do we do, when there is a clear mental health epidemic impacting our bottom line, and ill-equipped leaders are on the front lines of this work?
Here are some next steps for organizations, leaders and managers to take:
1. As an organization, invest in training your managers and leaders in skills of care and connection.
A poll by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) found that only 31% of managers were properly trained to pinpoint mental ill health symptoms in their employees, let alone support those symptoms. The answer, plainly, is to invest in equipping these leaders with the skills to care.
2. As a manager, recognize that you can’t solve the problem.
It is not a manager’s job to solve or “fix”—they are not trained therapists. Those who attempt to do so may not only be taking on an unnecessary burden, but can come up against roadblocks. Rather, it’s your job to make time for the employee to listen actively, validate the employee’s feelings, communicate effectively, assess how you can best support them as a leader and then do that and keep following up.
3. As a manager, shift your mindset.
In task-oriented workforces, deflection mindsets—assuming one doesn’t have time to check in with their direct reports, or that it isn’t their place to do so—are common. Shifting the mindset to realize the impact of taking an extra minute to make sure your direct reports feel seen, valued and cared for can make a major impact.
Workers want to know that the whole person—and not just their work selves—are being cared about. Contrary to popular belief, caring and connecting is not always intuitive. Rather, it’s a process that requires intention, repetition and the strategic building of social skills.
Not only is this work at the intersection of a human need and a social responsibility, but the investment into this process—in mindset, in energy and in resources—can have major returns that set organizations and leaders apart.
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