Why Companies Should Care About Mental Health in the Workplace

The Framework for Having a Healthy Company is a Culture of Health, Expert Says. "Healthy workers contribute to business success," says Dr. Ron Goetzel of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
by Madeleine Sherer, National Press Foundation
Dr. Ron Goetzel is a senior scientist and director of the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies (IHPS) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He spoke to NPF’s Covering Workplace Mental Health fellows about the hard data behind good mental health practices in the workplace and why businesses should care.
Healthy employees mean healthy businesses. “Healthy workers contribute to business success,” Goetzel said. He pointed out that companies with robust employee assistance programs (EAPs) or other mental health services showed greater engagement among their workers. These companies also saw a significant return on investment for these programs.
“People spend most of their waking hours at work,” Goetzel said. “Employers can use the time that people spend at work introducing psychosocial, organizational, and environmental - it’s called POE - programs, policies, supports to make their workers healthier, and happier. It turns out happy workers are more productive.”
The costs of poor health-mental or otherwise. “Poor health is expensive,” Goetzel said. The cost of prescriptions, disabilities, absences and work loss adds up, creating a significant financial burden on both employers and workers.
“There are a lot of underlying risk factors that lead to these bad outcomes, but they’re not what you’re getting a hospital admission for,” Goetzel said.
Some organizations have figured out “the secret sauce.” Goetzel said that some studies showed certain companies seemed to have found the right formula for strong mental health and well-being in the workplace - what he called “the secret sauce.” A Gallup poll surveyed workers to gauge what they wanted from their employers.
“The five factors that were really important to them, recognition or appreciation of their recent work, collaboration and relationships, discussion of current goals, and priorities at work, the length of the conversation, and employee strengths, or the things they do well,” Goetzel said. “Sixteen percent of the workers surveyed by Gallup say, the last conversation with their manager was extremely meaningful, and 80% of them reported being engaged in their job.”
There’s always room for improvement. While many companies have seen the benefits of caring for their employees’ well-being, others rely on the high turnover rates of labor instead of improving conditions for their workforce.
“[Amazon’s] usual turnaround was two years. People would come in, they’d work them to death, and they’d quit, and people would always be waiting in line. It turns out that people are no longer waiting in line, so they’re now trying to figure out, ‘How do we keep people satisfied with their work?’” Goetzel said. “They’re having a come to Jesus moment to recognize that that’s important.”
Despite these changes, Goetzel said there is still much work that needs to be done for the mental health of low-wage workers. Some companies offer minimal resources for their employees’ mental health and fail to address the key issues facing those employees.
“Now have they moved as far along as we need to? No. I think most of the businesses out there, even the most forward-thinking ones, are not anywhere near where they need to be, because they’re giving people apps. ‘Do meditation. Do Calm. Do something,’” Goetzel said. “So, they need to get their act together, as an organization, and have leadership, basically, admit that they’re often the cause of the problem. It’s not the employees who are not strong enough, or resilient enough.”
Speaker: Ron Goetzel, Senior Scientist & Director, Institute for Health and Productivity Studies, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
Summary, transcript and resources: nationalpress....
This program is sponsored by the Luv U Project, with associate sponsors the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Department of Mental Health and the American Psychological Association. The National Press Foundation is solely responsible for its content.
This video was produced within the Evelyn Y. Davis studios.