The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a significant catalyst for mental health care, with the crisis sparking concern for the emotional wellbeing of entire populations. Around the world, many people are trying to manage symptoms of stress and anxiety stemming from new ways of working, a fear of contracting the virus and unexpected financial challenges. In the digital sphere, mindfulness and meditation apps are trending and almost every social interaction is preceded with an emotional wellbeing “check-in.”
In terms of destigmatizing the topic of mental health, this change in behavior is good news and bodes well for the “new normal” that we are all working toward. That said, there is still much work to do and it is the responsibility of employers and employees alike to make sure we normalize mental wellness, as we do with physical wellness.
Considering how we deal with mental illness in the long term is finally starting to get the attention it deserves. Earlier in the year, the World Health Organization released a memo articulating the most critical psychosocial considerations during COVID-19 and, importantly, emphasized that “the current situation will not go away overnight and [the focus should be] on longer-term occupational capacity rather than repeated short-term crisis responses.”
Chase Tarkenton is the SVP and General Manager of boost.ai, North America. He's focused on partnership growth, helping insurance firms leverage AI technology in personalized customer experiences.
Nikita Mistry is an associate at the law firm BakerHostetler. She is a member of the team serving as counsel to the court-appointed trustee under the Securities Investor Protection Act for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
Jimmy Fokas is a partner at BakerHostetler. He is an experienced white collar and securities enforcement defense attorney with a broad practice representing public and private companies, regulated entities, audit committees and their officers, directors and employees before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the New York Office of the Attorney General. He also conducts internal investigations regarding potential FCPA violations and represents court-appointed fiduciaries in the recovery of assets. Prior to joining the firm, he served as senior counsel in the Division of Enforcement in the New York regional office of the SEC, where he conducted investigations and commenced actions concerning accounting and financial reporting fraud, insider trading, offering fraud and various other securities law violations. He currently serves as a co-leader of the Financial Investigations, Restatement and Accounting practice team.
Prior to the pandemic, many businesses had already increased their focus on workplace mental wellbeing, but today those efforts are even more imperative.
As we navigate various transitions over the coming months and years, we are likely to see employees struggle with anxiety, depression, burnout, trauma and PTSD. Those mental health experiences will differ according to economic opportunity, caregiving responsibilities, job type and many other variables. So, what can employers do to support people as they face a variety of new stressors and upheaval?
The RSM approach
With people being RSM’s greatest asset, the importance of workplace wellbeing has long been at the forefront of the network’s business agenda. But, as COVID-19’s presence made itself increasingly known, member firms have thrown more weight behind proactively supporting mental wellness initiatives, and being empathetic where there are people suffering from mental health issues.
RSM UK’s creation of a Mental Health Champions Program stemmed from an early recognition that mental ill-health within our profession was on the increase. Recognizing the significance of this, they took a planned approach to raising awareness of the importance of mental wellbeing, tackling the stigma that may have existed around mental ill-health, and putting in place tangible support for their people. RSM UK’s Mental Health First Aid Champions Program is just one of the support mechanisms that they have introduced in recent years. Others include: a calendar of regular articles, webinars, hints and tips on mental wellbeing on their intranet; training workshops for managers to give them the skills to identify when someone in their team might be struggling; and the tools for effective conversations and signposts to sources of support.
In the United States, RSM recently launched an enhanced flexibility system and coaching line to offer an opportunity for the firm’s people to discuss their needs and find flexibility support that is right for them. To help with family care needs related to the pandemic, they expanded their child and elder care benefit programs and modified their extended care cash program for employees to use taxable reimbursements to help offset these costs. RSM US’s care for its employees also extends to their family members, and they offer access to resources for family support services, including virtual learning and tutoring, nanny services and college coaching.
At RSM Uruguay, the team have been offering personal coaching sessions for those experiencing difficulties, ensuring they have been attentive and available to support the different employee needs that might arise. The firm has also carried out “A talk with HR” every two weeks, including people from all departments and levels. In these sessions they seek to be closer to their people and talk about all issues, from development and wellbeing to health and emotional management.
RSM South Africa has used the knowledge and guidance of one of its employees who is a registered psychologist to create webinars on significant emotions like managing anxiety and depression. Having a psychologist join meetings to talk to teams about their specific emotional concerns has added great value and assisted in proactively protecting mental wellness as well as the performance of the teams. It has also created an environment where individuals feel more comfortable seeking assistance directly should there be a confidential matter they wish to discuss.
Our final example is RSM Australia, whose team has sent out a pulse survey every few weeks targeting a different topic, such as working from home, wellbeing, mental health, returning to the workplace and the like. In recent times, they have been focusing on looking ahead and sparking excitement in their people in terms of how they can take their learnings from the last year and use it to provide an even better employee and client experience in the future.
What else can organizational leadership teams do?
Dealing with issues regarding mental wellness is just as common among top management as it is at any other organizational level. It is important to lead by example in reducing stigma around mental wellness, and this starts with being able to have conversations that are open and honest. In the current environment, business leaders need to be able to demonstrate their own healthy behaviors, and that includes sharing their challenges, and how they deal or have dealt with them. Listening to how colleagues speak about their problems, understanding the issues they are facing, and taking note of any behavioral changes is critical for taking proactive action in taking care of those around us.
Alongside this, there are other practical ideas for engaging and promoting mental wellness:
- Use the training and development tools available. Now more than ever, it is important to proactively prioritize workplace mental health training for all employees. Top management leads by example and has the power to enforce education and awareness. Assess courses or articles that will help broaden thought and awareness of mental wellness and make them part of the next team discussion.
- Document revised organizational policies. In the last few months, the way businesses have had to adapt has been both swift and significant. Avoid confusion and ambiguity by making sure there are policies in place to regulate the specific changes and set out the expectations for both leadership and employees. Where possible, take the learnings from the shift, and adapt them into the revised way that business is conducted. Around the world, the changes to business processes and practices provide a key learning opportunity. Taking advantage of that learning may require reaching out to diverse groups within the organization to understand their views of the challenges and benefits that these changes provided.
- Understand revised organizational policies. Where policies are in place regarding revised working arrangements, flexitime policies and the like, business leaders should ensure they fully understand the revised policies for their employees as well as the effects they will have on business functions, productivity and profit. Understanding the policies and options available to employees is useful when it comes to making quick decisions as to whether an employee request can be accommodated. Fairness and consistency are key to ensuring that employees do not begin to feel that there is favoritism or exclusion.
- Reflect on business values. Reflect on the values of the business and ask the difficult questions. Are those values still appropriate and, if they are, when the crisis hit, where did those values hold as the guiding light under which all decisions were made, and did that give comfort to employees and help to reduce some of the anxiety they were feeling? Courageous leaders are asking employees through anonymous surveys whether they believe that leadership has acted within the framework of the business values and, if not, what their experience was, and what they could have done, and should still do, to provide more emotional support.
- Communication. Provide opportunities for employees to give feedback on the effectiveness of mental wellness initiatives, as well as areas that they believe could be further addressed. One-on-one discussions and nurturing relationships has profound benefits, but even a short survey can highlight areas of excellence and where awareness, education or resources could be focused. Assessing information gathered from employees can provide critical insights. There is research showing that when countries started to enforce lockdowns and businesses had to make drastic shifts to their working environments, women in the workplace had a disproportionately greater fear of job insecurity than their male colleagues. Being able to reflect on information like this and understand why that could be, as well as demographics affected by job losses, may uncover areas of unintentional discrimination.
Focusing on mental wellness is critical to maximize organizational performance. The stigma that still surrounds mental health issues hampers initiatives that are required to make this area of employee wellbeing become a point of focus. As we move toward the new normal and increase economic activity, business leaders need to understand employees and their holistic needs in order to have the high levels of engagement, productivity and creativity that are so necessary to finding opportunity in the future.
