New Belgium Brewing employs an on-site physician whose normal responsibilities include treating “typical” medical conditions – sinus infections, sprains, well-visits.
But as New Belgium was coming out of the pandemic – and as company officials for the Fort Collins, Colo.-based brewing company were completing the acquisition of Michigan-based Bell’s Brewing two years ago – the doctor began noticing an increasing frequency of mental health issues among company employees.
“She was seeing an uptick in people coming to her with mental health concerns,” explained Sara Burhans, New Belgium’s Wellness Specialist. “The timing was coming out of the pandemic. You had two companies that were coming together with very different approaches to health and well-being.
“When we were looking at our wellness program, we said, ‘our top priority has to be mental health,’” Burhans added. “There were a lot of things we do differently, but the one thing we need to make sure we do right and well for all of our coworkers is making sure they all have access to mental health (care), no matter when and where.”
So, combining their traditional health care benefits package with a popular online app called “Headspace” – with its mindfulness tools, sleep help and health coaches – New Belgium Brewing joined a legion of other employers across the country in adding a mental health component to its healthcare package.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) 2022 report, “Mental Health in America,” that put New Belgium Brewing among the 78% of organizations offering workplace mental health resources or plans.
“We implemented a really comprehensive program this year and we’re going to expand it next year,” Burhans said. “The biggest piece we added was wanting to reduce barriers to folks who needed to access therapy. We have a lot of folks who don’t work a normal shift … so getting to a therapist is a challenge, and the wait times can be a barrier. This puts in the palm of their hand or on their computer the ability to begin chatting with someone almost instantly. Depending on how that conversation goes with the health coach they can be referred to a therapist or even a psychiatrist. We’ve had really good feedback.”
New Belgium Brewing obviously isn’t the only company seeing an increase in mental health needs among its employees. According to the SHRM study, a growing number of U.S. employees say their job is hurting their mental health, and statistics show they want employers to make it better. And if they don’t, increasingly the y’re beginning to look for employers who will.
According to the SHRM study, 33% of employees in the U.S. report their job has had a negative impact on their mental health over the past six months, with 30 percent saying their job has made them feel overwhelmed and 29 percent saying it’s made them feel anxious at least once a week, according to new data by SHRM Research released in May.
The survey of 1,000 workers, which was administered March 15-28 and can be found on SHRM’s website, also found that 27 percent of Generation Z workers say their job has made them feel depressed at least once a week in the past six months. The research also highlights the important role employers play in helping to turn things around.
“Our experience is that 75-80 percent of companies offer some type of mental health (benefit),” said Dave Jacobs, the co-founder and co-CEO of Homethrive, a Northbrook, Ill.-based caregiving platform that connects employees with caregiving support and resources.“What’s interesting is that maybe 10 years ago that number was less than 10%. We actually see family caregiver support following a similar trend, and we think in 3-4 years it’s going to be comparable to mental health.”
Homethrive focuses on the caregiving aspect of mental health, Jacobs said, because caregiving is one of the greatest sources of stress – after job-related stress – that employees feel. The stress and the time that comes from family caregiving, Jacobs said, “whether you have an aging loved one or a family member with special needs,” is a great source of stress and a great source of time that must be addressed during the workday.
To get it done, he said, companies need to offer a comprehensive mental health component in their benefits packages.
“Certainly, in our organization it’s very important, but if you look at larger organizations it’s equally important, especially ones who are trying to attract progressive employees who want to be very committed to the job but also want to be able to bring their whole selves to work,” he said. “A comprehensive mental health program, which we believe includes caregiver support, is a very important part in supporting an employee.”
Caregiver stress and support became much more of a prominent issue during the pandemic, particularly during the periods of time when states were shut down because of the Covid-19 virus. Parents were home to take on much more of the childcare and schooling burden. Families with aging loved ones got used to having someone there to take care of them.
According to Jacobs, 1-in-5 employees were spending 20 or more hours a week supporting aging loved ones and family members with special needs. One in three family caregivers were likely to leave their jobs because of caregiving stress.
“It’s incredibly challenging and difficult,” said Jacobs, who established Homethrive with co-founder David Greenberg in 2019. “We have an integrated program that reduces the work, worry and stress family caregivers feel by providing navigation, expert coaching, and concierge services to help people be smarter, better and more efficient caregivers, and take care of themselves more effectively.
“We started (Homethrive) to provide support for family caregivers wherever they need it whenever they need it so they could be better and more involved as caregivers and be there for their careers.”
SHRM Research finds that nearly half of U.S. employees (some 45 percent) have higher expectations for the level of mental health support their organizations should provide, compared to last year.
“This finding suggests that employees are looking to their organizations to take an active role in supporting their mental health,” SHRM lead researcher Ragan Decker, Ph.D., SHRM-CP, said in a story posted to the organization’s website. “This reflects a growing awareness of the importance of mental health in the workplace and the need for employers to address it. Employers will need to recognize and adapt to these changing expectations.”
Burhans said New Belgium Brewing is finding prospective employees are seeking help in the mental health area. New Belgium already was offering therapy benefits, but since the pandemic, that hasn’t been enough.
“They’re asking good questions, making us really look at our benefit package,” she said. “We cover therapy benefits … and they’re asking for additional coverage for things like marriage and family. So those are things where we’re like, ‘We have to add those. This is what people are asking for as they come in.’ You can’t leave gaps there.”
In 2019, Misha McK and her husband, Ron Mokwena, founded the Canton, Miss.-based Suicide Watch and Wellness Foundation (suicidewatchandwellnessfoundation.org), a nonprofit organization with a global reach that continuously promotes mental health awareness messages, PSA campaigns and programs designed to raise awareness of suicide and mental illness.
McK knows a lot of things can happen to employees that can cause stress in the workplace. But that’s not new, McK pointed out, because “stress in the workplace has always been there.” She agrees it got worse during the pandemic.
“During the pandemic people were isolated and had to do work from home,” McK said. “Now the issue comes when people have to go back to work. We’ve become a little more antisocial. We’re not used to seeing each other face-to-face. That’s where the stress level can come in. It’s almost reintroducing ourselves to dealing with one another on a personal level.
“The employer wants to make sure their employees are happy, that they’re functioning at the maximum levels of work and that they produce,” she added. “It’s extremely important for (employers) not to just care about their employees, but it’s important for them to design programs that the employees, when they do have these issues, can go and get help without being judged. Once you feel that you have some emotional stressors, there should be a place where they can go and get help without being judged.”
SHRM’s survey discovered that not only are employees generally having a hard time but work often contributes to stress and other mental health issues. SHRM’s Decker said there are multiple contributing factors, including workload (cited by 51 percent of survey respondents), pay/compensation (46 percent), understaffing (29 percent), poor leadership or management (28 percent), and lack of opportunities for career advancement (26 percent).
“Organizations can turn around the negative impact of work on employees’ mental health by prioritizing workload management, fair pay and compensation, addressing understaffing, developing strong leadership and management, and providing opportunities for career advancement, as well as implementing mental health support programs and fostering a positive culture,” she said in the website story.
Homethrive’s Jacobs agreed with McK that workplace stress “has always been an issue,” but he also thinks the Covid-19 pandemic brought it a little more into the forefront. During shutdowns, the advent of telehealth also made help much more accessible and, perhaps, reduced the stigma of seeking it.
“I think for a variety of reasons, especially with Covid, that (mental health) has come out of the shadows and people are more willing and more comfortable talking about it and recognizing they have a problem and a need,” Jacobs said. “They’re voicing that to employers who are reciprocating with some programs and support because they’re trying to reduce the stress and burnout the employees are feeling. It’s very much related to the focus on trying to improve productivity and retention.
“People became very much in need,” he added. “The rise of telehealth platforms made it more accessible to people, and easier to access. I think the Great Resignation and all the productivity issues that have encouraged employers to look more closely at what’s causing stress and strain and turnover for their employees, and it turns out mental health is one of the issues.”
In addition to other work-related stress, burnout became a big issue during – and since – the pandemic. Duncan So, the co-founder, head of empowerment and executive director of The Burnout Clinic, said the juxtaposition of work and family life that occurred caused burnout not only at work, but at home, as well.
So, whose Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based clinic is committed to the practice, education and providing of expert care for people who struggle with burnout restore balance in their lives, admitted he once “picked my right eyebrow off” due to the anxiety.
“What we’ve noticed about burnout is that it can also happen outside the workplace,” So told an audience at a webinar sponsored by the Best & Brightest Programs in partnership with NABR and Corp! Magazine. “When you start to map it toward life – our family, our social commitments – you can experience it, too. Perhaps it’s a relationship. If you’re a millennial still living at home, it could be with aging parents, it could be with a spouse or with your kids. Every day you’re rigidly going through work and life as a big blur.
“What’s really interesting is the word burnout is a metaphor,” he added. “I like to think of it as when the flame inside you is extinguished. It’s almost poetry. That’s burnout.”
The SHRM research also shows a majority of workers (59 percent) don’t think their companies are offering enough resources. So, what are they looking for? SHRM’s research shows those desires include:
• 58 percent want paid mental health days (above and beyond regular sick leave).
• 35 percent say mental health coverage as part of employee health care plans would best support their mental health.
• 35 percent say free or subsidized virtual mental health services would best support their mental health.
• Classes such as mindfulness or yoga (26 percent).
• EAPs (23 percent).
• Mental health apps (21 percent).
• Mental health support groups (16 percent).
Eve Lai, who has worked in the human resources field for more than 20 years and sits on the San Francisco Advisory Board of the Best & Brightest Companies, said her company tried to come up with ways to lighten the load, to bring employees together, to foster a culture where everyone was helping everyone else get through it.
Her company scheduled events like:
• Coffee with an executive, giving employees access to leadership to voice concerns.
• A book club.
• Contests that centered around the company’s values, vision and mission.
• “My Roots, My Story” events, which encouraged employees to tell their stories, which were then turned into artwork hung up in the hallways. While on full lockdown early in the pandemic, the company created a virtual billboard, with people taking pictures and posting them.
“Just these different things for people to connect, different ways for people to come together,” said Lai, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University and a master’s degree in business from Arizona State University. “We tried through communications, at our all-hands meetings, we sent out resources, posted it on our intranet about how to manage working from home. Prior to COVID, we did not have a work-from-home culture. Certainly, if you had a computer at your house, or you had something unexpected come up, you’d work from home that day, but we didn’t have this culture.”
Culture was something they were keeping in mind at New Belgium Brewing, as well, where company leadership spent the better part of a year putting together its mental health benefits package. New Belgium’s Burhans said discussions were had with all the department heads, human resources professionals, mid-level managers and others.
“One of our biggest values is taking care of our people, and this was something that was identified the minute we came out of the pandemic,” Burhans said. “Both (companies) individually knew it was a priority. As we came together and started talking, not only did we have these challenges individually, but we saw them together continuing to grow.
“It took a lot of talking … it was a lot,” she added. “We did a lot of surveys, interviews and focus groups to really be sure that, having made this investment, we did a really deep dive into all the programs that are out there to find the one that is the best fit for us.”
