GrokTalk Blog

We just wrapped a webinar, Mental Health: Bracing for the Next Pandemic. The pandemic we addressed, incidentally, is what many are expecting to be a surge in issues like anxiety, depression, and substance abuse related to the collective trauma of the past 18+ months. Towards the end of discussion, after unpacking the stats and trends around mental health and its impact on the workforce, we shared with participants the 4 key strategies Grokker’s clients are using to support their employees’ mental health — and the advice was met with such enthusiasm from the HR professionals and company leaders at the live event that we decided to share the highlights here!

World Mental Health Day is Sunday, October 10, and people from around the globe will be participating in activities that raise awareness of mental health issues and help mobilize efforts in support of mental health. Mobilization is paramount: people need support for their mental health — and that support can and should come from a variety of sources, including the workplace.

Corporate wellness programs deliver wide-reaching benefits that include reducing costs, energizing the workforce, and increasing employee retention. Those are reasons why upwards of 85 percent of large companies provide workplace wellness activities.

How Can Company Leaders Reduce Stress at Work?

Regardless of personal temperament or occupational suitability, no one is immune from the adverse effects of stress at work. The human body maintains its primitive fight or flight response to stressful situations that sometimes overrule intellectual solutions. These can be triggered just as easily sitting at a desk while experiencing psychological duress as in the wild. Once the brain perceives a stressor, a physical and emotional response can prove unhealthy for workers.

Wellbeing coaches are brought into an organization or office to help improve the wellbeing of employees and team members. They’re quickly becoming a common investment in the corporate world, and they allow organizations to limit downside, churn rates, and most importantly, worker dissatisfaction.

The overall wellbeing of your employees is a necessary part of their health and happiness, but it’s also a necessary asset to the longevity and efficacy of your organization. Workers that are healthier, less stressed, and more satisfied with work tend to be more productive, engaged, and loyal. 

We all thought it would be over by now. The pandemic, the disruption, the uncertainty. But here we are, 18 months in, and we're still not quite sure what surprises or setbacks are around the next corner. While we're making progress towards getting back to "normal," we're feeling tired and unmotivated, struggling to feel like our old selves. As a result of everything — the relentlessness of everything — senior managers are desperate to help their employees, bring them together, and give them something they can count on.

That's where our new 30-day program, the Employee C.A.R.E. Package, comes in.

Wellbeing challenges at work are one of the few kinds of challenges where everyone ends up a winner. With little-to-no cost on the employer, businesses can organize fun and engaging challenges that promote camaraderie, team work, wellbeing, and a positive work environment. 

The key to healthy living is to create healthy habits, which are the collection of things we do, day in and day out, to ensure that we’re mentally sharp, physically activated, well-rested, motivated, and inspired to take on all of the necessary tasks that make up our often busy lives. 

The COVID-19 pandemic fast-tracked several industry and employment trends, ranging from the advent of remote work to a results-oriented approach that emphasizes deadlines and results as opposed to hours spent on a project. And despite the ongoing challenges and hardships of the pandemic, industry leaders have been able to learn from the pandemic and implement these changes to their employment strategies.

There has been a recent rise in employee absenteeism and employee dissatisfaction that is negatively affecting several aspects of the workplace, including employee engagement, morale, loyalty, and productivity, among others.

Many of today’s industry-leading organizations implemented policies and programs to enhance the quality of life of their talented team members. But one of the missing elements involves communicating the underlying reasons why decision-makers are investing in their workforce. By crafting and publishing a wellness vision statement that inspires people to participate, that rising tide of compassion raises all ships.