GrokTalk Blog

If you typically start feeling draggy, irritable, and unmotivated around this time each year—or if you've moved to a more northern latitude and find yourself gobsmacked by these symptoms—you might have Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.

Mental health struggles like stress, burnout, and anxiety have become increasingly common among workers, and many employers are taking a proactive approach to addressing them. The most effective organizations focus on strategies that go beyond surface-level support and actually make a real difference in the lives of employees. They create safe environments where employees can feel supported and resilient in the face of their challenges. 

Here are five of the strategies these leading employers use to relieve employee stress.

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.

The global pandemic prompted wide-reaching industries to pivot to remote workforces. Few employees were prepared for this seemingly radical shift even though the work from home trend had evolved by upwards of 400 percent during the last decade, according to remote workforce statistics published by Tech Republic. Those who were unprepared or not well suited to the change grew tired of working from home relatively quickly. Some developed the telltale signs of work from home fatigue and digital fatigue from excessive screen usage. These issues can be overcome with sound policies, infrastructure, and time management strategies.

In March 2020, the entire world stopped. Countries worldwide started to take the COVID-19 virus seriously. Many companies stopped functioning normally and had to pivot to running digitally. Some organizations didn’t make it during the past year — and many employees continue to struggle with stress, anxiety, and overwhelm.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that 40 million people in this country have a mental health disorder, many of which often go untreated. The impact of mental health disorders is considerable in the workplace. They can affect employee performance, absenteeism, on-the-job accidents, and even staff turnovers. 

In the U.S., 83 percent of workers experience work-related stress at the cost of 300 billion dollars a year. Statistics show that mental health conditions are increasing, and occupational stress plays a role. Incorporating stress management in the workplace can create a healthy environment that supports employees and their emotional health and wellbeing. 

Leapgen’s Jess Von Bank welcomed Lorna Borenstein, Grokker’s founder and CEO, to her company’s Now of Work Podcast for a lively discussion about the “business of caring” for employees. Here are highlights of their conversation and key takeaways for employers, plus a link to the podcast so you can enjoy it in its entirety.

Saturday, October 10, 2020 is World Mental Health Day. It's the perfect time to connect with your workforce to share mental health facts, tips, and employee resources. And Grokker is here to help make that easy!

In our latest webinar, Dr. Ron Goetzel shared his “secret sauce” to achieve wellness program ROI. In this post, I’ll discuss how to implement five of his best practices:

Grokker teamed up with SurveyMonkey to examine what most stresses Americans and how the nation is coping with the rising epidemic. Contrary to popular belief, the fears keeping Americans up at night are global or geo-political issues that are out of their immediate control.