Employers have been increasing their focus on mental health benefits in recent years, as workers continue to deal with the lasting mental toll of the Covid-19 pandemic, and face high levels of burnout, isolation, and depression.
During the Workforce Mental Health Summit in Washington, DC earlier this month, the CEOs of Accenture, USAA, and Rockwell Automation, explained how they’ve sought to support their employees’ mental wellness.
Wayne Peacock, CEO of USAA, an insurance company that serves veterans and their families, knew he had to address company support for more mental health accessibility when the company lost one of its own.
“There was a Saturday morning when one of our employees died by suicide on campus, and that, for me, was a day where it’s like, okay, this is real,” he told the audience.
That sparked USAA to get more involved with the veteran community, inside and outside its walls, and help reduce the perceived stigma of mental illness. “About 20% of our employees this year have taken advantage of the free services that are part of our healthcare benefits to go out and get counseling, and we’ve doubled the amount of counseling services that are available.”
Julie Sweet, CEO of the consulting firm Accenture, which has over 700,000 employees globally, said that her focus on mental health began in 2018. The company had just partnered with the American Association for Persons with Disabilities, to explore the business case for hiring disabled workers. It was an eye-opening experience for Sweet, who said it alerted her to invisible disabilities. Since then, Accenture has hired its first chief health officer and trained 22,000 employees to be mental health allies who, by asking the right types of questions, can help identify mental health risks among their colleagues.
Quick-to-read HR news & insights
From recruiting and retention to company culture and the latest in HR tech, HR Brew delivers up-to-date industry news and tips to help HR pros stay nimble in today’s fast-changing business environment.
“That’s a very normal thing at Accenture now, and it’s okay to ask people to recognize that there may be pressure,” Sweet said. “It’s those things that we do as leaders that then give everybody else permission to change the way they operate their teams and to ask those questions.”
Rockwell Automation provides certain mental health services to all employees for free. It also focuses on making sure employees trust the company and feel a sense of purpose at work, CEO Blake Moret, explained.
When Covid started, “we needed to work extra hard to make sure that our employees knew that this was a temporary thing…and the actions we were taking were going to be restored,” he said. “I think all of us took a measure of pride in recognizing what we were doing and providing that precision automation for manufacturers in the US and around the world was really important. And Covid and the pandemic really threw that into sharp, sharp focus.”
All three business leaders emphasized that employers have a responsibility to provide mental health benefits and a sense of community to workers. “Finding that community inside of the workplace matters a lot, because life really works around those social connections,” Peacock said.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 or chatting online at 988lifeline.org.