Mental Health Check-up: Q&A with Corporate Well-being speaker, Nidhi Tewari
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Continuing the conversation on mental health matters for Mental Health Awareness Month, we checked in with Outspoken speaker, Nidhi Tewari, whose expertise in corporate well-being and mental wellness, guides many organizations on how to prioritize people first. Learn more about what she’s seeing in the workplace in today’s Q&A.
What implications does ignoring mental health have on an organization’s bottom line and how can you get leaders to buy into mental health efforts?
NT: Mental health and wellbeing form the foundation of an organization’s outcomes, and ignoring them can be disastrous for both the bottom line. UC Berkeley reports that the US economy losses $210.5 billion a year due to productivity loss, medical costs, and absenteeism resulting from poor mental health, and according to the American Psychiatric Association, unaddressed depressive symptoms account for a 35% reduction in productivity. When organizations invest in improving mental health through mental health initiatives, like hosting mental health workshops, providing EAP services, and guaranteeing mental health days, they see an immediate return on that investment. In fact, the World Health Organization reports that every dollar spent treating mental health results in a return of four dollars in improved health and productivity.
What are some of the biggest concerns growing among HR professionals related to mental health issues in the workplace post-pandemic? And what are the biggest 1-3 immediate strategies that they can implement to combat these concerns?
NT: In these unprecedented times, human resources professionals are seeing an uptick in team members struggling with their mental health in and out of the workplace. Employees are feeling more burned out, anxious, and depressed than ever due to the unrelenting changes experienced over these past few years. Stress levels and workloads have been higher, many teams have experienced reductions, and people have had to adjust to remote, hybrid, and in person work. HR leaders are needing to learn the skills to recognize the signs of mental health struggles at work, and they need to intervene in a compassionate and boundaried way. No one expects you to be a therapist, but you do need to know how to support people so that they can thrive.
One way that HR professionals can support their teams’ mental health is by approaching conversations from a place of curiosity. It’s easy to assume that an employee is being intentionally avoidant, unmotivated, or withdrawn, but these are often symptoms of a deeper problem. In fact, depression and anxiety at work can present in these ways. Instead of jumping to conclusions, you can curiously check in, and say, “I know you have a lot going on, and I just wanted to check in because I care. Tell me more about how you’ve been feeling in and out of work, and what I can do to best support you.” Actively listen, normalize, and validate what people share so that they feel safe to be open with you. By asking people what they need, you’re able to adapt your approach to meet their needs, and this can inform any accommodations that will be put in place.
Human Resources professionals are also concerned about issues with retention due to “Quiet Quitting”, and companies are experiencing high rates of attrition. Each person that quits takes their knowledge and expertise with them, and it costs an average of $30,000-$45,000 in recruiting and training costs to replace an employee making $60,000 a year. There are typically signs that get missed leading up to someone leaving a company, so instead of focusing on exit interviews, HR professionals should start conducting quarterly evaluations of how employees feel when they are at work. Begin examining the level of fulfillment people feel at work, what their goals are, what their greatest stressors are, and where they could use more mentorship and support. Utilize anonymous survey tools to look at trends and measure how you’re doing.
Employ a combination of short and long term interventions, which can include hosting quarterly mental health and wellbeing workshops, providing monthly mental health groups for people who want to better manage stress at work, covering the costs of mental health apps, and integrating stress management skills into meetings and breaks. Allow people to take mental health days and utilize PTO/sick leave without any pushback, and consider having a company wide mental health week where everyone is mandated to disconnect as part of prioritizing wellbeing.
How can managers build trust and better rapport with their teams to allow them to open up about their hidden struggles?
NT: Trust and psychological safety are crucial in creating a work culture where employees feeling safe being honest about their struggles. In order to build trust and rapport, managers must demonstrate through their actions that they can listen non-judgmentally, and that they will not use what people share against them at a later date. People need to feel that they will still be viewed as competent and capable, and that they will not be passed over for promotions or opportunities after disclosing their mental health struggles.
Being an exceptional listener is an essential yet underrated element of building psychological safety. The best listeners listen deeply for what’s being said, as well as what’s being left unsaid. Active listening entails listening carefully and reflecting back what’s being communicated as confirmation of your understanding. You can ask clarifying questions and approach conversations with curiosity to deepen your understanding.
But often, what’s not being said ie. a person’s non-verbal cues, such as their tone of voice, body language, eye contact, and cadence, tell a story too. You must take in all of this information while staying present and engaged with the person sharing. Attending to all of this data can help you to better comprehend someone’s experience and connect with them on a heart level. When you focus on being present with people instead of jumping to solutions, they begin to feel comfortable opening up. If you can do this consistently, you’ll quickly establish trust and safety within your teams.
How can leaders and HR create a more inclusive mental health approach at their organization?
NT: Mental health is essential for improving diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at work because every workforce has individuals who are neurodiverse and/or have a disability. Leaders must learn how to support the unique needs of the people that they are leading, as a one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective. This requires ongoing conversations that touch on how people learn, work, and connect best.
For example, someone who has ADHD may need more frequent breaks throughout the day, they may enjoy having music in the background while they work, and they may operate best on a 10-6 schedule instead of a 9-5 schedule. Making these accommodations requires a little bit of an adjustment for leaders, but it helps your team member to work more efficiently, which benefits everyone.
We also have to remember to view neurodiversity as an asset, not a deficit. Most people think that people with anxiety are too wound up to make decisions, or that people with ADHD can’t focus on tasks. But the reality is people with anxiety have a strong intuition and make grounded decisions, and people with ADHD can actually be ultra focused and are creative critical thinkers. Checking biases is key so you can ensure that you’re seeing the gifts that each team member brings with them. If you can ask the right questions and glean your team’s strengths, then you can help elevate them and set them up for success.
Give us an example of feedback or praise after a speech on this topic that you gave that was life-changing or life-affirming.
NT: I was the keynote speaker for Godiva’s global teams for World Mental Health Day, and I spoke about why mental health matters, how to recognize the signs that someone is struggling, and how to develop the skills to support and cope with mental health challenges.
A few months after my keynote, I received an email from the Learning and Development team. They shared how my talk still resonated with them, and that my message inspired them to make drastic changes in their daily routines. They started regularly incorporating stress management tools in and out of work, they prioritized their physical health for the first time in years, and they said they were feeling happier overall. They said, “I have been super-focused on my well-being and set one intention to get after my health. I’ve lost 13 pounds and am on my way to feeling more confident, healthy and positive. A little growth mindset is better than medicine 😊. Thanks for your talk. It was inspiring.”
Hearing the impact that I made was so affirming because it reminded me that small changes can lead to massive results. I’m incredibly passionate about helping companies and people to work well and live well, and hearing about these tangible outcomes was confirmation that people are benefitting from my stories and science-backed strategies.
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