Bill Goodwin is CEO of MeMD, a national telehealth provider offering virtual urgent care, primary care, and behavioral health solutions.
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Two years ago, the World Health Organization officially recognized burnout as a medical diagnosis. One year prior, a Gallup survey revealed two-thirds of workers were experiencing burnout. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic hasn’t helped — FlexJobs reports 75% of people surveyed have experienced burnout at work, with 37% saying they are working longer hours than usual since the pandemic started. Worse still, employed workers are more than three times as likely to report poor mental health now versus before the pandemic.
Corporate America faces a burnout epidemic, but it is possible to reverse the course. Those at the top are especially responsible for acting and setting the tone for others to follow. Here are a few things we can do:
Recognize the problem.
It’s easy to chalk burnout up to pandemic fatigue and believe it will pass as things get back to normal, but burying our heads in the sand won’t make the problem disappear. Examining the impact on the bottom line helps put the problem into perspective:
• Stanford University found workplace stress causes additional expenditures of $125 to $190 billion per year — or 5% to 8% of our nation’s healthcare spending.
• According to the Center for Workplace Mental Health, presenteeism among employees with depression led to the equivalent of 32 lost workdays a year.
• The Gallup survey found burned-out workers are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 2.6 times more likely to be hunting for a job.
Understand what to look for.
Beyond decreased productivity and high rates of absenteeism and turnover, employees suffering from burnout also experience low morale, demonstrate a lack of commitment to their work and feel detached and dissatisfied with their performance. Additionally, many exhibit cynicism, report they work too many hours for too little pay, say they don’t receive enough support from management, feel they are treated unfairly and believe they carry an unmanageable workload with unreasonable time pressures.
Businesses seeing any of these traits on their teams need to dig deeper and address the issues, whether real or perceived. It is important to remember that your employees are your greatest asset, and by identifying the core causes and addressing those core causes, you have a far better chance of helping trained employees get reengaged. The alternative is expensive — Work Institute’s 2017 Retention Report found that it costs as much as 33% of a worker’s annual salary to replace them.
Emphasize behavioral healthcare.
Behavioral healthcare can help employees deal with personal and professional stresses that permeate their entire lives. According to the Center for Workplace Mental Health, therapy is highly effective for mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment and relapse prevention. Its analysis showed a full 80% of employees who received treatment reported improved workplace productivity and satisfaction.
Therapists and counselors can help employees establish appropriate boundaries, work through challenges at home and at work, develop healthy coping mechanisms and make necessary lifestyle changes to prevent mental and physical health problems. Although many employers offer such services, more need to do a better job of encouraging employees to take advantage of them.
Remove the roadblocks.
Mental Health America reports nearly 60% of people suffering from mental and emotional issues do not receive care. Business leaders can help address three of the biggest obstacles in their way:
• Reduce costs: Insurance networks are often so narrow that many therapists are not covered by the employer’s health plan. Even when they are insured, employees are far more likely to encounter high out-of-pocket costs that make treatment unaffordable. Reevaluating plans and investing in affordable telehealth options can save companies money.
• Improve access: Tens of millions of Americans live in areas where behavioral health services are severely limited. In many cases, people who need care must wait months to see a provider and travel long distances. People who live in busy metro areas have access issues, too. There can be long waits to see a therapist within the limited hours available during the traditional workday. Providing telebehavioral health benefits ensures your team receives mental health treatment faster. In fact, a Harvard Medical School study found that workers who received telephone intervention for depression were more likely to keep their jobs, and their productivity improved by 2.6 hours each week.
• Eliminate stigma: Psychology Today reported that many individuals express shame or embarrassment about their mental health diagnoses. Therapy via a virtual platform likewise helps here, as it does not require employees to take time off from work for appointments and allows them to participate in sessions in the privacy of their own homes or wherever they are most comfortable. Increased privacy and convenience help ensure people who need extra help will get it.
Burnout is a serious problem plaguing American businesses, and company leaders can’t afford to passively allow it to worsen. We must put a stake in the ground and not only provide employees with behavioral health services that give them the help they need, but also recognize when they need help and support them in seeking treatment. Doing right by our teams is doing right by our businesses.
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