What’s the cost NOT to?

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. I’ve teamed up with a friend and fellow facilitator to help leaders navigate the rocky waters of mental health in the workplace with our leadership summit called Managing Employee Mental Health & Wellness Post Pandemic.

While we’ve been busy getting the word out there, I’ve received responses like “love this, but not sure on the price point” and “thanks for letting me know, I’ll keep it in mind if we ever need anything like this”.

Guess what EVERY team needs something like this.  That is not a shameless self promotion.  That is a fact.

After two plus years of pandemic living - the isolation, fear, uncertainty, working from home, home schooling, managing health scares, working while people were laid off, trying to manage your own mental state while worrying about your staff, and the list goes on… the potential lasting effects are huge.

When someone is offering a way to help make it just a little bit more manageable in your workplace, you should be jumping all over it.  If nothing else, it helps feel like you’re taking back some control. To be quite honest, I don’t feel like mental health in the workplace was all that and and a bag of potato chips pre-pandemic, it’s only been exacerbated.

When it comes to supporting our teams, why not be proactive? Prioritizing the wellbeing of your team is not showing a sign of weakness, or feeling like there is something wrong with your workplace.  Everybody can benefit from putting some attention on mental health and wellness in the workplace.

Do a quick Google search of ‘cost of not addressing mental health in the workplace’ and you see staggering numbers ranging from $30-$80 BILLION in lost productivity. That’s just the financial perspective.  What about the high turnover rates?  And the fact that actual human beings are struggling? And no, it’s not about solving everyone’s problems, it’s learning to recognize the signs, having some supports and tools in place and creating a safe atmosphere for the team.  Even getting the team involved in determining what works best for your organization is huge because it shows you care.

Why not be a leader in whatever industry yours may be and make the mental health and well-being of your team (including yourself) a priority?  The risk is too high not to.