Leading Off: Nurturing employees’ mental health: A leader’s guide

Put your mind to it ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

ESSENTIALS FOR LEADERS AND THOSE THEY LEAD

Click to get this newsletter weekly

Brought to you by Alex Panas, global leader of industries, & Axel Karlsson, global leader of functional practices and growth platforms

Welcome to the latest edition of Leading Off. We hope you find our insights useful. Let us know what you think at [email protected] and [email protected].

—Alex and Axel

Mental health is a key element of well-being in the workplace and an increasingly important area of focus for business leaders. Mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression can lead to burnout , which affects an average of one in four employees across the globe. More companies are offering benefits such as therapy, yoga, and meditation app subscriptions to help employees improve their mental health and overall wellness. With the UN designating October as World Mental Health Month, we look at why it’s critical for leaders to support their employees’ mental health and how they can do so.

AN IDEA

An image linking to the web page “Re:think: Good employee mental health starts at the top” on McKinsey.com.

Start at the top

One of the leading causes of employee burnout and mental health strain is a toxic workplace. McKinsey partner Kana Enomoto says leaders should carefully examine the workplace environment they are creating and provide solutions to help employees feel supported, respected, and included. A good place to start is by articulating a vision and mission that inspires their employees—particularly younger workers, who experience poor mental health at a much higher rate. Gen Z employees “believe they are meant to achieve something, to do something big and important, and when they don’t have that, they often feel an emptiness,” Enomoto says. “This is an opportunity for C-suite leaders to support all their employees in feeling that connection to purpose and meaning in the workplace.” What’s more, improving well-being and overall culture at work makes good business sense. Companies that prioritize their employees’ mental health achieve higher productivity and profitability than others do, according to McKinsey studies.

A BIG NUMBER

Up to $11.7 trillion

That’s how much economic value can be created by improving employee health and well-being, according to the McKinsey Health Institute . Such an increase would be the equivalent of raising global GDP by up to 12 percent, say McKinsey’s Barbara Jeffery and Patrick Simon and their coauthors. Leaders can support their employees’ mental health by focusing on six important aspects of well-being: social interaction, mindsets and beliefs, productive activity, stress, economic security, and sleep. “Considering that the average person spends a third of their life at work—more than 90,000 hours in a lifetime—employment can be a critical piece of the puzzle when working toward the goal of improving global health,” the authors say.

A QUOTE

“About three-fourths of Gen Z said that the availability of mental health resources—whether that be access to therapy or mental well-being programs—is one of the key things when they’re selecting an employer.”

That’s McKinsey partner Erica Coe on the teen mental health crisis. She explains that Gen Zers—a cohort that includes young adults who are now in the workforce as well as teens who will enter the job market over the next decade—report less stigma about openly discussing mental health compared with older individuals. According to Coe, this generation’s rising numbers in the workforce will put more pressure on employers to provide robust mental health resources for their employees.

A SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW

An image linking to the web page “Author Talks: Cass Sunstein on the perils of habituation” on McKinsey.com.

When people get too comfortable with aspects of their life, such as jobs or relationships, they tend to stop noticing them. Harvard Law School professor Cass Sunstein explores this phenomenon, known as habituation, in his book Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There. According to Sunstein, habituation can hinder people’s careers and mental health by causing them to miss opportunities to grow and change and by killing creativity and innovation. Employers can help their people avoid the stagnation and unhappiness that comes from habituation by giving them new tasks, even if only temporarily. It’s a simple idea, but it can be “completely thrilling” for people, Sunstein says. “Once they go back to their former work, they still retain a sense of adventure and novelty,” he says.

LET’S GET SPIRITUAL

An image linking to the web page “In search of self and something bigger: A spiritual health exploration” on McKinsey.com.

Creating awareness about spiritual health in the workplace—that is, having a sense of meaning, connection, and purpose—can benefit employees and their companies. According to a McKinsey Health Institute survey , employees in good spiritual health are more likely than others to find satisfaction, build resilience and engagement, and improve their mental health at work. While spiritual health might seem like a “loose concept” to business leaders, people who feel they have unmet spiritual needs have much higher healthcare costs, and better spiritual health can lead to less employee absenteeism and less turnover. “For employers, there are real economic or business implications, as well as keeping their employees as healthy and well as they can,” McKinsey’s Kana Enomoto says.

Lead by prioritizing mental health.

— Edited by Eric Quiñones, senior editor, New York

Click to get this newsletter weekly

Follow our thinking

McKinsey Insights - Get our latest thinking on your iPhone, iPad, or Android.

Share these insights

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to colleagues and friends so they can subscribe too. Was this issue forwarded to you? Sign up for it and sample our 40+ other free email subscriptions here.