Episode 175: Nurturing a Culture of Wellness in the Workplace Helps Employees, Business Thrive

Welcome to the Workplace, a podcast by Cal Chamber. I'm Matthew Roberts, the Labor Law helpline manager and Employment Law Council here with Cal Chamber and hello listeners. If you're hearing me and my voice sounds a little bit different, well, I got the dreaded cold in May thing going on. So that's one thing that's happening here in the month of May, but there's also a lot of different other things that are happening in the month of May. It's Small Business Month, it is Tourism Month, it is Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, it is World Trade Month. But on top of all the things, and what I think is probably the most important thing that we're recognizing in the month of May is that it is Mental Health Awareness month. And so for this discussion, which I think is gonna be excellent today, joining me on the podcast to discuss some of the issues surrounding mental health in the workplace is Toby Lutz. Toby is Chief Administrative and Experience Officer at cretelligent, and she brings to the show today her vast experience in organizational development, leadership, employee relations, human resources, and management. So I couldn't think of a better person to have this discussion today. Welcome to the show, Toby.

Thank you so much, Matt. Your podcast is a regular on my walking list. And I've been a member of Cal Chambers for years now, so I'm really excited to be here with you and with your listeners. And so maybe just a little on my background. I've been in the HR field my entire career, which is crazy to say. It's been over 30 years. So I started back in my early college days, and over years I've worked with teams both domestically as well as internationally and on the retail front as well as high tech industry, which is where I am now. It's just given me a great opportunity to work with employees of all generations, backgrounds, experiences. And mental health is a topic I will say that is near and dear to me just because it truly affects each and every one of us. As I think about the topic with this being Mental Health Awareness Month, whether it's an employee of ours, a coworker, friend, a family member, or ourselves, we all know someone who's struggling or needs our compassion and support. So just pleased to be with you during Mental health awareness and hopefully doing some justice to this topic with you.

Awesome. I'm so glad to have you on, Toby. You know, it seems to me, of course, over the years that mental health has become more of a pressing issue than ever, especially as we emerge from the pandemic. I know it was an issue that we had talked about on the, during the pandemic here on the show and in some of our trainings. But you know, we saw statistics from even as recently as 2021 that 76% or 3 in 4 workers have experienced a mental health issue like depression or anxiety. And I think this is not just an academic topic, but we talk about some things on the helpline that we get on occasion, including a call we just got this week from somebody in a position like yours, Toby, where one of their employees is experiencing depression and suicidal ideations and the things like that. And so not only are these statistics a striking number, but the issues are real and out there in practical applications. So, Toby, what do you think is driving a lot of the discussion around mental health issues right now? More awareness or more issues? A combo of both. What do you think?

Yeah, yeah. And there's, there's so much to unpack, as I hear you say that statistic in numbers like that. And certainly I think awareness is a large part of what we're seeing as employers. But additionally to that, I would say as HR professionals, we're hearing concerns about uncertain times that are out there. You know, when I think about the things that we're hearing on the news right now, we're hearing things about interest rates continuing to rise. Inflation they say, is hovering around 5%. I was reading an article this morning that US jobless claims are at the highest they've been in the last year. And these are all real life things that, that our employees, that all of us are living with day in and out. And I think when you, when you couple with post Covid, you know, social and work style adjustments, we can really understand where some of these life stressors can be coming from. And that's part of each of us. So it's coming to work with us every day as part of our life.

Yeah. And I find that really interesting because especially as you mentioned, the inflation. You know, my children require a special kind of milk and the price of that's like doubled. And you know, you compound that with every other cost of living thing that you've said. You bring these things into the workplace and it's hard to isolate between the two. And you know, staying on that topic, people spend half their lives here at work. How do you think employers and HR professionals are uniquely equipped to help their employees in this area that not only will help them in the workplace, but maybe can take things out of the workplace and take them home with them in this area?

Yeah. You know, our role, as I see it as employers and HR professionals, is to really create an environment where employees have the ability to thrive. So, you know, why would I say that? I guess. And what the heck does that mean? This role that I've been in for the last several years with my current company has me leading. And this is unique for most HR professionals to hear this, but I lead across both employee and customer experience. And we've done that as a business because we believe really strongly that the two go hand in hand. So where we care for our employees and we create that type of wellness environment where people thrive, they in turn care about our customers, and they create that type of environment for our customers. So, you know, when I say it's about caring for our employees and how they thrive, I often think about, and I probably shared this with so many people over the years, but, you know, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and that might sound kind of odd, but let me just explain what I think about relative to that is, is our job in HR is to ensure that our employees have, like, basic necessities. Do they have strong benefit offerings and competitive compensation package, and those are part of an employee's essential needs. But our job goes so. So beyond that, and I believe it's to truly help our employees thrive. And to do that, we have to look at how we're building and we're fostering a culture that's one of belonging, collaboration, and inclusion. And that means that we talk about and we educate our teams on important topics like mental health. And we make mental health and wellness a space where everybody feels validated and supported. And when you have that type of environment and culture that you built, your people thrive. And again, when your people thrive, so do your customers. Right. So does your business.

Yeah, Toby, and I think that's really important because a lot of what I talk about, you know, here on the podcast or in trainings or on the helpline, is compliance. What is legally required? Toby? What's legally required from an employer in this context really is, you know, we need to be aware that mental health is a disability potentially, and we have reasonable accommodations and discrimination protections and the like. But what you're talking about here really is, and for lack of a better term, kind of the soft skills, the human element of what this is not something that we're required to do. But as you've shared, getting the resources out there and opening the conversation for people, I think is a really important practical point point. Now, as we came out of the pandemic, something that has still persisted has been remote work and whether or not remote work has an impact on mental health. You know, personally, from my experience and what I've heard from other members is, you know, remote work impacts the workplace in various different ways. There's a lack of connectivity. Right. You and I are doing this over, you know, a computer program as opposed to being in person next to each other. And while we're talking with each other, it's a difference than if you and I were sitting in the room. And that's something that's happening all across the workplace. In the remote work context, there's a blurred line between home and work. Right. You're in your living room, on your laptop, doing your work. Where do you separate the two? Because before the pandemic, there was a clear delineation between the two. I am home, I am home, or I am at work, I am at work kind of thing. And then lastly, there's the sense that, you know, workers always need to be connected into their stuff, because that's just the environment we live in in now, increasing stress. So what are you seeing? What are you hearing from employees about the stressors that are arising from remote work and kind of how to address that?

Yeah, and it is just part of, I think, everybody's life. And I continue to read in the news about more and more companies, you know, trying to decide, are we going to bring employees in? Are they going to work from home? What does that look like? You know, I'll say for us, we have about 20% of our employee base that is fully remote. And the other 80% has flexibility in their work schedules where they're in an office a few days and working remotely from a few days. But here's what I think is the other factor that I see playing into this. And I've seen this for the last several years, but I think I've seen it probably more heavily in the last probably two years. And that's generations. And I think it's interesting to consider that generationally, right now they say that one in three Americans in the workforce is a millennial.

What we know about millennials, right, is this age range of in their 20s to their mid-30s, is that as much as they're comfortable with all of the great technology that we have out there to support working remotely, if you're using Zooms or Team or Slack or whatever tech tool you're using, they can also be really challenged to know how and when. Do I just shut it off and do I just step away? Because even taking a walk. And I get this to a Millennial is, I've got a phone with me, and I'm watching something and I'm list things. It's become so much a part of the lifestyle that it's tough to know how do I step away? And then I would say you add on top of that, oftentimes millennials have managers who are of a different generation that are saying, why can't I see you? I want to see you, and I want to have you here with me. Right, so we've got a bit of a. Of a disconnect there. And all of these factors become stressors, and they have an impact on both our mental and our physical health.

Yeah. And that's so funny, because I'll work from home some of these days. We have this hybrid environment that I can take advantage of, go out for a walk, it's a nice day. I've got my work phone, and that's what I'm staring at on my walk. And so I think it's important, as you've highlighted, probably just reminding the workers and our workforce, like, hey, you can shut this down. Like, you got breaks when you're at the work site. You could go out for a walk outside the office building and not have to have your phone on you at the. It's the same thing at home. So, Toby, let's shift this discussion a bit to the issues employers may face when they can just no longer perform their job duties due to mental health crisis. This kind of comes full circle with that question I identified at the beginning where this person was having major depressive issues, suicidal thoughts, and the HR representative in that call was just like, I don't know what to do. Obviously, this was impacting performance. And when employers face situations where the workers can't do their job anymore, it's really important to understand about those discrimination issues versus, you know, accommodations versus something that just, you know, may not fall within that legal realm. So do you have any insights, really, on what things have helped workers who are struggling? Tools you have used in your experience to help workers, you know, perform their job duties, because that's what we hire them for, but also make sure that they're comfortable continuing to work with us?

Yeah, and this is an important one. And I guess I first want to just pause and recognize that, you know, mental health needs, those don't just arise during business hours. Right. And we know that. But I think it's important for us to just say that out loud and to recognize that as an employer and an HR professional, it's a multifaceted Approach. And I would say it starts with, are we talking about mental health in the workplace? To remove the stigma that may be associated with it. You know, I'll say here we're doing a 31 day challenge for the month of May. And, and that challenge focuses on holistic wellness. So that's nutrition, physical activity education, how to unplug and unwind. It's focusing on every aspect of the individual. Now, I also think mental health is a topic that we need to make sure that we're educating our leaders and managers on. Do your managers know the signs to look for in their employees? And if they do, do they know what to even say? Do they know what to do? Do they have resources available to support them? We live in an environment none of us should be saying we'll go see hr, right? As our first response. We should have a way that we can respond to an employee in the moment who's gone to the person that they trust the most for some guidance. I would also say it's building wellness into your culture, whether that is employee research groups, community volunteering, just really making health and wellness a regular conversation and literally walking the talk of it with your people. And then I'm going to put one more out there. And this is last but not least on my list. But there are really key 24. 7 resources available. So do your employees know that they can call or text 988, right. 988 is the suicide and crisis lifeline. Do they know about that? That's new, right? Newer. And then there's also another newer one that I think is just fantastic, that's specific to maternal mental health. So the pregnant mom, the mom who just had a baby, or their mom that's at home trying to balance work and life. And it is specific to maternal mental health. And it's 8339 Help for Moms. And so I would just encourage you to know about these and to get these out to your employees because again, these are things that are going to happen off business hours and you want them to have the resources to be able to gain the support when they need it.

Yeah. And I think that's just incredibly important. What you know, you said there and you finished with is training your frontline managers, your supervisors to really recognize and know what to say. Because, you know, as we said, we spend half our time with work, with our colleagues. We know when something is not quite right, you know, with somebody that we've, we've known over time. And as you mentioned, it's about opening these dialogues and talking like someone's struggling with the job. It's not immediately let's go to hr. You're doing terrible. We're going to put you on a performance improvement plan. But opening up and having a conversation, how can we help? Here are some resources and training your frontline managers, who are the ones who engage day to day with your workforce, to know how to do that. Toby, before you go, I think it'd actually be really helpful if we repeated those phone numbers and resources that you provided for both the suicide crisis line as well as the help for the new moms, if you can repeat those numbers.

Absolutely. So the suicide and crisis lifeline. And remember, you can call or text and it's simply 988-and-HOMS. The the maternal mental health line is 8339-HOMS moms.

And this was a very wonderful conversation. And for those of you who have listened, this is not going to be the only podcast that we put out this month on this subject matter. Actually, one of our next podcasts will have a therapist on to provide more practical guidance in this area as well. So stay tuned out there. If this was a great conversation for you as well, really, I want to thank you today for coming on, spending some time with us. I'm glad you listened, but I'm even more glad that you're able to join us as a guest today. So thank you for sharing so much of your wisdom and practical insight on this important topic today.

Thank you, Matt.

And thank you listeners for joining us on the workplace. As always, please comment, share and subscribe to Cal Chambers Podcast by visiting calchamber dot.