Pandemic stress forces Northern California employers to take action on mental health

Tips for managers

Harvard Business Review last month published tips to help employers effectively manage a conversation with an employee who discloses a mental health condition.

Do

• Follow the person’s lead in terms of what they want to share.

• Think carefully about what type of flexibility you can offer them.

• Make clear that you may need to discuss the situation with HR, and therefore may not be able to keep the conversation confidential.

Don’t

• Make a big deal about the disclosure. It’s important to normalize the conversation.

• Overpromise what accommodations you’ll be able to give the person until you’ve had time to think it through and talk to HR.

• Hide your own experience with mental health challenges, especially if you’re a senior leader.

Source: Harvard Business Review

Now entering a second year, the coronavirus pandemic continues to upend lives, with some employers stepping up to help workers deal with problems like anxiety and sleep disorders.

Redwood Credit Union, a Santa Rosa-based business with more than 700 employees, over the past year has seen about a 30% increase in employees reaching out for help through the company’s confidential employee assistance program, said Kristina Derkos, senior vice president of people.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, over the last year since the pandemic broke out, 4 in 10 adults across the country have reported symptoms of anxiety and depression — up from 1 in 10 adults the year before. Ill effects reported by the foundation in July included difficulty sleeping (36%) or eating (32%), increases in alcohol consumption or substance use (12%), and worsening chronic conditions (12%).

Included in Redwood Credit Union’s self-care and stress-management programs for staff is training for managers on how to de-escalate, respond and be an empathetic leader in sensitive situations.

“Really, education is so paramount,” said Derkos.

RCU also has taught its managers how to effectively handle a discussion with an employee who chooses to disclose a mental health condition.

“We do very specific training for them (about) having an open-ended conversation where they are there to listen, provide comfort and help partner with the employee, because the employee has to also meet us — we can’t do all the work for them,” Derkos said. “So we really train our managers to take this extremely seriously and we teach them to be very transparent.”

Employee assistance programs — often part of a company’s benefits package — also includes guidance about management training for crisis situations.

“A lot of employers don't realize that usually written into the (EAP) contract is management training and support for crisis situations,” Derkos said.

That includes help for supervisors who may be impacted by trying to help a worker in distress. “The managers aren't mental health experts or superheroes, and it’s OK to be nervous in these conversations,” she said.

From a consultant’s desk

Employees who come forward about feeling mentally strained may need some time off, a reduced schedule or something more, according to Brenda Gilchrist, co-founder and partner at The HR Matrix LLC, a human resources consulting firm in Santa Rosa.

“If needed, employers can determine if a medical leave option is available and/or warranted, and determine the appropriate leave time that is required by law and within their published policies,” Gilchrist said. “In lieu of leaves (or) accommodations, we feel this is a time we all need to pull together and be supportive, as much as possible.”

Beyond the caregivers

“We realized early on that everyone — not just the frontline workers — were feeling anxiety and were impacted by the pandemic.” —JIM ANDERSON, NORTHBAY HEALTHCARE GROUP

NorthBay Healthcare Group, which operates two hospitals in Solano County, saw a 9% to 10% increase in the number of employees who took a leave of absence last year, according to Jim Anderson, vice president of human resources. The spike occurred from March 2020 through the summer.

“We realized early on that everyone — not just the frontline workers — were feeling anxiety and were impacted by the pandemic,” Anderson said.

The health care system operates NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield and NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, as well as primary care and specialty practices within the county. NorthBay has more than 2,600 employees, not including physicians.

“We focused on ensuring our teams recognize the signs of stress, which are usually trouble sleeping, outbursts of anger, wanting to be alone, having difficulty communicating or listening,” Anderson said. “It truly did escalate during this pandemic and, in fact, it still is.”

The majority of NorthBay’s administrative and back-office staff work on-site, and support staff who work behind-the-scenes can work from home, but few have chosen to do so, said Steve Huddleston, vice president of public affairs.

Soon after the pandemic began, NorthBay’s HR staff created a central cache of resources for its employees, including an enhanced EAP process specifically for COVID-19 anxiety related to work and at home, such as stress from children not being in school and daycare centers being closed, Anderson noted.

The health care organization also turned to its internal resources for help.

Corinna Press, clinical psychologist and medical director of NorthBay’s integrated mental health team, produced a series of videos addressing mental health and another series called “Tips for Coping with COVID Anxiety.” Cardiologist Mil Dhond made videos demonstrating techniques for coping, using meditation and yoga.

Anderson acknowledged the toll of the pandemic on employees’ emotional well-being also impacts job performance. “We can't discount that.”

Prepared for added stress

After the 2017 wildfires, Medtronic in Santa Rosa fortified its employee-wellness support offerings, including forming a Humanitarian Care Team to help impacted employees and the community.

“I think our employee base saw how well Medtronic responded during the wildfires and that just added to the comfort level in their willingness to be vulnerable and go to Medtronic and accept help on other things like (the pandemic),” said Jason Weidman, president of the coronary and renal denervation operating unit. “From the beginning, we've been very open that we understand that people will have added stress and that they may have extra needs.”

The Minneapolis-based global maker of medical devices offers its own EAP to employees and their family members at no cost, with 24/7 services that include mental health counseling and financial consultations — another stressor during the pandemic. It also provides companywide digital well-being and mindfulness-training programs.

Employees are encouraged to talk with their managers if they’re experiencing new or exacerbated mental health problems as the pandemic continues into its second year. The managers will then help secure needed resources, Weidman said.

Most of Medtronic’s 850 employees in Santa Rosa are working remotely, but even within that environment, there is flexibility to accommodate scheduling needs. There hasn’t been a significant increase in absenteeism related to COVID-19, according to the company.

“I'm also just a big believer that if you're flexible with your employees and you enable them to work the way that works best for them,” he said, “then they're going to want to work as hard as they can and do their best work.”

When it’s the boss

In some cases, it’s the manager who comes forward and discloses a mental health condition.

“Mental health is deeply personal in my everyday life,” Carina Cortez, chief people officer at Glassdoor, wrote in an October blog, posted ahead of World Mental Health Day. Cortez wasn’t available for an interview for this story but gave permission to include passages from her blog post. “In addition to having family members who are surviving every day with their mental health issues, I suffer from and have been diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression.”

Cortez stated she shared her story to help continue the conversation and reduce the stigma about mental health. Glassdoor, she said, offers an array of mental health resources to its employees beyond its benefits package, including a day off every month to unplug from work and “connection circles,” which provide a safe space to process experiences and emotions with others.

In November, Glassdoor launched a program for its employees that provides low-cost access to mental health care and to mitigate what Cortez called “fragmented mental health services experiences.” Included are digital programs, virtual coaching and clinical therapy.

Cheryl Sarfaty covers tourism, hospitality, health care and education. She previously worked for a Gannett daily newspaper in New Jersey and NJBIZ, the state’s business journal. Cheryl has freelanced for business journals in Sacramento, Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from California State University, Northridge. Reach her at cheryl.sarfaty@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4259.

Tips for managers

Harvard Business Review last month published tips to help employers effectively manage a conversation with an employee who discloses a mental health condition.

Do

• Follow the person’s lead in terms of what they want to share.

• Think carefully about what type of flexibility you can offer them.

• Make clear that you may need to discuss the situation with HR, and therefore may not be able to keep the conversation confidential.

Don’t

• Make a big deal about the disclosure. It’s important to normalize the conversation.

• Overpromise what accommodations you’ll be able to give the person until you’ve had time to think it through and talk to HR.

• Hide your own experience with mental health challenges, especially if you’re a senior leader.

Source: Harvard Business Review

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