Working moms and Gen Z are desperate for support

Best of the week: Working moms and Gen Z are desperate for support

May 7, 2021 12:09 PM

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a topic that’s been top of mind for employers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Working moms and Gen Z employees have been particularly impacted by stress and anxiety and employers must continue to provide resources and support to these vulnerable populations.

Twelve working mothers shared the benefits that have helped them the most over the last year: child care support, flexible work schedules and caregiving benefits are helping these women stay afloat mentally and professionally. Additionally, Modern Health has launched live group therapy sessions through their new platform, Circles, in response to high stress and anxiety plaguing the workforce.

See what else employers are doing to support workplace mental health in our top stories from the week:

Your employees are stressed and afraid to talk about it

Employees are more stressed out than ever before thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and while employers have made prioritizing mental health and well-being a key part of their benefits strategy, many employees are still too afraid to discuss how they are feeling at work.

Indeed, 47% of employees fear negative consequences — being denied a raise or promotion — if they talk about their work stress, according to a new survey from Joblist. Women are more likely than men to have this fear. The survey also found that almost 1 in 3 employees report being very or extremely stressed by work and non-managers are twice as likely than managers to report high work-related stress.

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Your employees are stressed and afraid to talk about it

Modern Health offers community-based therapy support benefit

Modern Health, a mental health benefits provider, has launched Circles, a series of live group therapy sessions guided by professionals, intended to provide employees with a safe community space to discuss and receive support to alleviate the stress they are under due to COVID-19 and other social issues.

Circles was originally developed to support employees that were struggling with the psychological stress brought on by the pandemic. But as social causes moved to the forefront of people’s minds, Modern Health evolved the mission pre-launch to support more holistic emotional well-being.

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Modern Health offers community-based therapy support benefit

12 working moms speak up about the benefits they want from employers

Mothers have an uncanny ability to make hard work look easy. But even the toughest moms struggled with the pressure brought on by the pandemic, not to mention the shift to remote work and virtual learning for the kids. One silver lining? Employers are finally listening to working moms' needs.

“Team members need flexibility — and encouragement to take time off — to remain both happy and productive at work. It’s something I learned early in my career as I balanced a senior role with raising three children,” says Michelle Crecca, chief marketing officer for the U.S. businesses at Prudential Financial.

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12 working moms speak up about the benefits they want from employers

The pandemic is forcing Gen Z to rethink their future

The relative ease with which Gen Z can change careers is doing nothing to ease their psychological burden — 43% of young adults between the ages 18 and 34 are increasingly concerned about their own mental health, according to a recent survey by Aetna, a CVS Health company. In addition, 68% say their financial stress has grown in the face of current events.

“Setbacks and stressors are more novel to them — meaning they haven't yet developed the same suite of coping mechanisms that folks who are older have,” says Joe Gasso, clinical director of partnerships and a licensed clinical psychologist at Lyra Health, a mental health resource company. “There's greater rates of hopelessness, loneliness, anxiety and stress in this group. Those symptoms are more likely to impact this generation's ability to work.”

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The pandemic is forcing Gen Z to rethink their future