Sometimes, it's obvious that an employee needs help. But the best employers anticipate those unseen struggles that can disrupt an employee's health and well-being.
For employees with ADHD, for example, only one-fifth have received treatment or a diagnosis. That means employees may not know what kind of help and support they need, or may have difficulty explaining their struggles to a manager.
"When we think about ADHD, especially in the workplace, it's often thought to be just struggling to focus, but it's so much more than that," says Caitlin Stamatis, director of medical and scientific affairs at digital medicine platform, Akili. "It's everything from struggling to manage your time to juggling tasks to executive function challenges."
Read for the latest ways to support workers with ADHD, from workplace accommodations to new treatment platforms:
Mental health challenges are often an unseen burden, and changes to sleep habits can only exacerbate those issues further. Wellness platform Calm recently released a report revealing the impact poor sleep has on mental health: 78% connected sleep to their mental health issues, while 91% of employees say they don't feel rested most of the time. With daylight saving coming to an end this weekend, employers should be especially aware of the change in employees' moods, says Scott Domann, Calm's CPO.
"Sleep is a great entryway topic to having discussions about mental health at work," he says. "It is a universal unifier for employers and employees. It's the jumping off point for all of us to talk about our mental health needs from a standpoint that everyone can understand and feel comfortable talking about."
Read more about the impact of sleep on mental health, and free-to-low-cost ways to improve sleep hygiene for employees:
For employees on a family-planning journey, unexpected complications can be incredibly challenging and isolating to bear on their own. When Cassandra Pratt, now SVP of people at fertility benefits provider Progyny, was told her most recent embryo transfer had failed, she knew the office was the last place she could be to handle the news. Fortunately, her company's paid leave for reproductive loss covered time for miscarriages, failed fertility treatments such as IVF and surrogacy, as well as failed adoption processes.
"Knowing that I didn't have to go into the office and sit with people without being able to express what I was going through was so important," she says. "I would not have brought my best self to work or been as useful to anyone around me. I needed time to understand my loss and really grasp it."
Read more about Progyny's fertility loss leave and why all employers should follow suite:
Sometimes an employee's challenges need to be addressed with extraordinary measures. At Global Guardian, an international emergency-response and medical-services provider, CEO Dale Buckner and his team have been working with corporate clients to evacuate
"Things happen and you have to respond to them," Buckner says. "The world is changing fast. What worked 20 years ago no longer applies. You have to have answers for these things domestically, specifically with your workforce
Read more about Buckner's work and why all employers should revisit their emergency response plans:
