Feeling stressed? The right wellness benefits can help

Even the most comprehensive wellness program is doomed to fail if it doesn't deal with one of the biggest detriments to an employee's health journey — stress.

Eighty-three percent U.S. workers suffer from work-related stress in their daily life, according to recent statistics from LinkedIn. In fact, 25% of employees feel that their job is the number one stress factor in their lives. In order to reach and better support this demographic of workers, benefit leaders need to ensure that mental health and wellness benefits include stress management. 

"We've seen for the last several years have been looking at ways to do better and do more in terms of accessibility, affordability and removing stigma around mental health in general," says Jason Parrot, a health and well-being benefits leader at obesity care platform Vida Health. "Stress is a core component of that."

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Ninety percent of employers are increasing investment in mental health programs, according to an employee wellness report from wellness platform Wellable Labs, with 76% investing specifically in stress management and resilience programs, and 71% in mindfulness and mediation programs. However, without targeting some of the root causes of stress, many of these programs aren't as effective as they should be — which has long-term implications for employers. 

Stress-related healthcare costs are approximately 50% higher for employees with high stress levels, according to LinkedIn. In fact, workplace stress costs U.S. employers an estimated $300 billion annually in absenteeism, turnover, diminished productivity and medical, legal and insurance costs. 

"When we think about stress, financial well-being, emotional well-being and physical well-being are all aspects of well-being that can all help mitigate the risk of stress if addressed," Parrot says. "It's very important to understand, communicate, drive awareness and provide the right tools and solutions that can meet people if and when they have a need that could reduce their levels of stress." 

Stress support looks different for everyone

Benefit leaders need to ensure that the wellness strategies they choose not only include stress management programs in general, but that those programs are targeting employees' issues that work best for them. For example, at Vida they prioritized tools and services that not only make it possible to flag rising stress levels in employees, but that also help Parrot and his team identify what could be causing that stress and then how to address it. Every workforce is diverse, he says, and so should be the tools that support them.  

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"If [it's a mild case], a mental health coach could be most helpful, but if an employee is at a higher risk a licensed therapist is more appropriate," Parrot says. "Employers should also consider tech-driven ways to reach employees, whether it's video, telephonic or asynchronous text chat capabilities for when they may not require meeting with someone live and in-person."  

But stress is not limited to mental health challenges alone and can be influenced by a variety of lifestyle choices. Making sure that wellness programs include niche solutions like financial literacy programs, sleep support platforms, nutritionists and obesity care can also help employees stay on top of their stress at work and at home. It may take investing in multiple platforms, but the outcome is well worth it. 

"Leaders have been trying to identify how to keep workforces not just healthy and safe but productive, too," Parrot says. "If we can address the stress they're facing day to day, that is going to enable their workforce to work more optimally."