How are employers responding to mental health issues and what direction should they be heading?
.jpg)
Sixty per cent of employees have experienced mental health issues over 12 months due to their work, according to the Mental Health at Work 2017 UK report.
Having said that, if the workplace is a significant part of the problem then surely it can be part of the solution? That’s according to Jay Spence, director of the mental health technology platform Uprise.
But how exactly are employers responding to mental health issues? And what direction should they be heading?
According to Spence, the future of employee assistance programs (EAP) has evolved from a model of crisis management to a model of tailored interventions.
“The future involves using artificial intelligence to be able to define when, where and how those interventions occur,” Spence added.
Indeed, it’s a far cry from the former model which was focused on the employee needing psychological support having to reach out themselves to an EAP for treatment. The trouble with that, said Spence, is the number of barriers involved.
“There’s the stigma, there’s the time required to attend the session. Employees who may need therapy don’t think their problems are severe enough to need therapy; or they might not even understand that they are experiencing a mental health issue,” he added.
One way employers can avoid those barriers is through implementing the preventative technology known as Stepped Care.
“Stepped Care involves looking at how to lower the barrier to start that process,” said Spence.
“How do you make it as simple as possible for somebody to get support? The way that you do that is put in earlier steps which are about, first of all, measurement.”
This involves helping employees understand what their current situation is via a wellness check that takes less than a minute.
The next step is to start them on an app which includes digital programs on emotional intelligence and behavioural health.
Then it’s important to use a phone coach to support them in making change, a model that appeals to more people than therapy because there is not the same stigma.
The system makes it simple and non-stigmatising for employees to get started. That means the workers who actually do need therapy can be quickly upgraded to face-to-face support while providing well employees with the skills to stay well, said Spence.
“If you are an organisation trying to keep costs low you can essentially support more people by providing tailored interventions: well employees need lower-cost resilience skills to prevent crises and employees in need of support need therapy with a specialist.”
Spence said that the way Stepped Care works in one sentence is “to provide the right type of support for the right employee at the right time”.
That’s based on the reality that there are methods to support employees while they’re still well, while they’re in early stages of mental health issues, and while they’re in the later stages or in crisis.
Spence concluded that Stepped Care drives much higher adoption of wellbeing services rather than just being used by a small percentage of employees who are in crisis and willing to put their hand up for therapy.
Uprise reports that their utilisation rates are typically four to five times higher than a traditional employee counselling service. In addition they have a strong focus on data and insights.
“Organisations can closely measure the impact that Uprise has on the days that they are not impacted by stress at work, in addition to absenteeism, employee disengagement and turnover due to stress.”
