More companies are training employees to recognize when colleagues might be having mental-health struggles and to serve as a listening ear if needed, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Some companies, such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, are turning to the “Mental Health First Aid program,” a sort of CPR protocol for emotions. Others, like American Express and consulting and accounting firm Deloitte, are devising their own online courses and campaigns.
The goal: break through stigma, catch issues like depressive episodes early and keep workers happy and productive. Still, even executives acknowledge that not everyone wants their colleagues—and potentially their human-resources department—involved in their mental health.
Tending to employees’ emotions has gained popularity over the past few years, but it has taken on extra urgency as the novel coronavirus spreads across the U.S., sowing fear and anxiety in its wake. Job security, pay, health and caregiving have been upended, and companies face a fresh challenge: rallying and keeping tabs on overwhelmed employees, often isolated at home.
“The mental toll of it is adding up,” says Jaime-Alexis Fowler, the founder and executive director of Empower Work, a San Francisco-based confidential hotline for difficult job situations.
Employers can direct workers to keep an eye on colleagues without running afoul of the law, but it is easy to overstep, says Sharona Hoffman, a professor of law and bioethics at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law. For example, if a boss tells a worker she knows a specific person is struggling with a mental illness and asks him to watch for signs, that could be a privacy violation.
Even with the potential for privacy issues, “people are looking for empathy. They’re looking to feel like they are being seen and heard in the moment,” says Amy Costello, an employee who works on Google Cloud and runs the blue-dot program. She says colleagues reach out to her several times a week to talk about everything from conflict with their managers to issues with friends. Read the full story.
