Using benefits to support employees with mental ill-health
The business impact of this can be considerable, from increased incidents of sickness absence to reduced productivity. There is consequently an onus on organisations to tackle the issue head-on.
Employee benefits – strategically introduced, effectively communicated, and successfully utilised – can have an important preventative and reactive role to play. Below we outline some key benefits and how they can help.
Employee Assistance Programmes
Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) offer one of the quickest ways for employees suffering mental health conditions to access early medical intervention, providing a powerful first line of defence.
EAPs are a cost-effective benefit that focus on tackling mental health, providing staff with access to dedicated telephone support lines that enable them to speak with trained, independent, counsellors at any time of the day or week. Psychological support can include everything from confidential help in coping with work stress to advice in dealing with debt or relationship problems.
The services provided by EAPs can also be used by employees’ families.
Health insurance
In recent years, many insurers have broadened their mental health cover to include a variety of treatments, such as talking therapies, which can be accessed without going down the traditional route of GP referrals.
Due to the sensitivity of mental health issues, and the perceived stigma and fear of judgment, employees are not always forthcoming with their problems and are at risk of suffering in silence.
Insurer helplines can direct claimants to the most appropriate provider, helping overcome traditional barriers to care.
By offering mental health services directly, such as over-the-phone counselling, employees can anonymously and confidentially access mental health services that they may have otherwise failed to use.
Group Income Protection
To help employers get more value out of Group Income Protection (GIP) policies, leading insurers now offer a range of added-value benefits as standard with GIP policies, giving employees practical as well as financial support during periods of illness.
By focusing on rehabilitation support and early intervention services, they can help employees in their recovery from mental health conditions. EAPs are regularly included as standard, for example.
Counselling support services
Although counselling is invariably offered as part of a broader programme of support, it can also be provided as a standalone service.
As an independent, specialist staff resource, workplace counselling can be particularly effective and can even be regarded as an integral part of an employer’s duty of care.
Services can be delivered to employees face-to-face or by telephone and will usually be a short-term treatment, typically up to eight one-hour sessions focusing on a specific therapeutic approach such as cognitive behavioural therapy, cognitive analytic therapy or person-centred counselling.
There is good evidence to support the case for numerous different counselling approaches to ensure positive outcomes and a suitably qualified healthcare expert should be able to advise on which is most appropriate, on a case-by-case basis.
Mindfulness apps
Offering access to apps that promote mental wellbeing can offer an effective, and low-cost, preventative approach to strengthening employees’ psychological resilience.
Furthermore, smartphones provide a simple, accessible, platform with which to engage time-strapped workers. Increasing numbers are using apps to help track and improve their physical health. Support for mental health is an obvious next step.
Headspace, for example, has already gained a considerable following for its science-based meditation and mindfulness techniques. Headspace recognises the impact of stress on employees and has collaborated with a variety of big brands to improve business outcomes through mindfulness initiatives.
A wide range of research now supports the use of mindfulness as an effective tool for reducing the impact of stress, anxiety and depression.
Financial education programmes
According to the Willis Towers Watson Global Benefits Attitudes Survey, financial circumstances were cited as the biggest cause of stress by 38 per cent of UK workers.
Financial education and awareness programmes, which can include a mix of educational guides, workshops and interactive tools, can help alleviate this mental strain by developing financial competences.
Such programmes can help employees gain greater control over their personal finances and help them better understand the value of wider employee benefits available to them.
Supporting employees
A strategic approach should ultimately be taken to supporting employees with mental health. This involves understanding the employee risks, their underlying causes and how benefits can support holistic, yet targeted, health and wellbeing programmes. By doing so, businesses can establish themselves as purveyors of best practice and, in turn, employers of choice.
This article was provided by Willis Towers Watson.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, WTW
WTW is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company.
