Measuring Progress on Workplace Mental Health
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” This famous business maxim, along with several variations, have been attributed to renowned management expert Peter Drucker. They’ve motivated countless efforts to improve sales, boost productivity or reach other organizational goals.
Today, they can serve an even higher purpose. By applying them to workplace mental health, business leaders can raise their initiatives to the next level and truly play a leading role in creating psychologically safe, healthy, and supportive workplaces. And improve the lives of millions of workers struggling with mental health challenges.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies have ramped up their mental health benefits to address the trauma, stress, anxiety, and isolation many employees have felt. An estimated 40% of employers have expanded their offerings in some way.
This is important and necessary progress. Rates of depression and anxiety among American adults more than tripled since the arrival of the pandemic in 2019.
Yet Gordon Watson, CEO of AXA Asia & Africa suggested, in a recent conversation, it’s not enough to simply offer more programs. Employers need to apply the same rigor to measuring results in mental health as they do for more traditional business milestones.
Leaders who prioritize mental health understand the importance of measuring and tracking improvements in programs. Using metrics can not only guide revisions and adjustments that make initiatives more effective. It can also send a powerful signal to employees that achieving mental health goals is every bit as important as hitting revenue targets.
So how can organizations effectively benchmark their programs?
First, companies need to define what good looks like. Many leaders are well-intentioned, but they can’t articulate the problem they are trying to solve or the results they hope to achieve. Companies must clearly define the desired outcome and practice principles of change management to work step-by-step toward that goal, making continuous adjustments along the way.
Second, executives need to be accountable for results. The dialogue around mental health and wellbeing is now taking place at the board level, especially in the context of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. By integrating mental health metrics into ESG frameworks, companies can create a culture of accountability that can drive improvements.
Third, companies need to apply more rigor to their metrics. This can be done by continuously measuring improvement, uptake, awareness, and utilization across various mental health initiatives. Widely used pulse surveys can be helpful, as are Employee Assistance Program utilization measures.
But companies need independent data that provides more scientific support for decision-making related to workplace mental health programs. To that end, a coalition of leaders is coming together to apply these principles in order to build a mental health index – the first standardized assessment that allows companies to benchmark their programs and services. We look forward to the results of this effort and the measurable outcomes it will produce well before year-end.
Perhaps most of all, business leaders need to understand that simply creating a suite of mental health benefits and hoping employees use them is not a strategy. By applying Peter Drucker’s wisdom, executives can start to define the problem, measure progress and make adjustments that will result in a happier, healthier, more loyal and more productive workforce.
