Life is stressful. No doubt about it. Everyone handles stress differently. There are so many factors that impact an individual's reactions and approaches to life. The recent Willis Towers Watson Staying@Work survey found that more employers have adopted a broader view of workforce health that includes physical, mental, emotional, and financial health. According to the survey, 64% of U.S. employers say that by 2018, they will focus on developing a workplace culture that supports employee well-being as a primary strategy to boost health engagement; only 34% stated it was a core strategy yin 2015.
As we continue to recognize Employee WellBeing Month (EWM), let's bring awareness to two critical areas of a person's overall well-being: emotional wellness/well-being and mental health. Is there a difference between the two? I looked at a variety of sources, and learned that there are differences; however, they are very much interrelated and, typically you can't have good mental health without positive emotional well-being.
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices, all impacted by biological factors, life experiences, and family history. Mental health involves aspects of cognitive thinking, including forming opinions, making decisions and using logic. Whereas mental health involves cognitive thinking and information processing, emotional health involves being able to express your emotions in an appropriate way.
Good emotional well-being, typically, is demonstrated by an individual who has positive self-esteem, doesn't act impulsively, functions well in society, and meet the demands of everyday life. Mental health is the ability to properly think and process information while emotional health is your ability to appropriately express feelings. The choices you make on a daily basis involve both mental and emotional processing - your cognitive reasoning may be influenced by the way you feel about a certain situation.
Emotional health issues directly impact a company's business. Some organizations have adopted the emotional health of their employees as a priority. This can include addressing stress management, resiliency, mindfulness, and social engagement. A survey by Fidelity Investments and The National Business Group on Health (NBGH) showed that employers are focused not only on promoting workers' physical health at work, but also mental and emotional health, with 87% of employers surveyed offering emotional or mental well-being programs in 2016. 54% of employers offer stress management programs -- the most popular emotional well-being program -- and 12% more plan to in 2017. In addition, 27% of employers offer resiliency training, which are programs to help employees manage setbacks in their lives (either in the workplace or outside of work), and another 20% plan to add such training next year.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has started to move into the corporate world, along with yoga and other stress-reducing techniques. MBSR is offered to employees in organizations like Aetna, Google, General Mills, US Military, Intel, Goldman Sachs, Target, and others, often as part of a continuum of well-being offerings.
A workplace environment that supports individuals in their emotional and mental health have documented results from everything from lowering health-care costs, relieving stress, improving sleep, reducing chronic pain, and positively addressing depression and anxiety disorders. For example, Aetna, has had some success with its meditation and yoga programs. On average, the many employees who have participated in at least one class have reported a 28% reduction in their stress levels, a 20% improvement in sleep quality and said they have gained 62 minutes of productivity per week per person.
Integrating mental health and emotional well-being initiatives into all of an organization's health and wellness activities is really important. A healthy workplace is one where individuals feel valued and supported, provides a positive workspace, and shows respect for all aspects of a person's life. In other words, movement toward "holistic" wellness programs. Companies pursuing this strategy tend to view their well-being program as part of their culture and as an element of the overall brand. We are seeing more companies step up their efforts to integrate emotional well-being, social connectedness and job satisfaction with their more traditional efforts to support physical health."
As we celebrate Employee WellBeing Month, of which WorldatWork is a proud supporter, let's remember all of the components of well-being, including sound mental and emotional health. Attention to these components will help to enhance employees' overall wellbeing.
WorldatWork, along with other panelists will host a live tweet chat, "Stressed@Work" on Wednesday, June 22nd at Noon Eastern (ET) where we will examine the sources of stress in the workplace and how to spot the warning signs when stress begins to affect employee productivity, as well as negatively impacting physical, mental, emotional, and financial health. I encourage you to follow the chat and ask questions at #EWM16TweetChat.