The business case for looking after staff mental health

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As 2024 approaches and the Covid lockdowns recede further into memory, companies everywhere are trying to establish a new normal. Some top Wall Street firms have opted for five full days back in the office. Others see a competitive advantage in offering permanent teleworking, or a careful hybrid of the two.

But some changes to workplace culture will not go away. A decades-long shift in the way employers and employees interact has accelerated. Workers who once kept their personal struggles with stress, depression and anxiety under wraps now feel much more comfortable sharing and seeking help.

Rather than waning with the pandemic, demands for workplace support are still rising, and many employers are starting to see such offerings as a way to woo and retain workers. That means white-collar managers need to deal head on with mental health and work-life balance issues, whether they want to or not.

Examples are everywhere, but the shift is particularly marked in the financial services sector. Historically this line of work has demanded punishing hours and many such firms led the push to get employees back in the office.

But change is happening. Bank of New York Mellon recently boosted the number of free therapy sessions available to employees without a formal referral process from five to 12, and Goldman Sachs is rolling out training on mental health issues to all line managers at the start of next year.

This is not just a matter of generosity or paternalism. The World Health Organisation estimates that 12bn working days worth $1tn per year in productivity are lost annually to depression and anxiety. And in the US, about one-quarter of all adults suffered from a mental illness last year, similar to 2021. Young people aged 18 to 25 were more than twice as likely to report symptoms as those over 50: 36 per cent versus 14 per cent.

Employers report that providing mental healthcare helps minimise absence and prevent long-term illness. “We need to foster a culture where people are encouraged to talk about their challenges and to raise their hands when they need help,” says Jacqueline Arthur, Goldman’s chief human resources officer. “Early intervention is really key”.

Surveys also suggest that workers now place significant emphasis on mental health support when choosing their employer: 81 per cent told a recent Harris poll that it will be “an important consideration” in their next job search.

Not everyone sees this as positive. The Economist recently warned in a leader that awareness campaigns were leading Britons to “conflate normal responses to life’s difficulties with mental-health disorders”. There is also quite a bit of private moaning among senior bankers and investors. Many of today’s leaders survived harsh apprenticeship programmes involving 100-hour weeks, merciless teasing and flying staplers.

While no one wants a return to open misogyny and bullying, they confess to finding today’s 20-somethings a bit mollycoddled. When a group of Goldman Sachs analysts put together a PowerPoint complaining of overwork at the height of the 2021 investment banking boom, opinion on Wall Street was definitely split over whether they were raising a legitimate complaint or “snowflakes” who ought to find a different career.

If such complaints sounds familiar, they are. Thirty years ago, books such as Listening to Prozac warned that then-new antidepressants would remake human personalities and lead to “cosmetic pharmacology” that pumped drugs into people who were not really unwell. In fact, the spread of antidepressant-use and improved coverage of mental healthcare is credited with a marked decline in US suicide rates in the 1990s, although deaths have gradually ticked up since.

These days, human resources departments say employees are asking for support earlier, before they become seriously ill. Many younger workers have come from universities where mental health services are readily available and expect similar support at work.

Usage remains high for Covid-era innovations such as online talk therapy, mindfulness and meditation apps, as well as “wellness” days that allow time off to recharge. “In the past people were using services at a moment of crisis. Now people are getting a little tune-up,” says Sharyn Jones, BNY Mellon’s interim co-head of talent.

Yet many older people remain uncomfortable with discussing, let alone seeking help for, mental health issues. That puts the onus on companies to create an environment where such conversations are welcome. The rapid spread of voluntary employee workshops and “first responder” programmes for mental health as well as physical first aid are positive steps.

But none of this will work without cultural change. Citigroup and BNY Mellon each took action this month by suspending in-office requirements for the last two weeks of December and urging employees to use the period to recharge. “There’s a certain humanity associated with letting people also make sure that they’re focusing on their lives, particularly in important times of year,” BNY Mellon chief executive Robin Vince said in a recent interview.

Stiff upper lip traditionalists may cringe, but encouraging self-care is smart business when human talent is still the most significant expense.

brooke.masters@ft.com

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