A recent Gallup poll found that the percentage of U.S. adults who report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime reached 29%, a 10-percentage-point increase from 2015. Additionally, the number of Americans who have been or were being treated for depression during the same period is now at 18%, up 7 points. Both rates are the highest recorded by Gallup since it began measuring depression in 2015.
Rates of depression in the United States were rising before the COVID-19 pandemic but have jumped dramatically since. Though the causes are multifactorial, things like social isolation, loneliness, fear of infection, sociopolitical events, and disruptions in mental health services have all played a role. The mental health crisis we’re witnessing is predicted to only get worse, as demand continues to outpace supply.
Workplace Well-Being Has Been Significantly Compromised
The mental health crisis has manifested in widespread dread among employees: Headspace’s fifth annual Workforce Attitudes Toward Mental Health report, which surveyed more than 4,000 employees, CEOs, and HR leaders, found that 89% of employees reported experiencing moderate to extreme stress over the past 12 months, and 49% said they feel a sense of dread at least once a week. Nearly half attribute this dread to a lack of stability and unpredictability in the workplace.
Furthermore, the report found that 75% of employees worried their company would cut back on mental health benefits during a recession, which likely creates additional anxiety, while 64% of CEOs say they would actually increase benefits in a recession. But the workforce needs to believe this, which means now’s the time for employers to double down on high-quality care—both to alleviate this anxiety and to ensure their workforce is retained, engaged, and productive.
Given the diversity of the workforce, it’s incumbent on employers to identify solutions that are comprehensive, dynamic, and accessible. Mental health issues affect every segment of the population, though vast disparities in access and outcomes endure. Many individuals—particularly those from under-resourced groups—aren’t able to receive care, and oftentimes, the care they do receive may not be culturally relevant or high quality. Though it’s widely understood that care should be empirically validated, care solutions need to continue to evolve to reach an even higher bar.
From an employer perspective, that means coupling a broad suite of services, such as mental health coaching, therapy, and psychiatry, with validated tools, such as mindfulness and meditation. As employers work to create a culture of inclusion, they should ensure the mental health solutions they offer provide culturally responsive care and employ providers that reflect the diversity of their employee base. Solutions should be designed with member preference, lived experience, and personal circumstances in mind so they’re both flexible and highly relevant to a diverse workforce.
From an investment standpoint, organizations should consider how the stressors affecting their workplace communities have changed in recent years, as well as how the communities themselves have changed. At present, the workforce includes five generations, which means employers need to rethink traditional approaches to care, ensuring care is offered in a manner that meets the needs of employees of all ages. For example, research suggests that younger generations prefer telehealth services over in-person services. Solutions should therefore include a mix of care options and offerings. In addition, working from home has blurred the traditional office-home boundaries and impacted mental health, performance, absenteeism, retention, and overall job satisfaction. Mental health offerings have to go beyond the 8-hour workday and be available to employees 24/7.
Data suggests that family pressures, elder and child caregiving, personal finances, and housing and food instability can all significantly impact an individual’s mental health. Supporting employees starts with supporting their families. For parents and caregivers, mental health and well-being are, by nature, interwoven with the health and well-being of their family unit. When employers provide mental health benefits that support the entire family, they enable caregivers to create a more stable home environment, which, in turn, allows employees to be more present, engaged, and productive in the workplace.
A new breed of employee assistance programs (EAPs) provide a wide range of services designed to meet many of these needs, from helping families identify caregivers to obtaining legal and financial advice to identifying resources to address housing and food challenges.
The Bottom Line
Employees are struggling, and employers are feeling increased urgency to find mental health solutions that engage their population and improve productivity and morale. Now is not the time for employers to scale back their offerings. Rather, they should be thinking about what investment will go the furthest. Organizations that prioritize innovative solutions to combat rising depression rates and support mental health and well-being will lead the way with happier and healthier employees.
Dana Udall, Ph.D., is Chief Clinical Officer at Headspace.