“I have a lot more employees who contact me because of their fear, often saying they can’t figure out the reason for it,” Ms Theobald said. “I’ve had calls from managers saying, ‘I did this and I hope I handled it correctly.'”
Some companies are trying to directly address the mental health issues their staff may face. Arrivia, a travel company, said usage of its “employee assistance” program, which offers free therapy, has increased tenfold since the pandemic began. The company also surveyed employees about their return-to-office needs and has developed a flexible plan that allows many people to work from home if they want to.
Real, a mental health app that offers programs on topics like relationships and body positivity, plans to try a four-day workweek from next week through June to give employees more time to rest and focus on their families. to concentrate. The idea came from Real’s founder, Ariela Safira, who realized after the December break that she was experiencing a feeling of numbness fueled by overwork.
Like Ms. Safira, many mental health professionals find this moment as difficult as the clients they serve. April Koh, founder of Spring Health, a mental health start-up that provides employees with access to therapy and other services, recently realized she hadn’t fully addressed her own pain after being the target of racist comments on a street. in New York City. When her team planted a healing circle to discuss anti-Asian violence, which has increased during the pandemic, Ms. Koh herself as she publicly grappled with questions about her personal history.
“I didn’t expect to be this emotional,” she said. “There is, to some extent, a shared mindset among Asian Americans to keep our heads down and remain invisible. It was powerful for me to be so vulnerable.”
She worries that many companies, which have never before made an effort to address the mental health of their workforce, are still not proactive in helping people take care of themselves, especially with insurance plans that often offer paltry coverage. provide mental health care. The average wait time to see a provider was more than 20 days nationally, even before the pandemic.
“Some companies take the attitude of saying, ‘We are resilient. We are all about business. That’s what we’re going to focus on,” said Ms. Koh. “That’s just not the way to solve problems.”
