Do Employee Personal Problems Impact Performance in Your Organization?
The Quality Coach® is excited to have guest writer, Matt Gildehaus, bring you today’s blog. Matt will be joining us at this Fall’s Human Resources Leadership Forum. You can read more about Matt and his background at the end of today’s blog. Thanks for reading!
Do Employee Personal Problems Impact Performance in Your Organization?
You bet they do!
It is extremely hard (if not impossible) for employees to be effective at work when they are struggling with some type of personal life challenge. We have all either experienced this ourselves or seen someone else struggle at work because of emotional health challenges.
Employees increasingly report they feel stressed and overwhelmed at work. In fact, half of the US population reports significant anxiety symptoms currently and nearly 20% of US adults meet the diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. The numbers are even higher for younger adults. Half of millennials and 75% of Gen-Zers have quit jobs for mental health reasons.
Your employees who feel overwhelmed, stressed out, depressed or who are experiencing relationship challenges have a hard time even making it to work. When they do show, they are not fully present and are not as productive as you need them to be. Emotional / mental health issues are highly correlated with subsequent physical health problems. This drives up your health insurance cost. Mental health challenges are also among the top five causes for long-term disability according to the CDC.
Sometimes it takes a little persuasion for quantitative staff (like engineers and accountants) to see the ROI potential of “soft” investments. The bottom line is people's personal problems have a huge negative (often hidden) impact on your bottom line!
This begs the question, what can we as organizational leaders do to help our employees and minimize the damage caused by mental health issues?
I think it starts with a general awareness of this issue. Then, it’s really about creating a culture of concern and support. Gallup and other surveys have resoundingly confirmed that employees who feel valued as individuals are much more invested and engaged in their work.
The next steps are looking for ways to provide support and resources for employees, then to promote and encourage employees to take advantage of them when they have an issue. Things like making counselors available free of charge on site (even during working hours) can really demonstrate genuine care for employees. Posting hotlines and suicide awareness information can also help normalize these situations so people feel less “broken”.
Training front line supervisors to watch for employees who may be struggling is another key. The supervisors who are paying attention, know who could probably use some support. Often a personal invitation and encouragement to utilize available resources is all that an employee needs to overcome the natural hesitations and take the first step.
Did you know October 10 is World Mental Health Day?
The Quality Coach® is proud to be Supporting Healthy Minds in the Workplace on World Mental Health Day October 10.
About our Guest Writer- Matt Gildehaus, LPC
Matt Gildehaus is a Licensed professional counselor specializing in assisting individuals, couples or families with issues including: stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and relationship challenges. Matt received his BS in Business Administration / Marketing from Truman State University in 1987, and his MA in Counseling in December of 2012 from Lindenwood University. After an 18 year career in sales and marketing, Matt has been a business coach since 2010 and a mental health counselor since 2013. Learn more about Matt and his practice here.