Tailoring Mental Health Efforts for Low-Income and Frontline Workers

Authors

• Sara Enright

  Former Director, BSR

• Pinal Patel

  Former Manager, Healthcare, BSR

• Lizzie Russler

  Former Associate, Climate Change, BSR

Key Points

• Mental health is a business imperative, and employers have started to respond by increasing investment and driving culture change
• Efforts have not fully translated into measurable improvements, especially for vulnerable workers that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic
• Business can connect a broad continuum of solutions rather than a “one-size-fits-all” approach

As employees gain some respite from the pandemic through the protection offered by vaccines, the mental health issues that were exacerbated by the pandemic persist among American workers. 

BSR’s latest report “Tailoring Mental Health Efforts for Low-Income and Frontline Workers” reflects on key learnings from convenings held by BSR’s Healthy Business Coalition and One Mind at Work. Our members discussed how employers have effectively advanced mental well-being and resilience for their most at-risk employees. 

Key ways business can advance the mental well-being and resilience of employees include: 

• Connecting a broad continuum of solutions
• Finding and integrating the right digital tools
• Embedding mental health into the organizational culture
• Equipping leaders to be active players in building a “healthy business”

At the Healthy Business Coalition, we are interested in understanding your company’s primary concerns and challenges facing mental health in the workplace. We can work with you to review current practices and initiatives with the goal of sharing best practices and spurring collective action. We encourage you to reach out with any questions or to find out how to get involved.