In today’s ‘Race for Talent’ and the effort to stay competitive with company employee benefits – many employers are getting creative with their benefit offerings. From wellness programs to financial planning – as companies are using a plethora of creative benefits, the focus on an employee’s mental health should not be forgotten. Just as attention to maintain good physical health is tended to through exercise, diet, and sleep – good mental health needs a multi-faceted approach as well. If you stop to dissect the current state mental health, you’ll quickly realize it is another increasing epidemic. The CDC reports that in June 2020, adults 18 and older reported:
- 40.9% mental or behavioral health issues
- 30.9% have anxiety or depression
- 26.3% have experienced trauma and/or stress
It’s clear these numbers are only continuing to increase, especially in the workplace as the world figures out what work life looks like in response to COVID. Just like everyone else, employees have personal issues that can spill into the workplace causing ripple effects among coworkers and customers. Poor mental health issues such as stress affect employees by decreasing engagement, productivity, creativity, brain function, reasoning, and more. It’s simple; most employees are not receiving the help they need through their workplace when it comes to mental health. This is a big area employers can start to step in (if they haven’t already), to get creative with their company benefits and offer a service that can help better all involved. For HumCap, this is where we’ve partnered with Marketplace Chaplains and Mental Wellness Unleashed to ensure resources to improve mental health are accessible to all of our employees.
Mental Wellness Unleashed offers tools and techniques to increase the mental wellness of individuals, employees, and organizations. As a team, we recently went through their workshop where we focused on mental health and eliminating imposter syndrome. They led us through interactive activities helping us to learn and identify ways to bring our mental health back into balance in a positive and healthy way. This was a unique team bonding experience that we continue to recommend to others looking for new ways to improve mental health in their organization.
In our constant effort to live and work by our HumCap core values – we are consistently trying to better ourselves every day in and outside of work. For over five years now, HumCap has also utilized Marketplace Chaplains as a free and optional service to our employees. Workplace chaplaincy offers faith-based, personal counseling to help care for employees in whatever facet they need and builds a neutral helpline accessible at any time. Founded in Dallas in 1984, Marketplace Chaplains has served our community for decades, and now is the largest and longest continuing provider of workplace chaplains today serving all 50 states, and beyond. Workplace chaplaincy is growing as company leaders realize their team needs more care that they cannot provide. What exactly does a workplace chaplain do? Let’s dive in a bit further:
Simply put, chaplains become your company’s ‘Care Team’. Chaplains seamlessly fit into your work place’s culture and schedule through worksite visits, offsite visits, and virtual care. They provide personal and professional counseling services through a dedicated male and female team that becomes available for your employees 24/7. They develop personal relationships with the companies and employees they serve by regular non-interruptive in-person or virtual visits through greeting and chatting briefly with everyone. Marketplace Chaplain’s personalized and proactive approach helps employees become familiar with a trusted resource they know they can access for any level of care at any time. Because of this familiar and pre-established connection, this outlet helps individuals confidentially walk through a problem before it may turn into a crisis event.
We have seen extreme value in having Marketplace Chaplains serve our HumCap team over the years. We look forward to their friendly weekly visits and know we have a trusted, familiar face we can confide in at any time. From a simple happy greeting, sitting in prayer, to celebrating life’s celebrations with you – we have seen Marketplace Chaplains seamlessly fit into our workplace culture and meet every employee with where they’re at in life and what they may need. Our team is our greatest asset, and caring for them in any way we can will continue to be our goal. Our hope is that Marketplace Chaplains will continue to be a steady support system for our team in and outside of work to be that shoulder to lean on when one may not know who else to turn to.
From mental wellness workshops to workplace chaplaincy, we are better off as a company for implementing these resources.
If you are interested in learning more about having a Chaplain Care Team serve your company’s employees and families, please click here.
If you are interested in learning more about how Mental Wellness Unleashed can pair with your organization, please contact Sam Bolen (sbolen@humcapinc.com).