Mental Health Benefits Pay High Dividends in the Current Workplace, According to Current Research

This year’s May Mental Health Awareness month is bringing increased focus on new research on the role of mental health benefits in the current workplace.

The value of mental health is one of the most important lessons to emerge from the COVID pandemic, with an increasing number of businesses using the offer of wellness benefits to recruit and retain employees.

Research from myriad sources shows that more than one-third of U.S. workers are under high stress (a condition that has remained steady over the past two decades). The resulting absenteeism, productivity and turnover is costing organizations more than $300 million a year.

However, a new report from PeopleKeep, a leader in personalized benefits for small to midsize organizations, is shedding additional light on these issues, and particularly on the way benefits geared toward mental health and wellness play into the mix.

The report is the results of a May 2022 survey of more than 900 SMB employees, and evaluates benefit preferences among genders, generations, and myriad work environments.

The report shows that respondents identifying as female overwhelmingly value mental health benefits as compared to those identifying as male (70% compared to 49%).

The report also found that women value flexible work schedules (84% to 70%), paid family leave (73% to 61%), and professional development (64% to 57%) more than men, while men valued internet and phone bill reimbursement more than women (40% to 32%).

However, on the importance of wellness benefits there appears to be no gender divide: More than half of all workers across all types of employment consider mental health benefits a “must have” in the organizations they work for. Likewise, more than half of all workers maintain that mental health benefits increase work productivity.

Employers take note

What’s the takeaway? PeopleKeep CEO Victoria Clickman Hodgkins says employers need to consider and acknowledge that benefit priorities may differ based on the demographics of their workplace: “To help employees stay happy, employers need to broaden the benefits they offer to be inclusive — it’s important to consider the preferences and needs of employees across the expanse of gender, age, ethnicity and location.”

Also of interest: For traditional benefits such as paid time off and retirement benefits, there appears to be no difference among genders. Overall, respondents favor retirement benefits the most and student loan repayment assistance the least.

In terms of age, Gen Z respondents feel more strongly about the availability of a flexible work schedule than other generations. Millennial employees prefer paid family leave. And while all respondents agree that mental health benefits are mandatory, among all age categories, Millennials are the generation that values these benefits most.

When it comes to emphasis on mental health benefits, the verdict is clear — regardless of age or occupation, support for mental health is mandatory. Readers can view the full report here.