Prioritizing Mental Health: A Key to Employee Well-Being and Retention Post-COVID-19

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Prioritizing Mental Health: A Key to Employee Well-Being and Retention. CDIA Financial Fitness Campaign.

Two issues became top priorities for businesses in the wake of COVID-19: employee well-being and employee retention. Although both had been important before, employers recognized them as key to business survival in the face of the pandemic, and both have continued to be significant concerns even as the pandemic emergency ended.

Employee well-being initially focused on the physical health of workers in the sense of minimizing the risk of infection. Still, the transition to remote working created new stresses on employees and led to an increased focus on their mental wellness. Employee mental health issues — especially anxiety, burnout, depression, and stress — remain elevated in comparison to pre-pandemic levels, and these are associated with measurable effects on productivity and company performance.

Employee retention became more urgent for employers with the start of the Great Resignation, when the elevated quit rate was linked to greater employee disengagement, especially among workers who felt their employers were not supporting their mental health and a healthy work-life balance. This connection between workers’ mental wellness and retention continues today and, even though fewer workers quit their jobs in 2024, the quit rate remains near historic levels.

To minimize the impact of turnover, employers can implement programs to reduce employee absences, including sick leave and short—and long-term disability leaves. Preventive measures to reduce the risk of illness or injury, such as a comprehensive injury and illness prevention plan, can help, but these rarely consider mental health in the workplace.

Further, such programs generally ignore how mental issues can affect physical health, overlooking the interconnections between the two. Focusing on mental well-being can not only reduce absences and turnover related to mental health conditions but may also reduce the negative effects of physical health conditions.

Supporting the mental wellness of the workforce, then, becomes a strategic imperative to maximize business success.

Author’s note: The author would like to acknowledge Fraser Gaspar, Kerri Wizner, Fred Schott, and Carolyn Dewa’s earlier contributions to this blog.

Dan Jolivet

Dr. Dan Jolivet started working in the behavioral health field in 1980 as he was completing a degree in mathematical statistics and wanted to get some hands-on experience in an applied scientific discipline. His first direct service job in the field was a 1981 work-study position at a Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) in Seattle, where he quickly became hooked on trying to understand how people change. He joined The Standard as its Behavioral Health Director in 2016 and says his favorite part of the job is still helping people. Dan received his bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Washington, and his master's degree and doctorate in clinical psychology from Georgia State University. In his spare time, Dan plays baritone saxophone in a local concert band and he enjoys spending time with his two daughters and his cat.