The burnout crisis is real. A recent report found 89% of workers have experienced burnout in the past year. While employers often focus on combatting burnout through updating policies such as offering flexible schedules, they often fail to consider the role outside stressors, such as financial hardships, finding the right daycare or getting a parent to a medical appointment, can play in contributing to burnout.  

We all want to feel productive, competent and valued at work, but anyone who’s ever felt their thoughts wandering to a personal matter during a meeting or entered the breakroom for a third cup of coffee after another sleepless night knows that sometimes life gets in the way. The last few years in particular have demonstrated how outside stressors can negatively influence an employee’s performance and perception of work. In addition, the new hybrid or work-from-home workplace can blur the lines between work and family life. Recognition and support for personal responsibilities and challenges can inspire employees to bring their best selves to work.  

Employers can support employees’ overall well-being by offering and connecting them to resources that help address stressors, anxieties and impacts that are a part of life outside of their work hours. Companies can, and should, prioritize workplace well-being products that provide a robust selection of tools to help employees boost their total well-being through everyday health for a more satisfying experience at work and at home. 

Mental health is key to overall well-being
Employees are navigating their careers while dealing with additional or worsening mental health issues compared to pre-pandemic levels. A 2022 CVS Health/Morning Consult survey found that 59% of Americans have experienced concerns about their own mental health or family and friends’ in recent months, a 9%-point increase from April 2020.  

In addition to being valued colleagues, employees are often parents, caregivers, spouses and friends. They are doing their best to fill these roles as well as the role they play in an organization. At the same time, more than half (54%) of Americans receive health coverage through their employer. Therefore, companies have an opportunity to introduce employees to support and services that focus on preventative mental health care as a part of their holistic health, like CVS Health’s Resources for Living. Resources for Living is a workplace well-being product that supports all aspects of an individual’s mental health influences and factors, in and outside of work. Programs like these, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), connect employees with resources that address the root of what’s causing stress or issues like burnout to support their mental health at every point on their well-being journey. 

Support through every life stage
Working parents have spent the years during and following the COVID-19 pandemic juggling disruptions and changes to their structure with financial instability, daycare closures and remote schooling in varying degrees of social isolation. Researchers at Ohio State University found that 66% of working parents meet the criteria for parental burnout, which they define as the feeling that parents are so exhausted from childcare that they have nothing left to give other areas of life.  

Companies can support employees expanding and raising families by offering them access to information on adoption, a directory of local pre- and post-natal care facilities, childcare options and programs designed to foster the development of special needs children. Parents of high school and college students can find it helpful to have access to information for every stage of parenting, like personal finances, educational scholarships and special services catering to the unique mental health needs of teens and young adults. 

Everyday stressors can build up and contribute to burnout. It’s important that employees raising children have outlets to discuss their experiences. Parents might benefit from sessions with a therapist. Those seeking community might find it helpful to connect with other parents by participating in a CVS Health Here4U support group. 

Parents are not the only caregivers that companies should consider when selecting a benefits package. Employees with aging parents also value a workplace well-being product that serves as a cornerstone of their parents’ long term care plan, connecting them with resources to care for their loved one, such as information on home care and assisted living options, and when the time comes, hospice. 

Digitally enabled convenience 
A breadth and variety of services makes it convenient for employees to receive quality care in times of crisis and life transitions as well as access to quality preventive mental health care on a regular basis. With 92% of CVS Health 2022 Health Care Insights Study respondents saying convenience trumps all when choosing a care provider, we must recognize that employees can benefit from better access to a network with mental health professionals that offer telehealth appointments.

Along with treatment options and access to services, companies can grant staff access to webinars, video content and emails that provide expert takes on pressing mental health issues. Employees might benefit from access to online self-care tips and recommendations for apps on guided meditation, managing anxiety and other forms of stress relief. 

Helping employees unlock their best selves
The last few years have underscored how closely job success and satisfaction are interwoven with mental well-being and overall health. Employers looking to attract, retain and support staff can prioritize offerings, like Resources for Living, that link them to the right care and services at the right time. Companies will want to choose a benefits package that connects members from all walks of life and their loved ones with digitally enabled, comprehensive care so they can bring their best selves to work and everywhere else.