In today’s business landscape, companies of all sizes are looking for cost saving initiatives and ways to boost morale and provide “employee benefits” to their team members. Some companies hold weekly or month luncheons for their staff members. Some companies cut the wrong programs where they do not see the benefits of the services that they are currently providing.
In a recent mastermind meeting that I was invited to, these two topics were brought up and when they asked my opinion, I told them that they could actually do both with one action. I told them about several other companies that I have personally worked with that have seen the benefits of what I mentioned to them. Companies such as Delta, Microsoft, Google, Nike, LinkedIn and more were not only implementing this program, but were seeing and have benefited from improved employee well-being, increased productivity, and reduced healthcare costs. These new services can also foster a more positive work environment, boost employee morale, and enhance recruitment and retention efforts.
When they all looked at me like I had the golden ticket, I explained to them that adding an onsite mental health counselor once a week or even full time has proven itself time and time as a cost savings initiative and that the cost of the service more than 10x’s itself and the ROI is over 100%.
By implementing an on-site mental health program, companies can increase the accessibility for their employees to talk to someone and also increase the awareness of mental health. Companies that have done this have seen increased productivity, reduced health care costs, enhance retention and recruitment and create a positive work environment. Companies have also seen a reduced absenteeism and time off because of this implementation. All these actions can potentially be considered cost saving initiatives, while adding to the bottom line.
Now, there are a couple of downsides that can easily be avoided with the implementation. First, people do not want to be seen walking to and from “the counselors” office, so having a discrete designed area is vital to the success of the program. Secondly, the counselor must be licensed so that HIPPA compliance is in effect. The employees need to understand that anything that they say in their sessions will be confidential and not share with their bosses or higher ups. They also need to be reassured that anything discussed in the sessions will stay in the sessions and not be included in their employee files. Any ethical counselor will never discuss or divulge who is using the services and what is being discussed during the sessions. Now, the counselor can report back to management a generalized pattern that could be brought to the attention of decision makers to help enhance the overall morale of the company and more.
Some companies prefer to have the counselor on their full-time staff, while others prefer to use them like any other contractor providing services. This is completely up to the company implementing the services. If you are in a business center, if there is a counselor in the building, work out an agreement with them that they are available one day a week for just their company to allow their employees to make appointments.
After the discussions in the meeting about what it would mean to these business leaders to have better morale, increased productivity and reduced health care costs, everyone started to see the benefits on how having a full-time counselor onsite is very beneficial to their overall perception that their employer cares about their wellbeing.
Companies who implement on-site mental health services will see an overall positive change in their employees, while seeing a cost savings in their bottom line. Furthermore, they will reduce the risk of workplace violence at their facilities by providing access to mental health and providing mental health awareness.
So, the next time upper management is asking for cost saving initiatives or if you are the executive looking to boost morale, give us a call and let us know how we can be of assistance. No matter where you are located, telehealth is always an option. Allow us to help you boost morale, and add to your companies bottom line.
