The Automation of Employee Well-Being: Leveraging Modern Tools to Tackle Age-Old Struggles

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy over $1 trillion per year in lost productivity.

That number is staggering, regardless of which side of the profit margin you find yourself sitting on. For organizations, losses at that level could be the reason they don’t make it through the next quarter. For executives trying to reinvigorate their teams and breathe fresh life into ongoing projects, the loss of so much creative potential is destructive.

But for employees trying to make it through the day, this is yet another reminder of how limited mental health awareness and support is at work. That, unfortunately, just makes it so much worse.

And I hate to break it to you, but those Amazon Gift cards and annual pizza parties just aren’t cutting it anymore.

The Crisis of Employee Mental Health and Why We Can’t Ignore it Any Longer

The WHO reports that 33% of employees report high-stress workplace environments. The Mental Health Foundation in the UK found that 14.7% of employees have to take time off due to stress, anxiety, or depression. According to The Japan Productivity Center, China Daily, and Optum in India, the most common stressor among employees is work-related, with work also being a significant contributing factor to mental health issues including depression and anxiety.

Clearly, we’re doing something wrong. But what can we do to make it right?

I’ll burst that bubble right out the gate: there is no one-size-fits-all solution here. But, there is something on the horizon that seems to be a silver lining to this grey, monsoon cloud: the emergence of machine-powered wellness.

From apps that provide on-demand mental health support to chatbots that can streamline every tedious, stressful, or demanding task, we can leverage technology to work through the age-old problem and climb the corporate ladder with a new spring in our steps.

The Corporate Hierarchy: Whose Needs Come First?

Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs, a real friend indeed, gave shape - quite literally - to our understanding of motivation. Put simply, anyone whose most basic needs aren’t met cannot be expected to pursue the higher goals of creative pursuit or self-actualization. After all, if the options are a fresh, hot meal or a spiritually enriching sermon, the starving person’s choice is rather obvious.

So while we find ourselves listening to our beloved executives wax poetic about team spirit well into our lunch breaks, we must ask ourselves: why on God’s green Earth won’t they just let us go eat our cakes?

Employee well-being at the workplace is, at its core, the simple recognition that the parts that make up the whole are essential to the very existence of said whole. Without them, we’re just a bunch of sharp edges with no place to go. And a healthy, fulfilled employee who isn’t being drained of everything that makes them important and special is the most important piece of the puzzle that connects the dots between those edges seamlessly.

While we’re on the subject of connecting, the advent of digitally-facilitated modes of communication has brought us closer to the intimate lives of everyone in the workforce. Now, you can go over the details of an upcoming merger, from stakeholder meetings to cost planning, all from the comfort of your own living room.

Naturally, this has worked out well in many ways. But given how present we now are in the daily lives of our underlings, it stands to reason we must also extend support to uplift them in all the areas we now take up space in.

The Power of Technology in Promoting Employee Mental Health and Well-being

The issues that impact employees aren’t inherently new. They’re overworked, deeply stressed, and receive little to no positive feedback or reward. Most of the time, their status as fully-formed human beings with needs, hopes, and dreams is overlooked. And too often, we leave many, many people behind to fend for themselves in the sea of looming deadlines and daunting appraisals.

“Survival of the fittest,” you might think. But keep allowing your most gifted employees to slip through the cracks and you’ll be sinking in no time. A workforce that’s busy surviving within itself isn’t going anywhere but straight into an early grave.

The importance of the individual employee to the running of a corporate show cannot be overstated. We know their well-being is of utmost importance, both for making sure they feel valued and fulfilled and for creating a functioning, thriving, and growth-focused workspace. Creating this kind of space takes time, effort, and a focus on enriching and nurturing the human elements in your workforce.

And now, you’re the one overwhelmed.

Fret not, because, as we’ve come to learn with the recent boom in the digital world: there’s always an app for that!

Stay tuned to find out how you can gamify your organization and reduce stress, increase productivity, and create a truly well-oiled machine...