Mental Health - learnings from D&I

Mental health has become part of the diversity and inclusion agenda in many organisations. So what lessons can we learn from the D&I experience to apply to mental health?

First, be clear what we are talking about - the reason mental health falls under D&I is because people feel they should be inclusive of those with mental illness. But mental health is not the same thing as mental illness - everyone aspires to mental health, but not everyone has a mental illness. The support required is very different between these groups.

Second, pigeonholing or labelling people as belonging to a given minority can be counter-productive. This applies just as much to mental illness as it does to being female, black, gay or any other minority - it draws attention to the difference, not the similarities. This is particularly unhelpful when there is stigma around that difference, as with mental illness. 

Third, while supporting mental health and wellbeing is just the right thing to do, as with inclusion, many organisations do not have that sense of responsibility. In D&I, we have fallen back on making the business case for diversity, which turns out to be very compelling - something like 5-20% higher profitability achieved by more diverse companies. The business case for organisational wellbeing is even more compelling. The estimated cost to the US economy of poor workplace wellbeing is estimated at $1 trillion; that compares to total US corporate profits of $2 trillion. So the profit impact of un-wellness is very material. The problem is that cause and effect are not clear - i.e. the extent to which wellness impacts on the business via presenteesim, absenteeism, low engagement, reduced productivity, etc. is not usually monitored in real time. Even harder to make visible is the impact management decisions, behaviour and communications have on wellness. Consequently, the day to day business impact is largely invisible to managers. Like D&I, you have to first measure and understand your organisational mental health and the cause and effect impact in both directions (wellness to business outcomes and business behaviours to wellness). Then you have to set specific, measurable targets to improve it over time, as we are seeing with the most visible diversity metrics such as gender balance or minority ethnic representation.

Fourth, change requires much more than tone from the top and targets. D&I and mental wellness are largely systemic and cultural challenges - it's not the minorities we need to fix! Change requires multiple interventions at all levels of the organisation, and particularly at middle management level where the hard work of change has to be done. Middle managers need clear objectives, direction, guidance, training and real support from leadership on tough decisions about priorities, resources, processes, policies, etc.

Whole Business Wellness was established to help leaders and teams tackle these challenges. Contact us via www.wholebusinesswellness.com