Tis the season! For Retail and Hospitality to take care of frontline mental health, that is.

If you're not yet thinking about how your company can better care for the mental well being of your frontline team, it's easy to get started.

“Picture it, Kingston, Massachusetts, 1990.”?

I was a big Golden Girls fan growing up, Even though the comedy genius level actresses were old enough to have been my grandparents, it was easy to love the characters, and my favorite has to have been Sofia. For those who haven’t seen the show, Sofia was the stereotypical 20th century Brooklyn Italian mom who always prefaced her just in time, homespun, save the day lessons with a story about the old country. And it always started with “Picture it, Sicily, 1920….”

My love for the show has been such that I’ve used that same line Sofia Petrillo so often used in my own leadership, parenting, and elsewhere when I’m about to throw down an anecdote with my own attempt at some homespun wisdom.

Which brings me back to Kingston, MA in 1990.?

A teen version of me, complete with a newly grown mullet that I was sure would change my high school life, worked two different jobs, one in retail at a now defunct housewares company called Lechter's and a second job at another now a distant memory restaurant company called Brigham’s. Both were at the then-sparkling-new Independence Mall in Kingston, and it was the height of the Christmas season. I’ve been revisiting some of these days of late? because my 16 year old son is experiencing his first Christmas season in retail this year.

Back in the 1990’s, when I first started working in restaurants and retail, mental health wasn’t really a topic in the workplace or anywhere else, for that matter. Angry customers with angry sounding Boston accents, relentlessly long lines, inadequate staffing, low stock, cash handling, skipped breaks and low pay made a difficult job all the more challenging during the holiday season. And I remember the challenges that additional stress and strain that holiday time of year brought. I always struggled to sleep after a shift, my anxiety level was through the roof and it was the first time in my young life that my job (which I had usually loved) became well, just a drag at best and a mental health hazard at worst, even if we didn’t frame it that way at the time.

I was far from alone there, too.?The typical response that was an engrained part of the industry ethic at time was essentially either silence or the manager-speak equivalent of "walk it off, kid."

And when my son came and told me about some of the stress he is feeling, it took me back and got me thinking about all of those frontline restaurant and retail workers who are making it all happen day in and day out, and about the mental health challenges that can come with a stressful job at this most stressful times of year.?

There are tangible, measurable, business effects of this stress and strain. Employee turnover, absenteeism, apathy, resentment and a blow to the customer experience are all obvious effects that impact the finances of Restaurateurs and Retailers.??

Thankfully, there are some new and better attitudes emerging on mental health inside and outside the workplace thanks to organizations like NAMI and the ADAA.?

Andrew Smith from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing has also taken up the mantle for Frontline Retail workers with tips on keeping good mental health during this busy time of year.

And for retailers, they’ve put together this MHFA at Work for Retail resource. It helps to create healthier, more engaged employees with Mental Health First Aid at Work for Retail.

Additionally, companies like Spring Health have emerged with a Retail specific point of view on mental health to make it easier for retailers to better provide for the mental health of their teams.?

Best Buy, Wegmans Food Markets , Pets at Home , Starbucks , Target, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Darden and McDonald's (to name but a few) have been celebrated for taking up the mental health mantle and improving the lives of their employees. Thanks to you all and to all those companies who are taking this challenge seriously. It's not the 1990's anymore.

Happy Holidays, everyone, and good mental health now and in the coming New Year!