How to build a remote work mental health program

Although 65% of employers believe mental health is well-supported at work, only 51% of workers agree.

Fortunately, all workplaces want their employees to be mentally healthy, so employers have started taking more responsibility for their teams’ mental well-being.

Remote teams have special considerations in this arena, and some remote companies may struggle to understand how best to support those workers.

This guide outlines everything you need to know about remote working and mental health. It includes the tools available to help your remote team improve their mental health and how your organization can build an inclusive environment that prioritizes its people’s mental well-being.

How does remote work affect mental health?

As many benefits as remote work offers, the mental health advantages of working outside the office can quickly diminish if companies aren’t careful. Research from the Integrated Benefits Institute discovered that fully remote workers are more likely to develop symptoms of anxiety and depression than in-person and hybrid employees.

Perceptions of remote work can be a stressor that remote workers face. Sixty-three percent of employees believe that managers consider in-office employees to be harder-working and more trustworthy than remote workers. Plus, 60% worry that working from home means having less of a say in their jobs, leading to missed opportunities. These and other stressors can affect workers’ mental health.

Remote workers often struggle with issues their traditional counterparts don’t, such as:

• Burnout since the lines between work and personal lives can be blurry at home

• Loneliness since they don’t see their colleagues in person

• Anxiety or sleep deprivation due to uncertainties about their job security

Ali Greene, co-founder and co-author of Remote Works, says remote work creates new challenges for leaders looking to support mental wellness.

Remote work impacts mental health in many of the same ways work impacts mental health — people may be struggling with burnout, stress, and even toxic coworkers. The additional considerations specific to a remote workplace, for good or bad, usually depend on how well-versed the company is in remote operations.

Negativity bias: A remote work stressor

Negativity bias, also known as the negativity effect, is a psychological phenomenon in which people tend to focus on the negative things about a situation.

Given two things of equal importance — say, a message from a manager praising a team member’s work on a problem and radio silence in answer to a question about taking a day off — a person is more likely to concentrate on the thing they perceive to be more negative. Sure, the boss is happy about their performance, but why aren’t they getting back to them about the day off?

This tendency to focus on the negative aspects of work can be exacerbated by remote work, where there’s distance between co-workers, and team members can’t always read body language or hear the tone of someone’s voice.

Certain team members may drive themselves harder or work longer hours because they perceive silence as anger or disapproval from colleagues or a manager.

The prevalence of mental health problems today

Mental health problems are common. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about 1 in 5 adults suffer from mental illness. In the UK, 1 in 6.8 people experience mental health issues in the workplace. Although mental health problems affect everyone, women report having the majority of mental health issues.

Despite the prevalence of mental illness, there is still a stigma that surrounds mental health. Team members may not be willing to share their struggles with their colleagues for fear of being judged. They may also struggle with their own feelings about therapy, needing medication, or needing time off to deal with mental health-related problems. With this in mind, it’s important to build a supportive culture around mental health in your remote workplace.

New to leading remote teams? Start by reading our introduction to remote work.

Remote work can positively impact mental health, too

As much as it can cause stress, remote work also has the potential to boost mental health. In fact, one study found that 33% of workers say working in a remote environment improved their mental health, with 28% even seeing a positive effect on their physical health.

Working from home may benefit the following groups of employees in particular:

• Introverts, who draw energy from being on their own. Remote work gives them the chance to work in an environment that’s comfortable for them.

• Neurodiverse workers with sensory processing disorders. They may feel more comfortable working in their own space where they control their environment.

• Autistic workers, who don’t have to worry about social interactions or office politics.

• Workers with ADHD, who may find that asynchronous work helps them handle the stress of being productive at different times of the day.

• Workers who live in specific regions where they may not be accepted for their gender expression or sexuality.

• Workers who need to stay home. This could be due to family or other personal reasons.

That’s the goal for Remote — we want all our employees to feel psychologically comfortable and be mentally healthy.

“Mental health support is something that is important in all workplaces, but in remote teams, we focus on flexibility and the incorporation of life events/activities more holistically into an employee's day-to-day,” says Wesley Hattingh, total rewards specialist for Remote. “This means that it is crucial that we provide this support to enable employees to live fulfilled lives, both professionally and personally.”

What you need to know before creating a remote work mental health program

It may seem like a tall order to help team members manage their mental health, but if recent years have taught us anything, it’s that mental health is critical in every context.

J.D. Alex, talent researcher at Stripe, notes that companies should avoid micromanaging their remote team members.

Remote work if properly rolled out can be extremely positive in regards to mental health. On the flip side, if ‘we’ continue to control aspects of remote work such as 'time in seat' or require persons to check in and out via slack, or micromanage our teams, then the opposite of the above can happen and lead to an extremely quick burnout rate.

So, what should we do? According to McKinsey, there are five pillars when it comes to supporting mental health in the workplace:

1. Make mental health a priority

2. Enhance mental health support

3. Communicate available support

4. Cultivate an inclusive culture

5. Measure and hold accountable

While some of these may seem like obvious steps, it’s important to commit to mental health from the top down, ensure team members know what’s available, and that they can easily access those services.

There are also special mental health considerations for different kinds of teams, such as the following:

• The hybrid workforce: Hybrid workers work from home sometimes and from the office at other times. Their at-home stints can leave them feeling like second-class employees, which isn’t good for team morale or remote mental health. For this reason, we encourage a remote-first culture: your team is a remote workplace with office perks, not an office with some people outside it.

• The global remote workplace: Mental health is treated and stigmatized differently in different cultures. When your team has varying cultural experiences around mental health, it’s important to communicate, provide education, and know where everyone is coming from.

If you employ people from all around the world, navigating the nuances of mental health in different countries can seem daunting. But Remote makes this process easy. We provide localized plans to ensure your benefits are compliant and competitive, no matter where your employees work.

How can a mental health program benefit your business?

Poor mental health affects the entire workplace, not just the individual or the team. Interpersonal challenges, problems with focus, the lack of creativity that comes along with mental health challenges — all of these issues affect your work environment. According to research from the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health challenges like depression and anxiety are estimated to cost $1 trillion in lost productivity a year.

It stands to reason that the converse is true: providing mental health care will benefit your business and your team.

• Mentally healthy workers are productive workers: When team members are overworked or depressed, their brains are just going through the motions of life. They don’t have the mental energy to come up with creative solutions or do their best work. Workers who take care of their mental health can devote their energy to higher-order tasks, like planning, strategy, and problem-solving.

• Stop drama before it starts: Every workplace has some conflict in it, but if someone’s mental well-being isn’t being looked after, there’s a potential for conflict to become toxic. A mental health program can help your team members talk out issues before they become problems.

• Create a culture of inclusion: Mental health is often stigmatized. By talking about it at work and offering solutions for the whole team, you can help build awareness of mental health.

• Improve well-being: Mental health issues can contribute to physical health problems if left untreated. By offering mental health programs, you can help improve health and well-being.

How to generate buy-in for a mental health support program

Mental health support starts at the top, but it may not always be easy to get the top brass on board with starting a mental health program.

When talking to company leaders about setting up a mental health program for team members, it may help to point to the bottom line in addition to all the benefits listed above. According to the UK-based Mental Health Foundation, mental health support in the workplace can save UK businesses up to £8 billion per year.

J.D. Alex agrees.

Leaders must be willing to openly admit that burnout and mental health issues are a real occurrence even for our top level leadership including CEOs.  By showing team members that leaders are open to and willing to admit mental health awareness is a top priority for them, others will be less hesitant to do the same.

You may also want to talk about employees’ reactions to mental health initiatives. When you provide mental health care and encourage your team to use it, they know your organization values their well-being and their health. When employees know their company is loyal to them, they’re more likely to be loyal to the company.

How does Remote support its employees’ mental health?

Remote has an entire policy dedicated to mental wellness support for our team members around the world. Anyone can read it as part of our public handbook!

In addition to our internal programs, Remote’s internal employees receive access to Lifeworks, a mental health and well-being platform. Through Lifeworks, Remote’s employees have access to counseling, crisis support, self-help programs, well-being assessments, and more.

We are strong believers in the necessity of strong mental health support for distributed teams, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve our ability to support our team members all around the world.

Interested in joining our team? Check out our open positions and learn more about working at Remote.

6 steps managers can take right now to improve their remote team’s mental health

While implementing comprehensive mental health programs at work can take time and collaboration with people across the organization, there are some things managers can do right now to support mental health at work.

1. Over-communicate

When working with a remote or hybrid team, it’s important to over-communicate. Because remote workers can’t always detect tone of voice or body language, make sure you spell expectations out and check in with your team often. The more you communicate, the less likely team members will be to read anything you did not intend into a short message or silence.

2. Document everything

Documentation helps to clarify interactions and expectations. At Remote, we believe in a culture of documentation. This is especially important for a remote, asynchronous team — if everyone isn’t working at the same time, it’s important to know what has been done on a project. However, it’s also important to reduce stress and confusion around tasks.

3. Avoid celebrating overwork

When a team member works overtime or does much more than their share on a project, we naturally want to celebrate them. While it’s always appropriate to recognize hard work, constant fanfare for team members who blur the boundaries between life and work sends a message to the rest of the team and can encourage them to blur their own life-work boundaries.

4. Learn to spot burnout

Job burnout is a state of work-related exhaustion, and it’s a very real issue. Learn to see the signs and step in if necessary to encourage time off. In remote workers, this can look like missed deadlines, withdrawing from online conversations, or mistakes that a person might not normally make.

Burnout can also manifest as emotional outbursts, snappishness, depression, anxiety, or a series of illnesses. If a team member seems to be burning out or simply not acting like themselves, take the time to reach out and find out how they are doing.

5. Model time off

If a manager never takes time off, staff will probably be reluctant to take their PTO as well. Take your own time and model self-care. You may also want to talk to staff members about their PTO plans or self-care goals during meetings, if that’s appropriate for your company culture.

6. Remove any hurdles preventing your team from accessing mental health resources

McKinsey’s research indicates that even when a workplace does offer mental health programs, those supports aren’t easily accessed; 67% of workers say mental health programs are challenging to access, and 84% of employees with substance abuse problems have difficulties accessing programs designed for them.

Jesse Chambers, founder and CEO of Wrkfrce, also advises companies to lean into asynchronous work. This allows employees to complete tasks on their own time, without needing to constantly be available online to communicate with their team.

At wrkfrce we believe you should design your career around your life — not vice versa. Within our team, I emphasize and promote asynchronous work, and as a business, we help others learn to use this simple, effective strategy to empower our audience to be the best versions of themselves, in their careers and their lives. 

How to design your company’s mental health support program

Once your managers have taken the steps above, it’s time to go the extra mile and design a program that effectively supports your remote employees’ mental health.

A good mental health program is multifaceted, including everything from resources to policy. Below are some of the items you should consider including in your mental health support program:

Mental health policies

Policies that support mental health are the first and most vital step in any mental health support program. All the awareness and education in the world won’t help if your organization isn’t creating meaningful change when it comes to mental health. This means making sure you have an official stance on mental health and substance abuse, having policies in place to address mental health crises and other policies that support wellness, such as unlimited time off, and creating an environment of psychological safety at work.

Education

Mental health awareness training is an important way to communicate your policies and services to your team and encourage discussion of mental health issues. By providing education, you can ensure everyone in your organization has a common vocabulary around mental health.

Manager training

Managers should know how to spot overwork, burnout, and other signs of a mental health crisis. In addition, they should have the tools to respond to a crisis and to assist struggling team members.

Confidential mental health resources

Consider offering resources, such as an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which offers employees counseling, referrals, and assessments. All of these services must be confidential, and remote employees should be able to access them online.

Multilingual support

Part of accessibility means that local providers who speak the same language as your team members should offer support. It’s ideal if users can receive help in their native language and from someone who understands the culture in which they live.

Different modalities of support

1:1 counseling is important, but not everyone wants therapy. By offering a variety of resources, like meditation apps or digital content, you’ll be able to serve the needs of more team members.

Well-being apps

Well-being applications are available in many different forms, from fitness trackers to mindfulness apps. Providing a paid subscription to one or more apps is a way to invest in your team’s mental health, no matter where they are located.

Once you have these systems in place, make sure they are:

• Easily accessible: Your employees should be able to easily access these services, no matter where they’re located or what time zone they’re in. If there is a subset of team members who are excluded, this creates inequity and unequal experiences. This also means being sure services are constantly available and that emergency support is available as well.

• Confidential: Not only should all services be confidential, but you should also ensure that your employees know the services are confidential. This could be the difference between someone using and not using a resource.

If this sounds like a lot, you don’t need to implement all these items at once. Darren Murph, head of remote at GitLab, recommends that employees start with one small step.

Keep it simple. On your first 1-on-1 of each month, include a line item entitled ‘Let's talk about time off.’ When you normalize the conversation of rest with your manager (and force yourself to answer to future-you), you build healthy habits.

Products and services that can help you provide mental health support

Several tools are available to help your team manage their mental health, including everything from therapy to coaching. It really depends on the type of mental health support you want to provide. Just remember: you have to be able to offer support in every location where you have employees.

Some key global providers of mental health services include:

• Telus Health: Human resources company Telus Health now offers health and mental health support in more than 170 countries.

• Headspace: Headspace partners with employers to offer mental health care, including therapy, psychiatry, and coaching, to employees.

• Lyra Health: Lyra Health works with organizations to provide mental health services, offering access to a large network of providers, both in person and online.

• BetterUp: BetterUp is a coaching service that allows employees to set goals and reach them as a form of development.

• Calm: Calm is a mindfulness app that allows your employees to listen to audio for meditation, sleep, relaxation, and self-improvement. The app’s audio library offers several meditations that help workers de-stress and relax.

• Bravely: Bravely is an app that tracks the progress users have made between therapy sessions.

• TalkSpace: TalkSpace is a therapy app that pairs employees with mental health providers in their area. Therapy is conducted through the application both via voice and via chat.

• OpenMinded: An organization founded to transform the way we deal with mental health.

• Hummingly: Based on a popular card game, Hummingly helps gamify mental health with games and cards that help players get through crises.

• SonderMind: A therapy platform in the U.S. that matches users with therapists, either in person or online.

• Clearhead: A New Zealand-based therapy app that pairs users with therapists.

• MyTherapist: A digital therapy platform and the largest app for mental health in China.

• The Contentment Foundation: A mental health program for schools.

• Sanctus Coaching: A coaching and mental well-being app.

How can you measure the success of your mental health program?

It may seem difficult to measure the success of something as personal as a mental health program, but you can’t manage what you can’t measure. In fact, monitoring the health and well-being of the workforce has become a trend in the last couple of years. So, how can you manage your program without being intrusive?

Monitor program usage

Are your employees using the programs and resources you’re providing? Which aspects are being used the most? By understanding the apps and services that are used most, you can understand which parts of your program resonate most with your team. ”Generally if you have more than 70% of your organization signed up for the service and a recurring usage of 30% on a monthly basis you know that it is a success,” says Remote’s Hattingh.

Send out employee surveys

When in doubt, ask. Hattingh says it’s always best to get feedback from your workforce. “Include a question in your engagement survey, or run a dedicated benefit survey,” he says. “This will give you an idea of where the program glows, but also where the system is falling short.”

Try a rating system

Remote Senior People Specialist Keah Nguyen recommends tracking users’ responses to services over time. “For 1:1 coaching and therapy care, it’s important to understand if people are having positive experiences and the sessions are impactful. It is ideal if there is a way for individuals to rate their session (for example: out of 5) immediately after the session has ended. Over time, you will see what is the average rating to determine the overall experience that everyone is having.”

Measure productivity

How productive was your team before the mental health initiative? What about afterward?

Gauge employees’ attitudes

Does the company's attitude toward mental health seem to have changed? Are people openly discussing mental health in meetings and on chat platforms? “A mental health support program is successful when conversations about it happen in a work environment,” says Nguyen. “We encourage managers to ask about their team members’ mental well-being in a 1:1, for example, as this could mean a lot to somebody when you show that you care.”

How can you promote work-life balance at your company?

You may not be in the office with your team, but company leaders and managers are still responsible for creating a culture that encourages work-life balance. This is especially important for remote teams, where work and life aren’t always neatly separated, and boundaries can blur easily.

Mine Dedekoca, founder of Happy Work Studio, says it all starts at the top.

Employees watch and learn from repeated behavior. If managers exemplify how to take time off then the team members will feel the psychological safety to repeat the same attitude.

If your organization doesn’t make a point of prioritizing a balance between life and work, it’s likely that individual team members won’t feel they have permission to take time off when they need it, draw hard lines between personal and work time, or speak to managers when they feel they are burning out.

Despite this, leaders may worry about coming off as insincere when discussing employee well-being and work-life balance. Encourage vulnerability in managers since the team may feel more comfortable when managers model good work-life balance and mental health care. Plus, team members may be more likely to take advantage of resources and your mental health program.

Support your employees’ mental health with Remote

Having a healthy work-life balance can be difficult for remote employees. It’s easy for them to isolate themselves and work too hard, burning out in the process.

Not only can a robust, confidential, easily accessible remote mental health program result in happy, healthy employees, but it can also lead to more productive workers and a more supportive office culture.

Remote has everything you need to get started on improving your remote workers’ mental health. As a global HR platform, we give your business the tools it needs to offer best-in-class global benefits to appeal to remote workers all around the world. Whether you want to provide access to therapy, self-guided mental health resources, or 24/7 personalized support, you can pick a plan tailored to your company’s needs.

To learn more, speak to one of our in-house experts today.

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