Is pre-planning part of your workplace mental health program design?

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As more organizations move towards creating psychological health and safety initiatives and designing and implementing workplace mental health programs, pre-planning is often forgotten or not considered at all.

When I ask an individual or an organization’s mental health committee where they start to build a mental health program, I often hear something like, “We begin with a workplace assessment to understand the psychosocial factors and hazards better and sometimes conduct focus groups to collect data directly from the employees.”

When I ask why they start with an assessment, the typical response is, “To obtain data that helps us determine risks and opportunities to inform the workplace mental health plan design and determine the programs, initiatives, and activities we will implement.”

This seems reasonable on the surface. However, after working with hundreds of clients, it’s become clear to me that there is great benefit in pre-planning before collecting data or investing energy in designing a workplace mental health program. Pre-planning provides context on vital criteria that inform the design and potential impact of a program.

All psychological health and safety initiatives can be categorized into prevention (i.e., prevent harm and risk) and support (i.e., assist a need). Prevention activities can include creating a safe and respectful workplace policy and training employees to mitigate the risks of bullying, harassment and workplace violence, which can traumatize the persons exposed. Meanwhile, support activities like providing $3,500 for psychological services through a benefits plan can help a person experiencing a concern such as trauma or stress.

Introduction to pre-planning

Pre-planning aims to help understand limits and set expectations to influence a workplace mental health program’s design. Psychological health and safety programs provide information, knowledge, and skills that allow for habit development to promote and protect mental health.

Psychological health and safety (PHS) programs operate like OHS programs, primarily focused on prevention.

OHS leading indicators (i.e., safety meetings) can reduce the risk of lagging indicators like near misses and accidents. Similarly, PHS programs encompass leading indicators such as psychologically safe leaders who mitigate the risk of lagging indicators like disability leaves.

When individuals or organizations with workplace mental health programs cannot answer the following questions, it indicates why they may not be getting the outcomes they desire. For example, lead indicators can predict why desired outcomes of lower disability claims and faster returns to work are not occurring.

Answers to the following questions will vary from one organization to the next. Moving towards evidence-based workplace mental health programs requires moving the conversation from random acts of wellness to instituting controls and expectations to planning, facilitating, measuring and defending the value of investments.

Workplace mental health function owner

Who is accountable for the workplace mental health function? What percentage of their time is spent on this function? What is their role description? Who do they report to? How are they evaluated?

These are examples of the questions I typically ask to understand the level of accountability an organization has established. Pre-planning ensures these answers are clear.

If a workplace mental health committee exists, how much time are members given to put into committee work each month? Is this a priority or optional, and how is their involvement evaluated? The goal is to set clear accountabilities for who will be doing what and when, and to whom this function is accountable.

Organization’s maturity of workplace mental health defined

Senior leadership’s buy-in, expectations for workplace mental health and psychological safety, health and inclusion determine if an organization is ready to engage in workplace mental health programs. The function owner’s enthusiasm does not matter if they lack the senior leadership team’s support or if workplace mental health is not seen as critical for the organization’s success.

The organization’s maturity level will inform where to start. For example, if senior leadership has not fully bought in, provide them with training, the business case for workplace mental health, and its value so they understand how workforce mental health costs and productivity are linked. Do not assume they already understand how poor mental health statistics relate to the organization’s performance.

Hours per full-time employee (FTE) to engage in workplace mental health initiatives

Never assume employees have time in their schedules or feel they have permission to participate in an initiative. Be specific when asking if employees can engage in programs to develop habits like mental fitness to build resiliency and how many paid-time hours per year they are allowed.

The answer should not be, “It depends.”

Suppose the leadership development and training budget is two days. The question that must be asked is how many hours of curriculum can be covered, and how many hours will be allocated to follow-up and practice? Most adult learning programs provided to employees never correct for the forgetting curve, which means there is little retention or new habit formation after the training.

Expecting employees to participate in mental health prevention programs over their lunch breaks or on evenings or weekends is ineffective.

Budget per FTE available to support workplace mental health initiatives

Besides benefits and employee and family assistance plans (EFAPs) that can cost employers anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 per employee, defining the workplace mental health budget per FTE is critical. I often ask during pre-planning if the employer is aware of the costs per FTE, such as disability, sick time, turnover, conflict, presenteeism, and errors due to mental illness. Most do not know. However, with some simple math and assumptions, it is relatively easy to estimate the costs. This activity helps employers realize that in most organizations, the price per FTE is much higher than the current investment in mental illness prevention, plus any new investment to prevent mental health concerns.

The ratio is typically about $8 for every dollar spent.

I suggest the goal for the employer is to close the ratio gap. Senior leaders need to understand the financial costs of maintaining mental health and the potential value of investment. Preplanning allows time to understand what budget per FTE will be required to have an impact.

Success metrics and program evaluation commitment

Our research has found many employers launching workplace mental health programs have not designed a scorecard or thought about what success looks like, and they have no budget or clarity on how to measure and evaluate a program.

A Plan-Do-Check-Act approach requires discipline, budget and resources. The Plan and Do seldom are enough. The learning and accountability happen in the Check and Act phases.

Before purchasing a program or investing time in delivering one, an employer should discuss the resources and time that will be allocated to program evaluation. For example, if 100 managers are trained in a two-day workshop for 16 hours at $100 per hour (including overhead), the total salary cost is $170,000. This does not consider lost productivity.

Pre-planning allows space to consider what will and will not be done to measure success and why.

Anticipate and plan for resistance

Planning for detractors and resistance is critical in change management.

Workplace mental health programs require two-way accountability. An employer funding a program, leaders role modelling and promoting it, and employees engaging and practicing all predict a program’s success.

Workplace mental health programs aim to develop habits that support a positive employee experience. Information is helpful but useless if it does not create change and new habits.

Awareness, accountability and action comprise a three-step model I have used for many years.

Planning and being aware of resistance and challenges to implementing any program can help with staging communication. Begin with pilots to learn how to implement and determine what incentives, rewards and communication tactics work. Consider the stakeholders (e.g., unions) who may be barriers or missed advocate opportunities if not respectfully and adequately engaged.

Dr. Bill Howatt is the Ottawa-based president of Howatt HR Consulting.