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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Tyler Arvig
Mar-Apr 2021

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Navigating the second pandemic

As recently conveyed in a conversation with my boss, I’ve hit a proverbial wall with COVID-19. The accumulative stressors we all feel are starting to take a toll — even now, at a time when we are on the cusp of large-scale vaccination. My guess is this may resonate with you and the people who work for you. And it will stay this way the for foreseeable future.

While many workplaces have made policy changes in response to the pandemic, only one in six employees feel supported by their employers. Furthermore, most employees cite behavioral health as a primary concern, yet indicate that their employers are not supporting it well, according to a McKinsey & Company report. In fairness to employers, this is not surprising: In the past 12 months, everything from business models to staffing, operations, layoffs and hiring have been made more complex. Becoming well-versed in behavioral health has been a competing priority — but one that must now become a main focus.

Supporting the health of your employees is an essential part of your business operation. By now, you have likely seen the impacts of employees struggling with stress, decreased productivity, increased absenteeism and higher rates of turnover. After all, as a recent report from Oracle notes, most employees report struggling mentally during this time. Welcome to the next pandemic in the workplace. It will extend well beyond when the COVID-19 virus is under control, and it is already affecting the workforce. So, what is to be done?

Current employer-sponsored solutions don’t meet the needs of today’s workplace. Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) are valuable but woefully underutilized, yet five out of six employees report needing more mental health support. HR or policy changes may be useful, but go largely unnoticed. And worksite health initiatives, if present, have likely been paused. Employees with access to private health insurance may be disinclined to engage in traditional mental health services due to financial constraints, lack of time, or concerns related to in-person office services due to possible viral exposure.

Supporting your workforce now, in the midst of a mental health pandemic, requires three main components: Identify, support and evaluate.

Identify

Determining who is struggling is the critical first step. As leaders and managers, this may be a new skill set, made more challenging as remote/hybrid working means fewer interactions with your people. While it may seem daunting at first, it doesn’t have to be, and you can also consider partnering with a behavioral health professional to help proactively reach out to your team, if resources allow. While these are just some of the indicators of someone who may need support, here are some ways to identify an employee who may be struggling:

  • Obvious changes in mood/behavior (crying, withdrawing from conversations, visible anxiousness)
  • Verbalization of feeling stressed or overwhelmed
  • Changes in productivity or attendance
  • Decreased engagement with others
  • Verbalization of hopelessness or helplessness

Support

The most important aspect of assisting those struggling with mental health issues is making sure they feel supported. Employees who spend hours each day working need to feel their employer cares about them. Those who feel supported will likely reciprocate with harder work, greater devotion and more pride in the organization. This leads to a better work environment, healthier people, and ultimately, also helps your bottom line. Employees who navigate stress, anxiety, depression, etc., better are going to be more engaged and productive at work. An employee who is struggling personally will also struggle at work.

Overall, it looks like this:

  • Lead from the top:
    Leadership that shows they care about their people set the tone for the organization. Make meaningful and visible efforts to show that employee mental health is a priority.
  • Train/encourage managers to follow suit:
    Managers should check in with their employees periodically about more than day-to-day business. Simple questions like, “Is there anything more I can do to support you?” often go a long way toward showing care as a fellow human being.
  • Reevaluate existing solutions:
    Do not assume the solutions of yesterday are relevant today. Providing the 1-800 number in the employee handbook for your EAP may have worked before, but today is likely to be overlooked. How can you promote it now? Wellness programs of yesterday will likely not translate to current work realities. How can they be adapted? No matter what, overt communication and encouragement are crucial.
  • Consider creative solutions:
    Think outside the box. Consider proactive outreach to check in, instead of waiting for someone to ask for help. Re-envision what the typical workday looks like — with things like personal time or breaks woven in throughout. Listen to what your team is saying, and address their needs.

Evaluate

Evaluation is an often-forgotten element of employee support. It is easy to throw out ideas or solutions, but lack of follow up means we often cannot evaluate if what we are doing meets our teams’ needs. Considerations include:

  • Do policy changes have a quantifiable impact on your employees’ lives?
  • Do our employees know about — and how to use — our EAP services?
  • Is management support happening? If so, is it useful?

Evaluation does not necessarily mean a need to dive into hard metrics or complex data. And from an employer standpoint, you may want to keep your data collection limited, so as to not impede on employee’s private health concerns. Yet, tracking efficacy and utilization is key to answering the basic and important question at hand: “Am I supporting my employees’ health in a way that works?”

A worthy investment

Optimized and healthy employees are productive employees. Many of these suggestions are low- or no-cost to you, or to your employee, yet make a big difference. Every employer can afford to do something. Plus, when taking into account attrition, absenteeism and the cost of re-hiring, it becomes clear that any dollars spent in prevention are well worth the investment.

There actually is an easy answer to the question of how to support your employees during this mental health pandemic. Here it is: Recognize the need and do something to meet that need. From there, build out what works for you, for your people, for your culture.