Instead of an anxiety-inducing tome of options, how about offering your employees a platform with the tools they need to actively address mental health concerns before they spiral into bigger problems?
Large employers plan to combat expected 2021 increases in employee health costs in part by upping proactive mental health services. That sounds great on the surface, but having a smorgasbord of choices is a recipe for confusion, option fatigue, and decision paralysis.
We learned this with 401(k) plans in the '90s and cafeteria health plans last decade: Trying to navigate a winding road of endless options gets in the way of making even the simplest decisions in life. Dropping a ton of options in employees' laps — mental health–related rewards, incentives, mindfulness apps, mental health platforms, fitness programs, and more — will not only prevent them from making a well-considered choice, it will steer them completely away from the help they need.
Why giving employees more options isn't necessarily a good thing
More isn't better if it doesn't lead to better choices. As Psychology Today explains, if someone is faced with too many options or finds it too daunting to make a decision, they likely choose one of two negative paths: They'll simply avoid making a decision at all, or they'll make the simplest, easiest decision to just get the ordeal over with. Either way, people often end up less satisfied with their decision than if they'd had fewer options in the first place.
Do you really want your employees playing eenie-meenie-minie-moe with their mental health benefits? To put a finer point on it, having too many options results in the 3 Stages of Too Many Choices:
- Decision paralysis — Too many choices can distract anyone from clearly seeing what they really want. They may go into your health care portal knowing they want one option but come away thinking they want something else — or maybe no longer sure of what they actually want.
- Decision fatigue — After going back and forth among many options — and perhaps forgetting what they even wanted in the first place — your participants are tired and just want to make a decision. So instead of choosing what they really want or need, they make a decision based on what's easiest.
- Buyer's remorse — Once they've waded through the endless options and performed the wearying task of making a decision, they start thinking about all the other options they could have made and are wondering if those options would have been better than the one they settled on. They spend their days imagining what might have been.
None of this helps your employees make the best choices for their mental health. So, if more choices isn't the answer, what is?
Take a whole-person approach
Instead of an anxiety-inducing tome of options, how about offering your employees a platform with the tools they need to actively address mental health concerns before they spiral into bigger problems? Mental health is something we all have, every day, and we all need the right tools to feel our best for where we are on the spectrum of mental wellbeing. The best way to help employees, regardless of where they are on the spectrum of mental wellbeing, is to adopt a whole-person approach to mental health rather than throwing a long list of random options at them and assuming employees can figure out what they need.
You need a platform that offers employees various kinds of programs and exercises to support them where they are today. They also need these tools to support their mental, physical, and emotional well-being. For example:
- In-the-moment exercises — to boost everyday wellbeing and help employees unwind, relax, and be more mindful
- Self-guided programs — to improve sleep, reduce stress, manage anxiety, and more
- Expressions of gratitude — help employees celebrate each other's achievements and share praise
- Clinically backed insights — to help self-assess mental health and provide insights and personalized tips, without stigma or ambiguity
All of these tools should be based on supporting the areas that contribute to employees' well-being — such as happiness, sleep, coping, calmness, connection, fulfillment, and overall health. Each of these parts of daily life in turn nourish anyone's mental, physical, and emotional health. Of course, these areas overlap differently in each of us. A platform with a whole-person approach will support your employees no matter which area of their well-being needs attention today.
Quality over quantity
The old saying is true: In some cases, less is more. It all comes down to helping your people focus on what they really need and not distracting them with a bunch of stuff they don't. By giving them access to useful tools that are there whenever they need them, for whatever their mental health needs are, you can meet your employees' mental wellness needs in the moment and help them address stress and anxiety before they spiral into bigger mental health problems.
Dr. Nick Taylor is CEO and co-founder of Unmind, the authoritative, trusted workplace mental health platform. Throughout his career, Dr. Taylor has always worked in mental health. During his time as a lead clinical psychologist in Britain's National Health Service, he realized the true importance of giving people the right care at the right time, and why the focus on mental health needs to be preventative.
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