A recent report from Mercer found that employees deeply need mental health support. One in five respondents worldwide said they experience high or extreme levels of stress on a daily basis. Those numbers rose to 25% among U.S. workers.

The dire state of worker mental health isn’t exactly surprising. According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic triggered a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. As employees struggle to get the help they need, they’ve turned to their employers.

Eighty percent of respondents in a 2022 poll from the American Psychological Association said they plan to consider employers’ mental health-related offerings when they search for a new job.

Employers have taken note. Many organizations are offering new and enhanced mental health benefits, from wellness rooms and awareness efforts to time off and expanded health insurance coverage.

As organizations devise strategies to support worker mental health, I have one suggestion: Don’t forget the preventive measures. Some of the world’s leading experts in mental health point to the power of preventive care, yet it’s something we employers, in our haste to get workers the help they need, often forget about. Read on to learn more about one way employers can focus on prevention in mental wellness.

The value of prevention

As employers, and as people, we tend to view mental health care as something that comes after: after symptoms get bad, after a crisis occurs. Don’t get me wrong. Mental health support should be readily available and accessible whenever anyone needs it.

But there’s another timing element to consider: before. Consider the perspective of Nick Taylor, a U.K.-based clinical psychologist who founded workplace mental health platform Unmind. In an interview with HR Dive, Taylor spoke about employers’ overwhelming focus on reactive care.

“The historical approach to the topic of mental health has been to put all of our focus on people who have mental illnesses. And the problem is that category keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and we just can’t build enough nets to catch people as they kind of fall into that category of mental illness…All of the focus has been on reactive solutions; we wait for people to get unwell and we try to get them a solution for them. But there aren’t enough therapists, clinicians and social workers in the world to support those people. We’re saying, ‘Hold up. Stop putting all your attention on reactive care and focus your attention on proactive care.’”

What could prevention look like?

So how can employers provide their workforces with proactive mental health solutions? One possible solution: Coaching.

The APA encourages organizations to train managers to promote health and well-being. Managers and supervisors who work directly with employees have a special opportunity to highlight opportunities that create support.

I would suggest employers take this a step further and provide coaching with an eye toward mental health — not only as a way to flag issues but also as a way to build mental health strength. Through coaching, employers can help employees build resilience.

Coaching can be especially successful when employers are equipped with real-time data about their employees’ strengths and weaknesses. With PeopleBest’s AI-powered platform, employers get a picture of where their employees thrive, how they succeed, and where they need to buid. To find out how PeopleBest can serve your team, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies