This article is a call to action for employers. It’s clear the children’s mental health crisis is impacting the bottom line of corporate America. It’s estimated that workplace stress is costing U.S. employers 200 billion every year in healthcare costs alone. It’s time we provide more support to working parents who are terrified and burnt out from worries about their children.
Working parents make up approximately 81% of the U.S. workforce, and according to a 2023 Pew Research report, 75% of them say that their main concern is their children’s mental health. Wow. There is definitely a disconnect between what parents need and what they are receiving through workplace benefits.
When employees have children who experience trauma and/or struggle with mental health problems, it affects their ability to show up and do their job effectively. It can also significantly impact the adult’s mental health, causing an infinite loop of crises within the family and workplace. High levels of stress can lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms for working parents, such as substance misuse, that interferes with their ability to perform at work.
As a former trauma therapist for children, I believe businesses benefit from providing their employees with access to guidance and support to cope with children’s mental health problems.
How the Children’s Mental Health Crisis is Impacting Working Parents
According to research by Blue Cross Blue Shield, concerns about our children’s mental health are brought to work with us every day, and they impact the success of your organization and the tension within your teams.
In addition, David M. Cordani, chairman and CEO of The Cigna Group, says in a recent article, “To foster a vital, thriving society, we must change the trajectory of the mental health crisis and address the human and economic toll at its very core. In collaboration with employers, we have the unique ability to curb the crisis by more effectively engaging parents and children quickly and seamlessly and fostering workplaces that are supportive of family mental health.” Amen, Mr. Cordani!
A huge part of this problem is that employees don’t feel comfortable speaking to their supervisor or human resources department about children’s mental health due to the stigma and/or fear of being terminated from their role. This is a problem for businesses because it means the workforce doesn’t feel safe enough to be honest with their supervisors. Executive leadership can grow past this problem by asking themselves:
“What it is about me and my company’s culture that makes people want to hide their struggles?”
What are the Pain Points for Working Parents?
- We are overwhelmed by the daily demands of a 9-5 job while also needing to get our kids to appointments and activities. In many cases, this seems like a hopeless task for working parents, leading to despair and burnout.
- We feel extreme pressure to be our best at work, while simultaneously wanting to be the best parents we can be. These competing priorities leave us feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place. No matter which one we choose, we lose.
- Many people experienced trauma and loss during the pandemic, and nobody is acknowledging it, especially at work.
- We are lonely. Even though we are surrounded by people these connections are often shallow. Parents need authentic and trust-based connections to thrive at work.
- Anxiety about our children’s well-being is at an all-time high, impacting our ability to concentrate and regulate our nervous system while at work. This stress can increase the risk of workplace conflict and aggression.
- Most children don’t have access to mental health care when they need it, leaving parents to handle it themselves with little training or skill regarding children’s mental health problems.
According to Jeffery Pfeffer, renowned Stanford University Professor and author of the book, Dying for a Paycheck, “The evidence shows that social support—family and friends you can count on, as well as close relationships—can have a direct effect on health and buffers the effects of various psychosocial stresses, including workplace stress, that can compromise health. For instance, one review noted that “people who were less socially integrated” and “people with low levels of social support” had higher mortality rates.”
I see this as an opportunity for action. I see hope in the support we could be providing at work for parents. Imagine the untapped potential to improve well-being if we provide more access to mental health programs and parenting support at work.
How Employers Can Support Children’s Mental Health for Working Parents
- Parenting workshops as professional development. Encourage employees to join the conversation through professional development that addresses the children’s mental health crisis and how to support children with trauma, anxiety, and depression. This will validate employees’ feelings and show that it’s safe to talk about it at work. I’m picturing workshops and speaking events for working parents on trauma-informed parenting, reducing anxiety in children, and building emotional resiliency in families. The more stable people feel at home, the more reliable, committed, and productive they can be at work.
- Be vulnerable and lead by example. When leaders have the courage to say, “I’m dealing with some mental health problems in my family,” it gives employees permission to speak up before they burn out. At the crux of it, we are all struggling right now to make sense of our world and the chaos we are in. We are afraid of what the future holds for our children, and knowing our employer will support us through these hard times is crucial to our mental health, productivity, and job satisfaction.
- Promote collective care at work. The past four years have been all about self-care as the solution to the mental health crisis, but as we can see, self-care isn’t enough. Collective care means we are committed to building communities in our workplaces that support each other. The only way to do that is through meaningful connection with one another, which isn’t always easy to accomplish in a regular workday. Perhaps employers could offer kid-friendly retreats and other alternative gathering spaces where the only purpose is to build trustworthy relationships.
I recognize that there is not an easy solution to these problems. However, I believe we have unrealized potential waiting for us through providing guidance and trauma-informed caregiving skills to employees via training and development.
If you want to learn more about children’s mental health and how to build emotional resiliency in families, subscribe to my free newsletter at BethTyson.com or join my private Facebook group, Emotiminds.
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Author: Beth Tyson, MA
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