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Ever since I started working on mental health care 10 years ago, almost every individual I meet can speak to me, privately and intimately, about their mental health journey and the battles it comes with—but until recently, those stories never came above the surface in public spaces. Workplaces did not talk about mental health, schools did not talk about it, and battling with depression was certainly not a conversation someone shared with their manager at work.
Over the past 18 months, something profound happened: We all stopped pretending. Employees’ former secret battles–with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and more–evolved into the foremost concern workplaces are looking to solve over the next five years. In one fell swoop, mental illness skyrocketed and employers, health plans, and health systems were immediately under pressure to meet the need.
I am watching CEOs, CHROs, and heads of benefits sprint to onboard mental health benefits to support their teams. It’s a beautiful act of support–but doing so without an understanding of our mental health care system and what today’s solutions can and can’t offer you can, at best, do nothing for your organization, and at worst, damage it.
What we’re facing
Mental illness is skyrocketing. Last year alone, 76% of U.S. workers reported at least one symptom of mental illness. The situation looks nothing like it did even three years ago.
Every employee engagement survey you see reports mental health as the number one issue in organizations. And yet, utilization of mental health benefits is extremely low, with the average utilization rate by employees hovering around 2%.
This is impacting the bottom line: absenteeism, productivity, turnover rates, and even customer net promoter score. Today, mental illness drives 200 million lost workdays each year at a cost of $17 to $44 billion to employers annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Employees are now going directly to their people managers to discuss their depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. But people managers do not have the tools to manage these conversations. The repercussions can be dangerous.
The future population of our workplace
In less than a decade, Gen Z and Millennials will make up 60% of our global workforce. They are the future foundation of our workplaces–but this generation is also our sickest. Some 91% of Gen Z adults have experienced at least one physical symptom because of their mental health.
Compared to pre-pandemic rates, behavioral health utilization is up 35% for Millennials and their children. Relative to previous generations, Gen Zers are about twice as likely to battle depression. In fact, 42% of the Gen Z population already live with a diagnosed mental health condition.
What’s more, 81% of Gen Z adults and 68% of Millennials report leaving their jobs for mental health-related reasons. If we don’t solve this issue, we will not have a workforce to speak of.
Why 1:1 therapy is not the perfect solution
From truck drivers and manufacturing employees, to store associates and hospitality workers, deskless workers make up 80% of our global workforce and face high rates of mental illness with remarkably poor access to care.
Research shows that mistreatment by customers–something that 62% of restaurant employees experienced in 2021 alone–drives burnout and leads to mental illness.
Physically demanding hours are also all too common for deskless workers and affect their professional and personal lives. As an example, 32% of warehouse and transport workers say that their jobs make them too tired to engage with friends and family10–social support that is crucial for strong mental health.
What’s more, 47% of hourly employees report that they cannot easily anticipate what days and times they will work week to week, making an hour of 1:1 therapy appointment every week inaccessible.
A good therapist can change your life via 1:1 therapy–but it’s not sustainable for the 93% of employees without access to a therapist. Those who do have the means have issues with timing–taking one hour of your week during “office hours” is not realistic in most working environments.
Across our entire country, the total number of therapists would only be enough to provide weekly therapy to 7% of the population. The problem is more profound for employees of color and we only have enough therapists of color to support 1.7% of people of color in our country. In order to improve mental health outcomes, clients need a therapist of the same race. As a result, people who need care do not receive it. They suffer progressively more because of it.
As a society, we need solutions that will deliver better outcomes for workers. We need tools that are scalable, affordable, confidential, and trustworthy; accessible when employees need it; inclusive, engaging, and clinically effective. We must stop perpetuating a broken mental health care system–or else our workforce will suffer.
Ariela Safira founded Real, a mental wellness membership that offers a personalized everyday mental health journey, with on-demand therapist-created tools, and expert-led mental wellness events with engaging community stories to support you wherever you are on your mental wellness journey.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
