Supporting Managers in Providing Mental Healthcare

Stress continues to be commonplace at work. Nearly half of all employees surveyed (47%) of people managers and 46% of general employees) report feeling stressed or overwhelmed at work at least a few times a week, according to a recent survey, Bridging the Gap – Empowering managers to lead with innovation and care, from Lyra, a provider of workforce mental health care. 

The key to helping employers is having managers trained in recognizing and addressing the issue. And this is what the research found. "Our research indicates that providing effective support to managers is essential for organizations to effectively integrate employee mental health as a key aspect of overall well-being and business strategy," the report said.

They offered the following calls to action:

Provide managers with structured training and protected time to strengthen their own mental health literacy and understanding of team members’ mental health needs.

Almost three-quarters of people managers surveyed report receiving insufficient support to address employee well-being.

Organizations must ensure that managers understand how to access resources and feel equipped to respond to their employees’ needs. Training could cover practical interpersonal skills, including reflective supervision, discussions about emotionally demanding tasks, encouraging emotional expression, rotating tasks to reduce stress, and framing mistakes as learning opportunities.

Foreground trust and privacy when considering adoption of digital and AI tools.

Confidentiality around the use of digital and AI tools is a concern for 61% of surveyed employees, while over half fear judgment and retribution for information shared with tools like chatbots.

Although HR teams may feel confident about AI adoption, it is critical that organizations address employee concerns about privacy and trust, especially among managers who are expected to lead implementation, while maintaining confidence and psychological safety within their teams.

Ensure that human interaction remains a priority when adopting new technologies.

For people managers, the fear that AI tools might replace human judgment and empathy is significant. To address this concern, companies must ensure that new tools are implemented to enhance human-led support, rather than replace it.

People managers should be formally engaged in trialing, selecting, and integrating the implementation of new technologies, while simultaneously receiving ongoing support and feedback opportunities. As digital and AI solutions gain momentum, the pace of adoption must be managed carefully to avoid undermining trust and creating overwhelm, with people managers playing a key part in the rollout.

Implement forward-thinking data collection, monitoring, and analysis to help managers understand and address their team’s current and future mental health needs.

Limited understanding of employee needs and expectations among management and senior leadership constrains the success of existing mental health support and hampers the design of new tools and approaches that will genuinely help.

Investing in data-driven insights would empower managers to tailor their actions, anticipate challenges, and make informed decisions that improve team well-being and overall performance.

Tailor approaches to meet the challenges presented to people managers by demographic, cultural, and generational variation.

Multinational companies employ people with wide-ranging attitudes and needs, including those related to work and mental health. Therefore, they should enable managers of such multicultural teams to offer mental health support that is tailored and equitable, rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach.

Empower people managers by securing C-suite commitment to workplace mental health—and demand it from prospective C-suite candidates.

Less than a third of employees surveyed believe that their organization considers mental health a priority. This perception creates additional challenges for HR and people managers working to support employees, while balancing business goals.

HR teams must continue to “sell” the case to C-suite leaders through a data-driven, necessity-plus-opportunity approach that underscores the business benefit. In the longer term, companies will need to embed a commitment to well-being such that it becomes a must-have for C-suite and managerial recruitment.