Mental Heath is a Management Responsibility.

Kim Scott, the author of Radical Candor, says in her book that management requires emotional labor. It is just part of the job. When you work as an agile coach, scrum master, or product owner, you spend plenty of time guiding others to accomplish complex goals. It requires listening and helping people navigate emotions and thorny problems. I wish it were easy, but it involves self-knowledge and awareness that I have only developed over the last ten years. Today, we are facing a crisis in the workplace. Mental health issues are becoming more visible in the workplace, and it is up to us as leaders to mitigate the damage. 

Chicago radio station WBBM reported that the newest cohort of workers, Gen Z, is facing problems in the workforce. According to the Mary Cristie Institute, more than half of young professionals require emotional or mental health support. Furthermore, a whopping 53% experience burnout once a week. Beginning your professional career is always stressful, but these survey results are inexcusable. It also reminds me of my struggles in the job market thirty years ago. Entry-level work is not glamorous and often resembles ugly hazing. The low pay and the uncertain career advancement in this portion of the job sector are making matters worse. You grind at a job in the hopes of financial security and satisfaction, and these things are elusive in the entry-level slice of the economy. 

A newly minted college graduate has something that most organization employees lack – enthusiasm. Within a year or two, we crush that enthusiasm out of those people because we partner these employees with poor managers who make a bad situation worse. Forbes magazine and the Harvard Business Review point out that 70% of employees want managers to support staff's mental health better. 

First, employees want to feel like they are part of a team and making a difference in the organization. Next, they want to spend time with their families and friends. Work and business are commercial enterprises, not families, because I have never met a professional laid off from their family. Work allows us to support our families, and we would like to enjoy time with them. So for the staff's mental health, let them take time off to be with the people they love. Please do not make them choose between a client presentation or attending a music recital. Finally, workloads need to be better managed so that people do not feel like the weight of work is crushing them. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda said, "Happy cows make more milk." Ensuring the staff is respected and mentally healthy will do wonders for the bottom line. 

I can already see a few of my colleagues cynically criticizing mental health in the office. They might argue that new employees lack the mental toughness of previous generations. That argument is hogwash. If anything, this latest generation of employees is more robust. Generation Z has more pressure on them than previous generations, including wages that cannot pay for basic living expenses, large amounts of student debt, and a business environment that treats them like red solo cubs. Reducing the tensions among these people will create benefits that will be unexpected. 

Mental health feels like a touch-feely issue that does not impact the bottom line. Mental heal has everything to do with the bottom line because if your staff is sick or burnt out, your customers will know it. Do not be the company people leave because you don't care for the people who support customers. As a manager, we need to do emotional labor to help our employees succeed, and paying attention to mental health is just another part of the job. 

Until next time.