Beyond Benefits: Communicate Mental Well-Being with Purpose

Turn awareness into action by embedding mental well-being into your culture, leadership and everyday communication.

Research shows that employees who are in good physical, mental and emotional health are more likely to deliver optimal performance in the workplace than employees who are not.¹ Yet only 55% of employees said they were very or extremely likely to use their employer-provided mental health benefits, and 74% reported feeling only moderately supported at best.²

Communication is key

It’s not enough to have robust mental health programs and support for your employees; they need to know what’s available to them and that you support their mental well-being. Make sure to address stigma and confidentiality fears with reassurance on safeguards in place for employees who take advantage of resources.

Follow these three steps to demonstrate how your organization supports mental and emotional well-being:

1. Include employee mental well-being as a part of your culture and employee value proposition (EVP)

Mental health becomes embedded into your organization’s culture if your organization’s values include support for employee mental/emotional well-being or holistic well-being (physical, financial and mental/emotional). Of course, this only works if you communicate the company’s values to employees and continually reinforce those messages, while demonstrating support in tangible ways through your offerings and communication.

According to Gallagher's 2025 U.S. Workforce Trends Report: Benefits Benchmarks, 56% of employers reported mental health is an elevated priority this year.

2. Have leadership and managers support and promote your organization’s mental well-being resources

Leadership example-setting goes a long way in fostering trust in your mental well-being messages. Have senior leaders communicate their support:

• In all-employee messages
• Using authentic storytelling: telling their own story to make leadership more relatable. When managers and executives model healthy behaviors and talk about their journeys – taking PTO, encouraging teams to unplug, and checking in with empathy – it transforms abstract policies into concrete practices³
• In messages to managers about their role in supporting employees’ mental well-being and promoting available programs and resources

To ensure accuracy and consistency of your messaging, provide:

• Key talking points for senior leaders and clarity on the important role they play
• Talking points and FAQs for managers, local/plant leaders and local HR – include links to online resources
• Training for local HR, managers and well-being champions (if you have them) – review offerings, key messages and provide time for Q&A

3. Communicate the breadth of mental well-being offerings, beyond the traditional EAP

“Affordability and access are ongoing barriers. More than half of surveyed employees cited cost as a key challenge in accessing care, compounded by confusion around benefits access and skepticism about their effectiveness,” according to a 2025 Forrester Consulting report.²

Employees need to know all resources available to them and their family members, including:

• Employee assistance program (EAP): Do they know your EAP is more than the X number of free counseling sessions? Are they familiar with available resources such as stress management and mindfulness? Do they know about the work-life and financial services the EAP offers?
• Medical plan and other health care providers: What mental well-being services or programs are offered through your medical plan or other health care providers such as health advocates and virtual health care providers?
• Wellness resources: Does your company offer a wellness program? If so, what resources does it offer?
• Financial resources: According to a TIAA Institute 2024 report, 42% of U.S. adults say that money negatively impacts their mental health, and financial stress has resulted in a 34% increase in absenteeism and tardiness. Employees who are financially stressed are also five times more likely to be distracted by finances while at work.⁴ Help employees connect how their overall mental well-being can be affected by financial worries. Communicate the breadth of the financial planning resources available to them such as:
  - Programs through their 401(k) or other savings plans
  - Employee discount programs
  - Voluntary benefits, including long-term care insurance
  - Flexible spending accounts
• Emergency services: Provide suicide prevention line numbers in your communication

Communicating your mental well-being messages

Think about the words you use. “Mental health” could have stigma for some employees. You could use “for life’s challenges” and “support for a healthier balance.”

Here are some key messages to consider including in your employee communication:

• It’s okay to not be okay. It’s normal to have ups and downs, and it’s okay to ask for help
• Mental and emotional well-being are as important to your total well-being as physical and financial well-being
• The company supports your mental well-being not just during mental health month, but all year long
• You have a wide variety of available resources, and many are at no cost to you
• Our resources are completely confidential

Don’t just communicate these important messages once. Reinforce your messaging throughout the year using a multi-pronged approach, which could include:

• Home mailers
• Posters and TV monitor displays at locations
• Tiles/posts on company intranet
• A mental well-being microsite with resources employees can access from home and work
• Videos, including testimonials from leaders and everyday employees
• Posts on internal social media channels
• Messages by employee resource groups (ERGs) – also known as special interest groups (SIGs) or business resource groups (BRGs) – for example, specialized resources available to employees who are veterans and LGBTQ+
• Messages from senior leadership, managers and local/plant leaders during employee meetings

The bottom line

What’s key is communicating about mental health and well-being when an employee is ready to hear your message – whether they are struggling themselves or a family member is struggling. That’s why repeating your message through different media and using varied messengers (such as leaders, other employees and allies) throughout the year is vital. It’s about communicating at the right time, in the right place and with the right channel.

We’re here to help: Find tips for communicating during times of uncertainty. And contact us for support in communicating mental/emotional well-being.

Sources

1 Adams, M Jerome. The Value of Worker Well-Being, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, 10 October 2019.
2 Mental Health at Work: The Benefits Gap and How to Close It, Forrester Consulting – Commisioned by Spring Health, May 2025. Gated PDF.
3 Faccio, Dena. How comprehensive benefits & culture drive employee mental wellness, Benefits Pro, 17 June 2025.
4 Connecting mental and financial wellbeing: Insights for employers, TIAA Institute with the High Lantern Group, 2024. Gated PDF