If your employees don’t feel safe, all the policies and resources in the world won’t matter. Having good mental health benefits is great, but making the environment safe for employees who take advantage of them is better.
In my opinion, most managers are in an untenable position. The people reporting to them are expected to be engaged, productive, and successful. That requires managers who care about them and provide flexible solutions that block any obstacles to their work being done in an engaged and productive way.
But wait—the C-suite is one of those obstacles! Layoffs, ridiculous RTO mandates, demands to “do more with less,” and a focus on shareholder profits above everything else don’t encourage employee engagement. They destroy it, but managers are expected to toe the line and support what’s happening.
That seems pretty stressful to me.
When we refer to women as “DEI hires,” what we are really saying is that we aren’t secure enough in our own accomplishments to let someone else shine. I imagine Carl would be embarrassed of us. I suppose the idea that we must diminish any woman’s achievements would be utterly unacceptable to the man who spent 60 years married to one of the most famous women in the world without ever feeling the need to grab the spotlight for himself.
We need examples like that. Carl Dean was one.
RIP
Those are just the reasons why many with supportive workplaces would be reluctant to talk about mental health at work. We also know that many workplaces are not supportive at all. In the era of the current administration pushing hard against DEI policies, workplace accommodations, and the mass layoffs happening all across the economy, why would we bring attention to ourselves and our mental health? Too many employers are looking for a reason to fire employees, and a mental health struggle might be one.
I haven’t started a podcast, though. That might be a bit too far for this introvert. But I’ve been a guest on a few, and I’m always open to being a guest on yours. Those connections can prove invaluable in the era of mass layoffs. I’m thankful to everyone who reads and shares my words with their network. That’s how the community gets built, and we are all better with a community of smart people around us willing to share their knowledge and connections.
Plus, introverts get to participate without competing with the loudest voices at the bar. The internet can provide that for all of us if we are willing to escape the enshittified social media platforms. It’s still there.
Put something into the world and let that work connect you to the audience who needs to see it. It’s like going to a networking event with the whole world.
The hype around AI has reached levels we’ve never seen before. Even skeptics of how well AI works must acknowledge that most professionals are aware of AI tools and curious enough to try them out. Do those efforts match the hype? Likely not, but the fact that AI is everywhere they look right now, except at work, tells them a lot about the firm they are working in. It’s not what they want to see from their firm.
What would be interesting to me is a follow-up survey of how many partners would leave if the firm did embrace AI and push them to use it in their practice.