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That Time We Put Mental Health First

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Teal background with a woman meditating and the text,"That Time We Put Mental Health First."

The story our friend, Valerie Lego of WZZM 13 did on rethinking the 9 to 5 shone a light on mental health in the workplace and the need to well…for lack of a better word…pivot. Check it out below and see Kim looking all important.

A few weeks ago we shut down our office for two days to give our staff a much-needed break to recharge. We’ll be honest, we were a little nervous about how our clients might respond and if we could really do it…like really disconnect.

We wanted to share some of the responses we got, cause they made us smile.

  • Cheers to you all for prioritizing your people! Thank you for communicating this out and modeling the practice. I know your team appreciates it! 
  • Hi Kim- Congrats to you and your team! Hope you are doing well.
  • Peace be with you.
  • BRAVO !!!! 
  • I’m so happy to read this. I totally get it. We’ve been letting our team take as much time as they feel they need (but still delivering). Enjoy your time relaxing. You’ve earned it! 
  • Very coolest reward I’ve seen from a company – way to be, as always, Kim B (smiley face)

Here is the deal, it pays to put mental health and your employees first. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) says 77% of the reasons behind employee departures are preventable. We won’t go into all the reasons, you can read more in our Great Resignation blog and podcast.

SHRM also estimates that it costs $20,000 to $30,000 in recruiting and training expenses to replace a manager making $40,000 a year. This doesn’t even account for losses in terms of interview time, knowledge, productivity, or cultural impact.

Whether you are a small or larger business, that’s a lot of money. Wouldn’t it make more sense to invest into retention? Here is the deal, employees who feel like they are genuinely listened to by their managers are nearly five times more likely to have high job enthusiasm and 21 times more likely to feel committed to their company than those who do not feel listened to.

So maybe start with listening.

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