How Businesses can Fix the Self-Care Hijack and Relieve Individual Burden

Welcome, everybody! I’m Wanda Thibodeaux, your host, and I am so glad you’ve joined me today for Faithful on the Clock, the podcast that’s entirely focused on getting your work and faith aligned. Today’s topic? Self-care and mental health. Has the idea of personal responsibility gone too far in that space, and if so, what can businesses like yours do to help? I’m ready, so let’s hit the ground running.

All right everybody. So jumping right in, I’m just gonna point out, I think we’re all aware that mental health and stress, those things have been big issues for workers for a long time. What’s different now, though, is that the pandemic has kind of exacerbated everything that was problematic. There’s just so much uncertainty, workloads have gotten heavier for a lot of people as companies tried to downsize, and people are really–they’re having to manage so much more than before on top of their usual work responsibilities, and they’re doing this all while mourning loved ones. And so it shouldn’t be surprising that the number of people who reported at least one symptom of a mental health condition has gone up 17 percent just over the past two years. That figure’s from the Mind Share Partners’ 2021 Mental Health at Work Report.

The bright side of all that is, that shift away from mental health stigma that was just getting started at the beginning of the pandemic is kind of accelerating. Leadership is really talking about, you know, how do we support our staff and create a culture where they really feel comfortable saying and receiving what they need? And some of this old attitude that workers just need to suck it up and stay silent is being challenged.

But as all this is happening, there’s a question of how much responsibility a business actually has. Or if you want to phrase it a little differently, where does personal accountability for mental health or general wellness end and social accountability start? You know, what really is a company’s role in taking care of their workers?

The first thing I want to say about this is, at least in American culture, there is a huge stress on individual responsibility. You know, let me just give you an example I think is realistic for a lot of people. Let’s say you’re in a crummy job that doesn’t pay a lot. So you have to work a lot of hours just to pay rent. And it’s stressful and you’re suffering but you’re living paycheck to paycheck. Well, a common response to that is, well, if the job is crummy, then you just take responsibility for yourself, you line up something else and you quit. You know, people will say you always have the choice, nobody’s forcing you to work at any specific place. And they’ll tell you, you’ve got options like meditation and whatever to manage the stress. But if you’re living paycheck to paycheck and working extra hours because the pay is bad, you know, it takes time to fill out applications, take classes to get certified in something else, it can take money people just don’t have. And those situations, you know, people get caught in a Catch-22 where it’s just this awful cycle they can’t get out of. And at least in the United States, we do not have a lot of safety nets to really counter that.

And so I really think that self-care has been hijacked in the sense that, rather than work on providing those safety nets, you know, really digging down to the root of the problems that are creating the mental health concerns in the first place and changing our entire systems and expectations, we’ve just allowed companies to profit off this idea that you always have to do for yourself. Self-care, right now, I mean, gosh, just go look up stress relief products on Amazon or whatever e-commerce site you use. Go look up how many people are trying to access services like massage or book weekends away from everybody. Overall, the wellness industry–and that includes a lot of things like fitness and antiaging, all of that–the wellness industry is worth 4.5 trillion globally, according to the Global Wellness Institute. Mental wellness by itself is worth $121 billion dollars a year. And on top of that, you know, we have some protections like overtime laws, mental health as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, things like that, but to my knowledge, we don’t really have standards applied across the board in a preventative way on how to measure the stress people encounter. I welcome anybody to correct me on that. So my perception is that there’s still a lot of instances of companies taking advantage of people and pushing them mentally more than they should.

So as believers, we have to ask, is this the kind of setup God wants? I mean, are we really just meant to fend for ourselves? And I think most people are familiar with Galatians 5:14 that says to love your neighbor as yourself. I think they know the story of the Good Samaritan, you know, they understand we’re supposed to give to the poor and widows and those kinds of people. But there are other verses that speak more generally to the sense of community and social responsibility. Deuteronomy 22: 4, for example, says, "Don't just watch your fellow Israelite's donkey or ox fall down in the road and do nothing about it. You must help your fellow Israelite get the animal up again." Proverbs 11:25 says, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” And I love that verse in particular because, when I think of being refreshed, I don’t just think physically. I think of being mentally and spiritually refreshed, too. But the verse I really want you to burn into your brain is Philippians 2:4. That says, “Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others.”

So we’re not supposed to just be these islands and always be concerned with our own best interests. We’re not supposed to expect that everybody carry everything alone. And if you’re leading, it’s your responsibility to make sure that there is balance between the individual and the group in terms of the provision of care. And there’s a ton you can do to improve things, starting with just observing and reaching out. Just looking around and saying, hey, I noticed you’ve got a lot on your plate, what can I do to help? It makes such a difference to people just to know that they’re visible. That they’re worth that minute or whatever it is for you to check in with them.

And then I think the next big thing is, really figure out what your employees want. I mean, maybe you think having somebody coming in to lead yoga is great, but what your team really wants is a more flexible schedule. You gotta ask questions and listen and adjust based on what they tell you. And the thing here is, you absolutely have to be willing to rethink your entire model. You have to be open to trying other things and restructuring because sometimes the standards you’ve based everything on really do need to go, OK? And I know, I know, it takes time to pivot, it takes money to do that. But happy, healthy employees, there’s all kinds of data on how workers are more productive, more innovative when they really feel valued and taken care of. You are gonna get that money back and then some, so whatever they need, make those investments as much as you can.

The last point I want to make here is that, I want to challenge you to think bigger than your business. Like I pointed out, the hijack we have here in the United States, that’s not just in a single business. That is a nationwide, culture-wide thing. And if you really believe in your industry, you believe in investing in the future, you look beyond a worker’s time with you. You want them to be able to go anywhere and succeed. So go out in your community. Challenge this notion that the individual has to just be a rock for themselves. Donate to charities dedicated to mental wellness, that bring the community together. Write letters, sign petitions to your government representatives, get them to change the laws and fix the loopholes that let people fall through the cracks. And just remember, big businesses, you do have a lot of social sway. People pay attention. And even if you’re a smaller company, there’s a lot of power in numbers. If we all come together and say, hey, how can we operate better, if we all put pressure on the big guys in power, eventually, they’ll bend. And just have courage about your ability to change the way things are, because time and time again, in scripture, God gave victory to the underdog.

I really do believe in our ability to care for and protect each other, and I want that for all of us. So let me just pray about it with you.

Father, we have a lot of options for how to take care of ourselves. But your vision for us was never to have us cope all alone. That vision demonstrates just how compassionate you are. So God, I just pray that when somebody’s struggling, when they’re going through hard stuff, work on their heart. Challenge that dark voice that tells them it’s not OK to reach out, and when they do reach out, let people take action instead of prioritizing themselves and how busy they are. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I’ve said all I can say on this one, listeners. Next week, the show is going to highlight toxic positivity. What is it, and how do you keep morale up while still being realistic? As you wait for that, please go to our Patreon page and sign up as a member. There are different plans to choose from, but funding from your membership is going to help me pay for all the tools I use to get the podcast out to you and market it, things like Canva, the podcast website hosting, all that. So if the podcast has blessed you, if you can see its value in your life, head to patreon.com/faithfulontheclock and sign up TODAY. Until next week, be blessed.