Question: Stress and mental health are hot topics in the best of times. Since the pandemic started raising people’s stress levels, the issue has gotten increased attention. How does your company help employees deal with mental health issues?
Shawn Ellis
VP, Human Resources
Lovitt & Touché, A Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC Company
Sector: Insurance and Benefits
Promoting employees’ mental health and wellbeing has always been a core focus at Lovitt & Touché. As part of our wellness strategy, we offer several benefits and programs for employees to manage their mental health.
During the pandemic, we introduced a suite of mobile apps focused on mindfulness, meditation, exercise and more as a convenient way for employees to manage the unique mental and emotional stresses brought on by the pandemic and social distancing. We also pivoted regular, onsite wellness activities to a virtual environment, allowing employees to connect with colleagues while working from home. Additionally, our Employee Assistance Program provides free access to mental health professionals.
We take seasonal opportunities to remind employees about the importance of mental health. For instance, we provide a paid half-day off in honor of World Mental Health Day, allowing employees additional time to rest. For Mental Health Awareness Month, we sponsored a special wellness activity for colleagues and offered resources for them to use to help cope with a myriad of potential issues from anxiety to stress management.
Shawn Ellis is vice president of human resources with Lovitt & Touché. With more than two decades of HR experience, she has cultivated a passion and expertise in managing risks in recruitment, corrective action and termination stages.
Elizabeth Hart
SVP, People Operations
Axon
Sector: Manufacturing
Axon partners with Ginger to offer our employees 24/7 support. This platform provides 24/7 unlimited texting support, in addition to access to a resource library with exercises and activities.
We’ve learned there is great demand for around-the-clock support from our employee engagement surveys and listening to our employees. Beyond this, each employee at Axon is able to access 12 private 1:1 therapy or psychiatry sessions for free each year.
We’re proud to not only offer these benefits to our employees but to two of their loved ones as well. Throughout the year, we also partner with Weldon to support our working parents by providing live, expert-led webinars on a variety of important topics.
Elizabeth Hart joined Axon in 2019 and is responsible for leading the company’s global people organization. She resides in Arizona and currently sits on the board of Girls In Tech Phx. Hart holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Mary Washington.
Meagan Jackman
Managing Director
OH Partners
Sector: Advertising and Marketing
Our employees are our most valuable asset, and their mental health is of utmost importance to us. The pandemic was especially challenging for many of our “daytime roommates,” the majority of whom worked remotely from their homes in Phoenix and Las Vegas. While OH Partners always had personal wellness initiatives in place, we added free, private counseling services for those who needed extra support. In addition, our leadership team increased check-ins with team members.
We also changed our paid time off policy to offer unlimited PTO, so long as the work gets done and other team members are in place to manage projects. Our “Surprise & Delight Moments” have been well-received. In addition to giving employees a day off on Employee Appreciation Day in March, we surprised them with DoorDash coupons for a free lunch. We started our half-day Summer Fridays again, hoping an earlier start to the weekend will reduce stress. We also offer gratitude coaching, and we hope to resume our yoga sessions when we are back in office.
Meagan Jackman is managing director at OH Partners, an award-winning, inclusive advertising and digital marketing agency that has worked with many notable national brands in diverse categories, such as gaming, tourism and hospitality, entertainment, healthcare and consumer packaged goods. The dynamic agency has vast experience working with national and regional brands, such as Virgin Hotels, Gila River Hotels & Casinos, Arizona Lottery, Four Peaks (Anheuser-Busch), United Nations, Best Western and many others.
