As awareness around mental health grows, so too do employee expectations regarding support and benefits. Modern NZ workers are looking for genuine care and assistance from their employers - not just tick-box employee assistance programs (EAPs), but relevant benefits that make a meaningful difference to health and wellbeing: flexible work, access to support and regular check-ins.
Around 63% of New Zealand workers are currently feeling somewhat or completely burnt out, with constant stress (41%), anxiety (37%) and isolation (34%) the main symptoms.
Despite these rather alarming figures, workplace support programs continue to be reactive, or worse, non-existent. When 'support' is an intranet link to an article about how to reduce stress, or a phone number for a mental health charity, workers are unlikely to feel cared for, or to secure the assistance they need to perform at their peak. These aren't employee wellbeing strategies - they're afterthoughts and PR exercises that staff see right through.
To create a truly supportive, high-performance culture in the long-term, you need to put genuine thought, time and resources into your mental health assistance program. In this guide we'll show you how.
Why has it become essential to provide mental health support to employees?
Supporting your employees is critical because workers are feeling more burnt out than ever, and you need them to feel good to perform at their peak. Offering assistance is not an expense, but an investment that can deliver real returns, while also helping you retain your best workers and enhance your employer brand to attract even more top talent.
A focus on mental health is no longer seen as a nice little extra. It has become a core expectation among workers, particularly the very best.
With levels of stress and burnout increasing year-on-year, employee expectations are increasing too. If workers don't feel their employer cares about their mental health condition or circumstances, and doesn't offer a solid approach featuring tools and treatments, they'll seek employment elsewhere.
A caring and compassionate workplace is a compelling workplace. Perhaps surprisingly, 36% of Kiwi employees would choose better support for their wellbeing over a 10% increase in pay. Investing in a wellness program makes you less reliant on offering big salaries to attract great workers, as your culture of care is the main allure.
Why do traditional wellbeing benefits fall short?
Traditional wellbeing benefits - mindfulness apps, support articles on the company intranet, fruit bowls, mental health seminars - can feel like a check box that an employer is obliged to tick. They're generic, ineffective, and often outright irrelevant. Truly effective perks are customised to the needs and wants of your workforce.
Traditional health and wellbeing perks, and the issues with them, include:
Generic EAPs: Written resources, anonymous phone lines and counselling sessions can feel like tick-box exercises, and aren't often utilised by those who need help.
Fruit bowls/office snacks: While a nice gesture, healthy food does nothing to alleviate stress or poor leadership.
Wellness days: A single day of rest is ineffective if the employee returns to an even more crushing pile of emails the next morning.
Gym memberships: These assume employees have the time or energy to exercise, which is often not the case.
Mindfulness apps: A subscription to a meditation app can feel dismissive if the underlying issue is not recognised or addressed.
Team-building retreats: These can be stressful for introverted staff or those already struggling with work-life balance.
You might think that traditional mental health benefits are popular for a reason. But that just isn't true. In this case 'traditional' is another word for 'generic'. The challenges faced by your workforce are far from standard - each worker has their own struggles, from basic stress and anxiety to more serious medical issues, addictions or even disabilities.
Traditional wellbeing offerings don't take the intricacies of your workforce into account. The focus needs to switch from surface-level perks to real support.
What does effective workplace mental health support actually look like?
To meaningfully address and improve the mental health of your workers, it must become a fundamental part of your culture. It should be part of your organisation's DNA and a constant focus for leaders. Workers should feel safe and supported, and have access to relevant and effective help. And they should be afforded the flexibility that our modern lives so often demand.
Let's dive a little deeper into what separates the best approaches from the rest.
Leadership and culture
Effective support starts with human leadership. Managers must be trained to model healthy boundaries and spot signs of distress. Leaders should openly discuss mental health to help reduce the stigma that so often surrounds it, and that prevents employees from seeking the help they need before they reach a crisis point.
Flexible work and workload management
Support is most effective when it addresses the root cause of burnout: the work itself. Aim for functional flexibility; wherever possible, allow employees to work where and when they want. Shift the focus from hours to productivity: it shouldn't really matter when the work is completed, or how long it took, as long as it is done. Be open to adjusting deadlines and redistributing tasks when a worker indicates they are struggling.
Access to meaningful support
While EAPs have their place, they should offer the deep and multi-layered assistance that truly helps workers in need, rather than the surface level offerings of years gone by: instant access to professional support, subsidised private therapy sessions, and dedicated wellness days (that don't allow work to build up).
Psychological safety
The bedrock of mental health is the belief that one can speak up about mistakes, pressures and challenges without fear of career repercussions. A safe environment allows for early intervention that prevents small issues from growing into something bigger. It also stops workers from 'quiet quitting' - checking out of their jobs and waiting for the employer to notice and act.
Key takeaways:
Reactive or superficial wellbeing programs must be replaced by integrated, proactive and genuinely effective support.
Shifting the focus from logged hours to total productivity can help to address the root causes of burnout.
Leaders must champion an open culture where employees can speak about mental pressures without fear of the repercussions.
What is the business case for investing in mental wellbeing assistance?
An investment in the mental health and wellbeing of your workforce is one of the best you can make. Happy workers are 12% more productive, and the healthiest can be 3x more effective than the least healthy.
It's been said before, but it bears repeating: your workers are your most important asset. By investing in their health and wellness, you indirectly but very effectively invest in the health and wellness of your business.
Healthy and happy workers are more productive and make your organisation more money. Then there are the long-term effects on retention and attraction: the very best workers are more likely to stay with your business if they feel fully supported, and as word spreads about the warm and welcoming nature of your workplace, you become a destination for top talent.
With an ROI of $5-$12 for every $1 spent, investing in the mental wellbeing of your staff isn't just the right thing to do on a human level - it's a truly shrewd business move.
How do you assess your current wellbeing offering?
To assess how effective your current employee wellbeing program is, you should check how much each element is being used, survey your workers on its relevance and usefulness, and check on how effectively your managers are communicating and delivering the program.
If your wellbeing strategy has sat untouched for years, it probably no longer meets the needs of your employees... and perhaps never did in the first place. You can't 'set and forget' effective support - successful programs demand ongoing evaluation to ensure your investment translates into impact.
To determine if your approach still works, conduct this self-check every six months:
Usage of support services: Are your EAP or wellness benefits actually being utilised? Low engagement often signals that the services are too difficult to access, that they lack relevance, or they carry a lingering stigma.
Employee feedback: Conduct employee surveys that ask specifically about underlying issues such as unmanageable workloads, a lack of autonomy, or the ability to disconnect after hours, and how well your current program addresses them.
Manager capability: Can your leaders deliver both empathy and action? Consider training your managers on how to effectively provide support, and give them the necessary authority to adjust workloads or restructure roles when a team member is at risk of burnout.
Next steps: building a meaningful, long-term approach
True support is not a one-off project - it's a commitment to prioritising the health and wellness of your workers into the very DNA of your business. And when you do, it becomes a true win-win: your people enjoy feelings of comfort, safety and resilience, while your business gains a loyal, high-performance team.
At 1Team we help NZ organisations bridge the gap between intent and impact, by offering perks that complement the mental health support that Kiwi workers crave.
Contact us today to find out how we can help you create a sustainable, culture-led competitive advantage.
Summary / Key Takeaways
Prioritise culture over perks: Genuine mental health support requires a shift in organisational DNA, rather than relying on superficial tick-box benefits like fruit bowls and mindfulness apps.
Move from hours to outcomes: Adopting functional flexibility and focusing on productivity instead of logged hours can directly address the root causes of burnout and stress.
Invest for a high return: Wellbeing is a financial strategy as much as a moral one, with New Zealand businesses seeing an ROI of $5-$12 for every $1 invested.
Build psychological safety: Empowering managers to lead with humanity and ensuring employees can speak up without fear is the only way to prevent quiet quitting and long-term absenteeism.
Attract talent through care: In a competitive market, a reputation for authentic support is a more powerful recruitment tool than a 10% salary increase for over a third of Kiwi workers - including many of the very best.
FAQs
What mental health support should employers provide?
Employers should provide a proactive mix of professional support services, functional flexible work options, and a leadership culture that actively identifies and manages potential issues.
Are EAPs enough on their own?
No. While employee assistance programs offer a reactive safety net, they are rarely effective without broader structural support. EAPs should form the basis of your approach, not be the strategy in its entirety.
What improves employee wellbeing the most?
Evidence shows that manageable workloads, genuine work flexibility and humane leadership have a far greater impact than traditional wellness perks or office-based benefits.
How do you support mental health at work?
By creating an environment where employees feel safe to speak up, have autonomy over their schedules, and can manage their output without risking burnout.
Why is workplace wellbeing important for retention?
Employees are far more likely to stay with an organisation when they feel supported and not burned out. And as your employer brand grows, this can help you to more effectively attract top talent too.
