If there’s any silver lining from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that mental health found its way to center stage. As the projected two-week shutdown turned into a “quarantine Christmas,” many companies began establishing mental health initiatives, procedures, and programs to support their staff at home. Flash forward to 2023, and some organizations are beginning to wonder if their mental health programs are continuing to boost team morale, or if they’re just a passing trend.

According to a recent study by the world’s largest HR association, mental health support is not only still vital for a healthy workplace culture but could be pivotal to recruiting and keeping top talent. In Simply Good, SHRM shares its eye-opening findings, as well as ways to ensure that your programs are truly meeting the needs and expectations of your team.

When discussing issues of mental health, we should also be cognizant of labels we use. To emphasize the murky (and sometimes damaging) waters labels can create, this week’s Simply Diversity is a throwback to last year’s observance of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Heritage Month. When it comes to collecting data about people groups, many labels that are commonly used to describe/categorize people have been found to be grossly simplistic and insufficient. In this article, I share how this seemingly small disparity can actually have a big impact on the people in these communities.

Want to join me and hundreds of my recruiter friends in Chicago next month? Keep scrolling to see What’s Happening.

Looking to increase your DEI awareness even more? My Sparking Awareness learning path is a great place to start! Check out Rework WorkSpace for more information.

With appreciation,

Stacey Gordon, MBA
Rework Work CEO