HR’s Solutions for Workplace Stress Aren’t Working. 

Two Factors May Be Contributing. 

We’re all familiar with the negative impacts of excessive stress in the workplace: decreased efficiency, collaboration and accuracy to name a few.  With recent studies revealing nearly 60% of adults ages 18 to 34 now find their daily stress to be “completely overwhelming” it’s no wonder HR teams have made serious investments in wellness initiatives over the past decade.  The problem: Stress levels continue to rise.  Two factors may be contributing – let’s take a look.

1. Workplace stress is now supercharged by home life challenges.

U.S. workers have been coping with the stress of rising housing, transportation and childcare costs for more than a decade.  Recent numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the average American household now spends 33% of their income on housing and nearly 20% on transportation.  In 2022, median child care prices for one child ranged from 8% to 19% of median family income.  For a single parent that figure jumped to  25% to 75%.  For lower-wage workers, these percentages are often doubled.

No HR team is expected to tackle the broad economic forces driving these trends, but recognizing the spillover effects of these realities on workers’ stress levels can inform critical HR decisions on workplace policy and employee benefits.  

For employers in industries with a significant proportion of low-to-medium wage workers, it is particularly important to consider how quickly a housing, transportation or childcare issue can spiral into absenteeism, distraction at work and other performance issues – all of which amplify stress for the individual, their manager and their team.  

Employee benefits that quickly address an upward “stress spiral” combined with workplace policies that foster a supportive vs. punitive workplace culture have the ability to subdue the supercharging of workplace stress.

2. Most Employment Assistance Programs (EAPs) are poorly suited to addressing home life challenges.

Don’t get us wrong, the traditional EAP is an important benefit and can provide critical connection to mental health professionals in cases where serious mental health needs are emerging.  Yet EAPs consistently over-promise and under-deliver when it comes to addressing the resource constraints (housing, transportation, eldercare, childcare, etc.) that are often a key element of employee’s rising stress and declining workplace performance.  

Very often employees are struggling with challenges that are rooted in community-specific resource limitations (e.g. recent closures of daycare facilities) and can only be solved with knowledge of community-specific solutions (e.g. familiarity with small, church-based daycare programs providing subsidized care).

It is the rare EAP that commits to hiring, training and retaining counselors who cultivate deep community-level knowledge and master navigation of community resources beyond the obvious large governmental programs.  

If we seem passionate about this issue it’s because we’ve seen the impact professionals with years of community resource expertise (we call them Resource Navigators) can have on an individual’s life.  Often the impact has significant long-term implications, setting the course for financial health and personal growth.  

Equally important, in the short term, our data demonstrate a significant drop in stress levels for workers who engage with Resource Navigators, breaking the potential for a supercharged stress spiral.  

Beginning in 2025, WorkLife Partnership will be expanding its scope to include many of the same features of traditional EAPs including 4 free clinical or non-clinical counselling sessions, 24×7 hotline access, and substance abuse expertise. These additional features will be offered alongside our already comprehensive Resource Navigator services. Interested in learning more about how we can replace your current EAP? We’d love to hear from you.