Editor’s note: Jacqueline Rousseau-Anderson is a strategic advisor and growth strategist at ScaleHouse. This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared under the title, "3 ways to support mental wellness at work."

Are you dreaming of your summer break? Counting down to unplugging from it all? What if we worked in companies from which we didn’t need to take a summer vacation or holiday? What if we didn’t push ourselves to the brink of mental exhaustion with the expectation we’d be able to recharge over a long weekend or a week off? If we are physically unable to work (i.e., illness, injury) the expectation is we’ll log off for the day or until we’re well enough to work. But what if it’s our mental wellness that’s out of whack? What are the expectations then?

According to the World Health Organization, mental wellness is defined as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” Read that again. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to expect a work environment that supports mental wellness by that definition. And yet, research studies and personal experiences depict that environment as an exception. Do you feel like your work environment supports your mental wellness? If not, here are 3 tips for spurring change:

  • Leverage the research. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that annually, depression and anxiety cost the global workforce $1 trillion in lost productivity. On the plus side, they also report a 4x return on every dollar put against scaling up treatment to common mental health issues. The SHINE study out of Harvard’s School of Public Health is working with major corporations to identify key cultural and operational elements needed to develop thriving work environments. Findings show that well-being indicators are stronger predictors of business outcomes than physical health indicators. Looking for numbers closer to home? Watch for the results of Opinium’s groundbreaking Workplace Mental Health Audit.
  • Burn the busy badge of honor. Burnout is a real thing. And while the WHO may have just recently featured it in its handbook, the topic is not new. We’ve developed a culture where employees try to out-busy each other. Who has the most on their plate? Who was up working on a deck until 12 a.m. and back up at 4 a.m. to prep for their full day of meetings? Who just has to meet this insane client deadline their manager agreed to? We listen to our colleagues’ stories and deep sigh in commiseration. Instead of commiserating, we should be challenging. If you have team members who are working crazy hours, who show early signs of burnout, challenge them to reassess their workload and identify at least one thing they can offload. Encourage and reward your colleagues and teams for asking for help when their plates are full, who work smarter, not longer. In fact, be the first to ask for help. If employees see company leaders working to the brink of burnout they assume the same is expected of them. Only 11% of employees who report having stressed leaders are engaged at work. 
  • Prop up your perks. Companies who offer wellness plans report higher employee satisfaction. However, focusing on employee mental wellness doesn’t stop at adding a meditation room or a yoga class once a week. Perks, without an underlying supportive culture, are Band-Aids. A culture that supports wellness encourages employees to openly advocate for the things they need to ensure their mental wellness and supports them when they do. While addressing the larger culture issue at senior levels, make sure you’re doing your individual part to create that environment. How are you showing up every day? How do you manage your own stress? How do you support your team? The good news is, as Anese Cavanaugh recently observed, “culture is an inside out job.” We all play an active role in creating an environment that promotes mental wellness.

We can’t address mental wellness if we don’t talk about mental health struggles. We need to create the space for our friends and colleagues to feel safe and share their experiences, like Adam Jolley recently did. We need to unashamedly raise our hands and ask for help when we feel ourselves teetering on the edge and we need to reward others when they raise theirs. By openly discussing mental health struggles, we can identify and implement support structures for mental wellness, finding ourselves in roles from which we don’t feel the need to escape for a summer break.