The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the mental health of healthcare workers, many of whom can’t get the help they need coping with anxiety and chronic stress.
According to a new survey of health care professionals at two AFGE locals: Locals 1410 and 1052 at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, health care workers’ mental health was greatly impacted by the pandemic.
They, for example, were worried that they would carry COVID home from work and infect family members. High turnover, understaffing, and lack of telework opportunities made the problems worse.
Most people said management knows of the mental health issues among employees, but they feel management does not care about these issues or didn’t talk about mental health issues at all.
“Many people said the overall workplace culture is focused on the mission of taking care of soldiers and getting the job done well no matter the working conditions. They said that this means fulfilling this mission even with fewer staff, more tasks, and more illness and stress amongst staff,” the survey report states.
AFGE’s survey results are in line with a report recently issued by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy on how mental health issues and toxic workplaces are hurting the American people. He’s urging employers to create healthy work environments by focusing on these five essentials of workplace well-being that are centered on worker voice and equity: protection from harm, opportunity for growth, connection and community, mattering at work, and work-life harmony.
Employee Assistance Program
Anxiety and chronic stress could affect productivity and performance, but employees couldn’t always get the help they need. According to the survey, which was conducted as part of AFGE Field Services and Education Department’s summer intern program, the top three reasons cited were confidentiality breaches, workload pressures, and lack of timely access to mental health services.
Even though federal agencies offer an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for those seeking mental health assistance, managers are not encouraging employees to use it and employees don’t always know what it entails. Specifically:
- 85% said their managers not communicating and encouraging employees to use EAP
- 47% reported having very little knowledge about their agency’s EAP program
- 67% reported never using it.
AFGE has been pushing for mental health to be part of workplace health and safety where workers can seek help without fear of being judged, especially by their employers. Seeking help with mental health should be like seeing your doctor for a stomachache, a broken leg, or other physical illnesses.
“Mental health is part of total health. We should be able to get mental health care in the same way we get health care for our physical bodies,” said AFGE Health and Safety Specialist Milly Rodriguez. “Mental health is part of workplace health and safety and should be treated as a workplace exposure and not as something workers deal with individually on their own.”
AFGE’s Field Services and Education Department has been offering mental health awareness classes online. Our union’s National VA Council is including mental health in its training at the at its convention. Through our collaboration with the Kaiser Permanente Labor Management Partnership, a KP health education team will be presenting a class on using mindfulness strategies to cope with stress and anxiety.
During Mental Illness Awareness Week the first week of October, AFGE’s Women and Fair Practices Department hosted a series of programs aimed at reducing the stigma and discrimination around mental illness and giving AFGE members the tools and support needed to protect their mental health.