This came from a recent survey by TalentLMS and BambooHR. Beyond “mental health days,” the survey found that more than half of respondents want to receive mental health training as well.

Does this surprise you?

The fact that they want mental health days did not surprise me. The % who want it did.
As a Gen-Xer, it was taboo to even talk about mental health at work, let along ask for “mental heath” days. I’m so glad this is becoming more normalized and discussed openly in the workplace. We still have a long way to go but COVID has definitely brought this to the surface.

Covid also made it especially challenging for Gen Z employees to experience “socializing” at work since many started during Covid and all they know is remote work. Just because a generation grew up using technology in everything they do, doesn’t mean they don’t want to socialize, or they don’t feel lonely.

How are you connecting with your Gen Z employees at work? How much do you truly know, genuinely care about and ask deeper questions to your Gen Z employees? Having a deeper understanding of how your Gen Z employees are doing and why they leave is critical to attracting, developing and retaining our upcoming generation.

As leaders, we have to create safe spaces, 1:1’s and smaller group discussions for employees to share how they are really feeling. Just because they may appear ok at work doesn’t mean they actually are. We also can’t assume that only Gen Z employees want mental health days and training.

The reality is there is a lot more generations than Gen Z who are struggling with mental health. But, the other generations may not talk openly about it. That’s why it’s critical to have powerful tools to understand what people are feeling.

Instead of asking, “How are you?”, I invite you to share a visual tool like the one here and ask, “How are you feeling?” Give them a moment to explore what they are experiencing before they share. This opens up the dialogue for genuine connection and care.

You can find more tools and powerful questions to seek out how your employees are doing in my next Shot of Leadership Brilliance Micro-Learning Session or in the comment below

Bottom line: if you are not placing importance on this, you risking losing many of your up and coming human beings at work.

** Image of the top reasons why Gen Z employees leave and Link to full survey in comments.
**Sketchnote by WholeHearted School Counseling

#genzemployees #retention #leadershipdevelopment #teamdevelopment #talentacquisition #talentdevelopment #leadinggenz