Mental health and caregivers: how can you help and support your employees?

Mental health, caregivers and quality of life at work: why HR needs to get to grips with these issues

In a professional context marked by profound transformations and accelerating rhythms, mental health in the workplace has become a central issue for human resources departments. However, despite growing awareness of the issue, many topics are still insufficiently addressed or only partially dealt with. This is particularly true of the role of caregivers in the workplace, whose situation has a direct impact on quality of life at work (QWL) and collective performance.

To shed light on these issues, this webinar brings together three experts from the field: Marine Bernard, senior consultant at Great Place To Work, Jérôme Crest, co-founder and CEO of Holivia, and Christine Lamidel, founder of Tilia. Their objective: to shed clear, concrete and nuanced light on the links between mental health, mental workload, psychological safety, inclusive HR policies and recognition of caregivers.

Rethinking the approach to mental health in the workplace

Numbers that make you wonder

22% of employees feel that their work has a negative impact on their mental health*, and only 30% perceive any concrete mental health prevention measures in their company*. For HR, this highlights an essential challenge: to make visible, coherent and accessible the measures already in place to promote employees' mental health, while complementing them with approaches adapted to new needs.

‍

From psychosocial risks to ordinary tensions

Psychosocial risks (PSR) are more than just serious crises or harassment. Most of the time, they are moderate tensions that weigh on employees' mental workload: work overload, conflicts of values, imbalance between work and personal life, isolation, lack of autonomy...

These tensions, though less visible, are massive. They cannot be addressed by hotlines or annual surveys alone. They require a preventive, embodied and collective approach. Hence the importance of reinforcing psychological safety within teams, so that everyone feels justified in expressing their difficulties without fear of judgment.

‍

Aidants en entreprise : une réalité encore trop invisible

This webinar also sheds light on the situation of employee helpers. Too often forgotten, this reality concerns 1 in 5 employees today, and probably 1 in 4 by 2030**. Being a caregiver means taking on a (often silent) responsibility for a loved one in need: an elderly parent, a sick child, a dependent spouse...

The impacts are multiple: fatigue, stress, reduced working hours, increased mental workload, reduced income... And yet, recognition of caregivers remains low. Many do not declare themselves, for fear of being judged or penalized. That's why it's so important for HR to make these life paths visible and legitimate.

Creating a culture of mental health

The key role of local management

Preventing mental health problems does not rely solely on medical or technical devices. It begins with a managerial culture based on listening, emotional regulation, the right to make mistakes and day-to-day support.

The speakers stressed the importance of training local managers, who are often the first to witness unhappiness, giving them the keys to a humane, respectful and non-intimidating dialogue. 

‍

Discover here a concrete example of managerial practice to free the word on the subject of mental health in the workplace: 

‍

‍

‍

Towards inclusive and humane HR policies

The response to the challenges of supporting caregivers, and more generally the mental health of teams, must not be exclusively legal or administrative. The aim is not to create fixed policies, but inclusive HR policies capable of adapting to the varied realities of employees.

The webinar proposes several best practices that can be put into practice immediately, even in structures with limited resources:

• Make all teams aware of mental health in the workplace, right from the onboarding stage;
  
  
• Create regular opportunities to talk (rituals, chats, emotional weather forecasts, etc.);
  
  
• Training managers in mental health prevention and active listening;
  
  
• Set up a caregiver referral service to provide guidance to employees concerned;
  
  
• Flexible arrangements for caregivers' working hours and locations (geographical teleworking, time savings accounts, day donations, etc.);
  
  
• Collaborate with ecosystem players (occupational medicine, mutual insurance companies, support platforms, associations, etc.).
  
  

‍

This webinar is an invaluable resource for any HR function wishing to move forward on these issues without falling into ready-made solutions. Thanks to the replay, you'll get both a lucid analysis of the issues at stake and concrete ways to act, at your own level, with coherence and humanity.

‍

‍

*Great Insights Survey, 2025

**Aider et Travailler barometer, 2023

‍