{"id":176866,"date":"2025-09-29T04:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T04:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/176866\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T04:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T04:14:07","slug":"how-to-support-employees-experiencing-anxiety-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/176866\/","title":{"rendered":"How to support employees experiencing anxiety at work"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the weekly Work Life newsletter. If you are interested in more careers-related content, sign up<\/a> to receive it in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Last week I wrote<\/a> about how to identify and manage anxiety at work and how it\u2019s not just a personal issue, but a business issue as well. <\/p>\n

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated<\/a> 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$1-trillion per year in lost productivity, globally.<\/p>\n

Managers are often at the front line of this challenge. They don\u2019t just have to manage their own mental health, but often they\u2019re tasked with helping their teams navigate their feelings and the impact it has on a business. <\/p>\n

Phoebe Gavin, a Washington, D.C.-based career and leadership coach, says that between our financial responsibilities and the significant time we spend at work, it\u2019s natural to feel emotionally connected and vulnerable when things don\u2019t go as planned.<\/p>\n

So, what can managers do to support employees navigating anxiety?<\/p>\n

Ms. Gavin outlines a clear path, starting with an important boundary: \u201cYou are not a therapist. You\u2019re not your team\u2019s therapist,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd so if you are noticing that they are bringing anxiety-related issues to you in a way that seems more appropriate for their personal life, more appropriate for their therapist, it is okay for you to point them toward those sorts of resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recommends that leaders familiarize themselves with company benefits, such as employee assistance programs or insurance-covered therapy, so they can confidently refer team members to them. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnless you think somebody is in danger, show respect and confidentiality for what your employees have shared with you,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But what if it is a workplace anxiety issue?<\/p>\n

Ms. Gavin says it\u2019s in your best interest, at least to a certain extent, to engage in those topics because it impacts your team\u2019s performance. <\/p>\n

She says an important first step is making sure you\u2019ve created a psychologically safe environment. <\/p>\n

\u201cPsychologically safe does not mean free of disagreement. It does not mean free of adversity. It does not mean free of stress. It doesn\u2019t mean free of hard work,\u201d she says. \u201cIt does mean that people are not penalized for having questions. They\u2019re not penalized for having ideas. When they have ideas or when they have questions, those ideas and questions are treated with respect and with gentleness, so that people aren\u2019t afraid to show up and be imperfect.\u201d <\/p>\n

Next, managers can normalize that anxiety happens at work and it\u2019s not a weakness. For example, managers can share their own experience of anxiety at work to help demonstrate that it\u2019s a common feeling that everyone experiences at some point. <\/p>\n

Lastly, Ms. Gavin strongly encourages managers to help the person experiencing anxiety find an action they can take. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou really want to help them find a constructive action, that is within their influence or control, to help them feel some agency over the anxiety so that they\u2019re not paralyzed by it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

With the right mindset and tools, managers can be a steady support for their teams \u2013 creating a workplace where anxiety isn\u2019t ignored, but addressed with empathy and action.<\/p>\n

Fast factInteresting incentive<\/p>\n

32 per cent<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how many employees say that getting a new manager would convince them to stay in their current job, according to a survey from book summary app company Headway.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Career guidanceLaid off<\/p>\n

Getting laid off can hit hard \u2013 not just because of the money, but because so much of our identity is tied to what we do. It\u2019s normal to feel lost, anxious or even embarrassed.<\/p>\n

In this article, one woman shares how connecting with her partner, going to therapy and joining a women\u2019s network helped her regain her confidence and land a new role after a year of unemployment. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

QuotedBusiness trip<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of an awakening going on. The CEOs who are working 15 to 16 hours a day for 20 years are finally realizing that they\u2019ve gone so far in their organization, but they need to bring something more to the table \u2013 and that something more is connection to their hearts and actually learning how to listen to others,\u201d says Gary Logan, a \u201chealing touch\u201d energy therapy practitioner. <\/p>\n

This article explores how CEOs are turning to psychedelic retreats to address deep-rooted trauma and stress, and reconnect with themselves. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

On our radarWorkslop woes<\/p>\n

A new report from Stanford and BetterUp Labs found that employees are increasingly using artificial intelligence to produce low-effort work that looks polished on the surface but lacks real value. This so-called \u201cworkslop\u201d often creates more work for colleagues, rather than boosting productivity. Plus, researchers found that those who received workslop thought less of the colleague who sent it. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the weekly Work Life newsletter. If you are interested in more careers-related content, sign up to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,2924,22463,22464,22460,22459,1663,22465,84,124,393,394,1412,2922,22462,18940,22461],"class_list":{"0":"post-176866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-career-advice","11":"tag-career-leadership","12":"tag-careers-globe-and-mail","13":"tag-careers-newsletter","14":"tag-careersnewsletter","15":"tag-future-of-work","16":"tag-globe-and-mail-newsletter","17":"tag-health","18":"tag-jobs","19":"tag-mental-health","20":"tag-mentalhealth","21":"tag-newsletter","22":"tag-noastack","23":"tag-thought-leadership","24":"tag-workplace-culture","25":"tag-your-life-at-work"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}