As employees resign at record highs, employee behavioral health benefits are becoming non-negotiable. Employees are looking for employers who support them in all aspects of their lives. This includes behavioral health resources not only for the employees but also for their families.

One area of workplace benefits that deserves more attention is employees who are parents of neurodiverse children. Parents are struggling to juggle the demands of work and caring for children with special needs. Employers could retain talent by offering family-focused, holistic offerings to support parents in these situations.

Alyssa Moreno, Senior VP of Marketing at Whil, shared more with us on employee behavioral health benefits for the whole family.

Why are employee mental health benefits crucial for employee retention?

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, a record 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs in August 2021. Furthermore, Mental Health America’s 2021 Mind the Workplace report showed that 83% of respondents are feeling emotionally drained from their work. We’ve reached a critical state of mental health in the workplace and employers that don’t lean into supporting their employee population are at risk for being yet another statistic in ‘The Great Resignation’. Building mental health benefits into an employer’s offering is no longer a nice to have. Employees are savvy and they know they have choices. The pandemic has also brought a newfound clarity to how employees expect employers to show up for them and it starts with recognizing the world is in a very different place than it once was only a few years ago.  

Whil offers three solutions in its platform: Personal Wellbeing, Professional Resilience, and Parenting & Caregiving. Can you tell us more about these and why each is important?

Personal Wellbeing is about how you take care of yourself as an individual. We like to say that you need to put your own gas mask on first before you can help anyone else or your organization. The Personal Wellbeing solution helps you to be the best version of yourself and offers hundreds of evidence-based mini-courses to help improve your mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. We help employees reduce anxiety, learn to meditate, sleep better and more. 

Our Professional Resilience solution helps empower employees with the skills needed to navigate challenges in the workplace. We help employees manage career stress, build emotional intelligence, and create high performing teams. In addition to our content for employees, we also offer skill-building courses for managers and leaders to play a proactive role in creating a healthy culture at work, with industry-leading courses for supporting DEI in the workplace. 

Parenting & Caregiving provides families with clinically validated digital and live trainings to help manage challenging behaviors at home. Our solution is available to the entire family and can support parents, children, and other caregivers in and out of the home environment. We offer mental health courses for parents and children, social and emotional growth trainings for all children and foundational skills support for caregivers of children with behavioral disabilities such as Autism, ADHD, Dyselxia and more. What makes this solution unique is we also offer 1:1 consulting hours with our on-staff Board Certified Behavior Analysts who can offer more personalized approaches to care when it is needed most. 

What type of support does Whil provide for parents of neurodiverse children?

Roughly 1 in 6 children are born with some type of developmental challenge (ADD, ADHD, Autism, etc.) and we know that parents who raise children with developmental challenges are at higher risk for poor mental health as well as poor physical health. The Whil platform enables employers to holistically support parents of neurodiverse children with care for their children as well as themselves. We’ve heard time and time again that the personalized support provided by our BCBAs gives these parents a level of confidence that they’re on the right path. Here are just a few examples of ways in which our participants have benefitted from the holistic program and our 1:1 BCBA sessions.

“This program was so helpful to us in validating that we knew our child best, what was right for him and that we weren’t wrong in thinking our child needed some help not only educationally, but emotionally. It was a relief to talk to someone who understood our struggles and had a plethora of suggestions of things to try that were actually helpful.” 

“This has helped my two boys tremendously. I am forever grateful. This program has given my boys the confidence to be successful in their reading and communication.” 

“My son has ADHD. He’s struggled primarily with focus, impulsivity and attention span. He’s a fidgety, energetic guy with a huge heart and creative mind. I’ve used some of the tips and tricks that I’ve learned on creating task charts and facilitating more organized and smooth mornings and evenings for both of my children! I also learned more about our rights as parents for a student with challenges such as ADHD. The database is a treasure-trove filled with helpful information. When you are concerned about something with your kids, you can feel very overwhelmed and lonely sometimes. It’s great to have a positive place to go and learn, ask questions and get great advice!”