By Scott Wittkop, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.

Mental health has historically been a challenge across the construction industry. The time has come to change the way we think and talk about seeking professional help for anxiety, depression, mood swings, substance abuse disorders and other emotional or behavioral challenges. 

Construction Industry Impact

Insurance broker Holmes Murphy & Associates states that the “construction industry is particularly vulnerable to mental health challenges among workers because of various factors ranging from financial and family pressures to workplace injuries, chronic pain and substance abuse.” This data also suggests that men are less likely to talk about and work to resolve mental health concerns, which is of particular concern for the historically male-dominated construction industry. 

More recently, circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic heightened awareness about how mental health and well-being impacts not only workers in the construction industry, but also how it impacts their families and communities. 

According to a March 2021 report by Morneau Shepell, “The mental health of Americans has been significantly lower than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,” with construction standing at the eighth lowest mental health score, among 22 industries. The Mental Health Index™ provides a measure of the current mental health status of employed adults in a given geography. 

All things considered, it is time for the construction industry to join together to begin to shift attitudes, perceptions and behaviors about mental health by increasing awareness and conversations that promote acceptance and the importance of getting professional help. Just as people take care of their bodies by eating right, exercising and going to the gym, they also need to take care of their mental health needs. 

Overcoming the Stigma

Mental health has been defined as including one’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It not only affects how one thinks, feels, and acts, but also helps determine how one handles stress, relates to others, and makes choices. (https://mentalhealth.gov)

Unfortunately, the negative stigma surrounding mental health treatment discourages many people from seeking help. In addition to real and perceived negative attitudes of others, an individual may internalize feelings of shame or embarrassment, according to the website www.psychiatry.org. The website also states that more than half of people with mental illness don’t receive help for their disorders. Often, people avoid or delay seeking treatment due to concerns about being treated differently or fears about losing their jobs and livelihood. 

One Example

Like many other companies, mental health has always been part of McCarthy’s wellness strategy. But the pandemic underscored the need to make mental health awareness and acceptance a central focus, especially on jobsites. By expanding awareness and having open conversations that reinforce acceptance, we believe it is possible to enable people to feel comfortable and confident seeking professional help for their mental health challenges. 

For us, a key element is focusing on mental health versus mental illness. This means helping people accept that mental health equates to taking better care of themselves, and ultimately positively impacts their families and other relationships. By increasing acceptance to talk openly about mental health we hope to change mindsets in the construction industry and encourage people to move forward to seek any necessary treatment.

When we began to think about increasing awareness of mental health for our own employees and craft workforce, we considered how a multi-disciplined approach could help us communicate more effectively to the people we needed to reach. Our approach begins with leadership support and includes developing new and updated materials, resources and tools to emphasize and support mental health awareness on jobsites and in offices. 

Actions

Materials include toolbox talks on mental health and suicide prevention, as well as highly visible signage to increase awareness. Helpful information is also available for all employees and families through McCarthy’s employee assistance program (EAP).  

On jobsites, hard hat stickers for all employees promote important contact information for mental health resources. In addition, meaningful discussions are conducted with all teams about the importance of mental health and how to immediately access available resources. Future plans range from adding more support, resources and training for managers and employees to considering an evidence-based mental health crisis response system. 

Internally, we have a cross-functional task force to bring together subject matter experts from safety, human resources and operations. We have also leveraged external organizations like the suicide prevention hotline and others to get the word out in addition to our extensive list of vendor partners.

Mental health should be a priority for every company’s health and wellness program and there are many healthcare and employee assistance vendor partners available to make sure you have access to the latest research and resources. (www.workplacementalhealth.org). 

In addition, because McCarthy recognizes that sharing information benefits everyone, we are pleased to be sharing with dozens of other companies, industry groups and trade organizations details about our approach and methods, along with samples of posters and toolbox talk materials.

As a community builder, McCarthy believes that investing in mental health awareness, acceptance and treatment not only benefits our employee-owners, craft professionals and their families, but also the communities where we live and work. Just like the critical importance of safety on our jobsites, the overall health and well-being of our employees and their families directly impacts our ability to deliver a great experience on our projects and is vital for the long-term success of our company and industry. 

Elevating the focus on mental health to avoid the negative stigma benefits us all.

About the Author

Scott Wittkop is President and COO of McCarthy Building Companies, the oldest privately held national construction company in the nation.  With approximately 5,000 salaried employees and craft professionals, the firm is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com