How Liberty Mutual is supporting workers’ mental health

Employee mental health is surging toward the top of many employers’ lists of priorities.

Or at least it should be.

Sari Kalin, assistant director of health and well-being strategy at Liberty Mutual Insurance, knows this better than most. But how can companies offer support amid such volatile, chaotic circumstances? It starts with recognizing the painful reality we’ve all endured—and continue to experience.

“First, acknowledge that the stress and anxiety that employees have experienced over the past year is not going to disappear,” she says. That basic recognition is the first step toward opening up more substantive conversations.

Kalin says that despite sanguine signs of things opening back up, employees are still facing multitudes of stressors. Not least of which are fatigue and burnout—or anxiety at the prospect of possibly returning to the office. Listening to employees is paramount right now. Kalin says: