What’s the attitude of leaders in your organization when it comes to mental health issues?

Our reader poll today asks: What’s the attitude of leaders in your organization when it comes to mental health issues?

• It matters a lot and they treat it just as seriously as physical health issues 40.80%
• It’s important but they only pay attention to crisis situations 30.33%
• They don’t focus on it much and don’t really understand it 20.57%
• They’re dismissive of it and say “it’s all in your head” 3.61%
• They push back on it and treat it like people are faking issues to get out of work 4.69%

Mental health is still health. An encouraging portion of respondents (41%) report that mental health issues have significant attention and support in their organizations. What’s alarming is 50% only pay attention to those issues if they’re a crisis or they don’t focus on the issue at all. Even more alarming are the 9% who are dismissive of these issues and see them as being faked. Mental health issues have serious consequences up to and including loss of life. If you’re a leader and you don’t understand these issues, their signs, their consequences, and their treatments, you owe it to yourself, your team, and your organization to educate yourself. If you do understand the issue, be part of the solution and educate others. Treat these issues just as seriously as you’d treat a heart condition. It’s simply a different organ of the body being affected. Or do nothing and accept the fact that your people who suffer from these issues will conclude you don’t care about their needs and they’ll find more caring leaders elsewhere.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.