March madness extended far beyond the basketball court last month, at least for our team at headversity. We had the opportunity to attend and present at FOUR conferences during March, with three of the conferences happening simultaneously! Team headversity attended Transform 2023 in Las Vegas, the Construction Working Minds Summit in Kansas City, the DMEC Compliance Conference in Orlando, and the Philly SHRM Symposium. Let’s break down the madness!

Transform

Transform 2023 was the place to hear from leaders in the tech industry about how they are innovating to drive positive change. headversity‘s CEO, Dr. Ryan Todd joined the conversation and shared his expertise on embedding mental health initiatives into company culture. We were thrilled to connect with others on headversity’s solution that uses technology to help organizations implement and commit to making a difference by promoting wellbeing in their organization.

Construction Working Minds Summit

The Construction Working Minds Summit provided a unique opportunity for us to connect with leaders in the construction industry and learn about the challenges they face in promoting mental health and wellbeing in their organizations. headversity has a large contingent of industrial partners, and our focus on preventative mental health solutions was very topical for this summit.  We heard from speakers with diverse backgrounds and experiences, including mental health professionals, union leaders, and construction executives. headversity also had the opportunity to present with LNG Canada’s Vise President of HSSE, Johnna Van Keuren, on presenteeism with a focus on the impact of physical and psychological health on productivity, quality, and safety. We left the conference feeling energized to continue optimizing and elevating the way we service our industrial clients.

DMEC Compliance Conference

headversity had a successful 4 days at the DMEC (Disability Management Employer Coalition) Compliance Conference meeting and speaking with Employers and Disability Carriers from across the US on the impact Mental Health has on Absence, Disability Claims and Benefits spend.  84% of workers say that they have experienced at least one mental health challenge over the past year.  While employers know that access to clinical care is vital to their mental health and wellbeing strategy, many agree that it cannot be the only solution and are looking for prevention centered solutions to compliment the benefits they currently provide for their employees and their families. 

The Employers we spoke to were also concerned with the financial impact that the immediacy of clinical access was having on their overall benefits spend. Employers are seeing increased medical costs, pharmaceutical costs, lost productivity, and increased accommodation requests associated with mental health. They expressed a need practical and sustainable tools to impact their organization’s culture and benefit spend.  More than ever before, employers recognize the importance of preventative mental health solutions in the workplace and are turning to headversity to help solve these growing concerns.  As the only evidence based Mental health solution focused on prevention for individuals, families, and teams, we are proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of DMEC and to have the ability to work with Absence Management and Disability leaders to fill the prevention gap in the industry and shift the employer response from reactive to proactive.

Philly SHRM

Who better to talk to about workplace mental health than HR professionals? The Philly SHRM allowed us to do just that! We were proud sponsors of this conference full of top industry experts sharing the latest HR trends and offering valuable insights into practical solutions for workplace wellbeing. We connected with HR professionals and leaders from various industries to discuss the future of preventative mental health solutions to help combat the rising rates of burnout.

Keynote speaker, Marcus Allen, used his real-world experiences to walk attendees through overcoming personal and professional challenges. He sparked important conversations on the following topics:

•  Self Actualization – revealing purpose in your leadership
• Inspiring employees through authenticity and vision
• Active listening as an advantage to engaging diverse groups
• Cheat code to corporate mentorship – name dropping vs name saying
• Using human insight to improve your performance
• 1 simple email that can change your leadership forever

Overall, our conversations with attendees lead to a lot of positive feedback on our focus on preventative mental health care. Conferences like Philly SHRM provide valuable insights on how our solution resonates with the struggles faced by HR managers and leaders in their organizations.  

Survey Says…

While at the conferences, we had the opportunity to survey HR professionals to gather feedback on their own mental wellbeing, to get a pulse on how they feel their organizations are supported, and to get a sense of gaps.

• Here were some of our findings: 29% of attendees at Construction Working Minds, 31% of HR leaders at Philly SHRM, and 28% of attendees at Transform reported that they feel their company is below average at supporting employee mental health.
• 50% of attendees at Construction Working Minds, 35% of HR leaders at Philly SHRM, and 55% of attendees at Transform expressed that they do not have a preventative strategy in place for their company’s mental health.

So, the data from these conferences (and our conversations) suggest that significant gaps still exist in workforce mental health, particularly when it comes to prevention. For us, this fuels our team to continue down the path of innovation to bring the best preventative mental health solution to the market to help build a resilient, inclusive workforce. We’re grateful for the opportunity to connect with professionals from all industries over the last month, and we’re excited for another month of conference hopping in April!