Mental well-being in companies is no longer a given. An interview with a psychologist about burnout, stress, and the support that changes corporate culture

At ANASOFT, we cooperate with HEADMAP, a company that provides professional psychological counseling and coaching. With its founder Juraj Petrík, we took a closer look at what real work with mental health in companies looks like today, from burnout and chronic stress as the most common silent problems in the work environment, through the inability to "switch off" and set boundaries, to the specific functioning of anonymous professional help that employees have available with a few clicks. We also discuss why the use of a benefit is often determined not by its existence, but by the company culture, and how the openness of leaders can significantly influence people's willingness to seek support.

In recent years, mental health in the workplace has been discussed much more than it used to be. What do you think has changed in society that has made this topic more prominent?

Mgr. Juraj Petrík, PhD.: I think that one of the strongest impulses was COVID and the entire pandemic period. At that time, various forms of psychological discomfort – anxiety, stress, inner restlessness or a feeling of long-term overload – radically increased in a large number of people. Isolation also played a big role in this. Many people were left alone with their experiences, without normal social supports and without the natural daily rhythms they were used to until then.

In my opinion, this period also significantly opened up the topic of mental well-being in companies. It suddenly became clear that mental health is not something separate from work performance, but one of the conditions for a person to be able to function in the long term. At the same time, international analyses and data began to appear, showing companies that investing in employee well-being is not just a nice gesture, but a rational decision.

Today, employers are increasingly aware that sports benefits are pleasant for employees, but it is even more important to address whether a person experiences chronic stress in the long term. At the end of the day, this often affects work well-being and performance much more than whether they go for a run after work. And this is now also supported by data - that caring for employees' mental health has a real return for companies.

What are the most common psychological problems that employees face in the workplace today?

As a company, we primarily work with corporate clients and conduct approximately 300 consultations per month. We also conduct internal statistics to better identify the topics that people come up with most often.

In the long run, the strongest theme is burnout. Many employees come in feeling burned out, losing energy, motivation, or the ability to function as they used to. Of course, we then work with it further and find out whether it is really burnout or rather another form of long-term stress. But in general, it is a theme that comes up very often.

The issue of boundaries between work and personal life is also very prominent. Many people talk about not being able to switch off mentally. Even when they leave work or close their laptop, their heads are filled with tasks, conflicts, deadlines, or different scenarios of what still needs to be done.

In practice, this means that the body may be off work, but the mind still remains in work mode.

There are also issues of partnership and family, issues of communication, personal boundaries, insecurity, long-term fatigue and internal tension. However, when we look at it as a whole, chronic stress and burnout are clearly the most prominent in the population we work with.

When we talk about work stress and burnout, to what extent do personal and family problems also come into play in your experience?

Very significantly. In practice, we see that work and personal life cannot be completely strictly separated, even if we might wish it were. If a person is having a difficult time at home, it very naturally carries over to work.

It can be relationship problems, divorce, long-term tension in the family, communication conflicts with a partner, difficult situations with children or various other life circumstances. Just the fact that a person leaves for work in the morning after an argument, or returns in the evening to an environment that is psychologically stressful for them, has a big impact on how they function during the day.

This then manifests itself in how they communicate with colleagues, how they react to workload, how they handle pressure, how they interpret common situations, or how quickly they become irritated. Whether consciously or unconsciously, these worlds influence each other.

That's why mental well-being at work cannot be reduced to just work tasks. Very often it is about the broader picture of a person and their life situation.

When do you think it's the right time to seek professional help? Does a person have to have a really serious problem?

This is one of the most common questions we get. People often ask if they have to have a “big enough problem” to be eligible for therapy. I don’t think it can be framed that way.

Returning to the topic of burnout, standard theories talk about three basic indicators: decreased work performance, increased irritability, and significant fatigue. If these three factors start to combine and last for a long time, it’s a reason to pay attention.

For example, if a person is just tired but still functioning well, they may need more rest or a vacation. However, if there is prolonged exhaustion, decreased performance, internal tension, and changes are starting to be noticed by those around them, then it makes sense to contact a specialist.

On the other hand, therapy is no longer just a purely clinical matter. Many people used to view it as something that belonged exclusively to a clinical psychologist's office and only dealt with serious diagnoses. Today, it is increasingly showing itself as a development tool. Many people come to us wanting to improve their communication, set personal boundaries better, learn to say "no" or understand each other better. There may not be any clinical problem behind it.

So, in my opinion, there is no one exact point when it is “the right time”. Rather, it is whether a person feels that talking to a professional can help them better understand what is going on inside them, or relieve them of something that has been weighing them down for a long time. That in itself is a legitimate reason.

How is working with a psychologist or therapist different from classic training or communication training?

The difference is quite fundamental. Training or coaching is usually based on people learning new information, techniques or model procedures. They get feedback, try out situations, talk about typical mistakes and options for solving them.

However, therapy often goes deeper. For example, if a person comes in with the idea that they can't say "no," the therapist won't just be interested in what sentence to use in a particular situation. They will try to understand what's behind it. Where the pattern came from, in what relationships it was created, what fear or belief is behind it, why rejection is so difficult for the person.

This means that training can help you acquire tools, but therapy also tries to understand the causes. That is why it is a different style of working with a person. It is not better or worse than training, it is simply different. And sometimes these two approaches complement each other very well.

How should one navigate the process of choosing a therapist? And how does it work at Headmap?

It can be a bit confusing for the average person. There are different therapeutic approaches, different types of professionals, and not everyone is naturally well-versed in it. This is completely understandable.

If someone is considering therapy, I would recommend looking at two things in particular: education and training. It is important whether the therapist has a degree in single-discipline psychology and whether he or she has at least attended long-term psychotherapy training. In my opinion, this is a good basic indicator of quality and professionalism.

At Headmap, we have more than ten colleagues who work in various therapeutic areas. However, people often do not know what type of approach is suitable for them, which is why we also have the option on the website to "choose a psychologist for me". Many clients use this and trust us to recommend a suitable professional according to their situation.

It is also an internal commitment for us. We take great care in who we take on the team. We only work with people who meet high professional standards, and we are pleased that we have managed to create a workplace where very experienced professionals work, including certified clinical psychologists and other respected names in the field.

What if a person simply doesn’t “get along” with their therapist? Is it normal to ask for a change?

Yes, it’s completely normal. And I think it’s important to talk about it openly. Therapy is very much a relationship. You have a specific person sitting across from you, and you gradually build trust, security, and a way of communicating. If it doesn’t work, it’s not a failure.

We give our clients the opportunity to change therapists. It is a normal part of the process and no big deal is made of it. This is where I see one of the advantages of the corporate benefit – since we have capacities reserved for partner companies, we can be more flexible and the client can quickly move on to another specialist.

At the same time, however, it can also be interesting to think about why someone did not suit us. And sometimes it can be very valuable to tell the therapist directly. This is also a certain form of learning to communicate openly about discomfort, disagreement or boundaries. In this sense, the therapeutic relationship itself can be very developmental.

How does the service work in companies in practice? How does an employee get support?

It is very important for us to make the whole process as simple as possible. We cooperate with partner companies, which after concluding cooperation will make our entire portfolio of services available to employees. This includes psychological, family, couple, coaching, economic and legal counseling. We are currently preparing a career counseling module for leaving employment.

The application itself is simple. The employee can contact us via a 24/7 phone line or via the website, often via a QR code available in the company's internal materials. We then try to connect them with a suitable expert as quickly as possible.

Internal communication of the benefit is also very important. We help companies ensure that employees are aware that they have this option and understand how it works. We prepare email templates, posters, video business cards for consultants and other materials. It is not enough to introduce the service. It also needs to be clearly communicated.

What about anonymity? This is often a sensitive topic in a corporate environment.

Yes, and rightly so. Companies can choose the model that suits them, but in the vast majority of cases the service operates anonymously. The employer does not receive information about who specifically used the service or what topic they came up with.

Interestingly, anonymity is important, but it’s also worth thinking about it from another angle. Sometimes we think about how much we unconsciously support stigma by shrouding the topic in complete silence. Personally, I think it’s very important to talk about mental well-being openly and normally.

Going to a psychologist doesn’t automatically mean that a person has a serious clinical problem. It can deal with things that we all deal with – pressure, relationships, insecurity, fatigue, decision-making or long-term tension. The opportunity to talk about it with an expert is very valuable for many people, and companies that understand this send an important message to their employees.

You often work with IT companies. Do you think the IT sector has any specifics when it comes to psychological well-being?

Certainly. In recent years, there has been more and more talk about the phenomenon of digital fatigue. It is something that we perceive very intensely in IT companies. People spend a large part of their day in front of screens, in online meetings, in systems, constantly switching attention between tasks, messages, notifications and deadlines.

All of this has an impact on concentration, fatigue, and the ability to regenerate. Paradoxically, it then happens that a person tries to "rest" again through the screen - for example, with short videos or passive scrolling - and at the end of the day is even more exhausted.

Digital hygiene is therefore very important for the IT environment. This means consciously working with how much time we spend in front of the screen, how we set our breaks, what our rest after work looks like, but also how we set the ergonomics of our work environment. Laptop position, sitting position, monitor height, regular breaks, walks or simple stretching - these are also topics that have their place in psychological well-being.

Can we say that corporate culture also determines whether employees take advantage of a benefit?

Definitely yes. And maybe even more than companies themselves think. For example, we had a company with about two thousand employees where five people signed up after the benefit was introduced. And then we had a smaller company with seventy employees where twenty people signed up.

When you look at it more closely, you’ll find that it’s not just about the size of the company, but how it communicates about the benefits, how openly it approaches the topic of mental well-being, and how much trust it creates within the organization. In some places, employees feel that it’s a normal and respected part of support. In others, they’re more cautious and passive.

I also remember one very powerful moment from the IT environment. After introducing a benefit in one large company, only a few people initially signed up. But then the company director sent an internal email in which she openly wrote that she had tried the service herself and that it was a good experience for her. After this email, significantly more employees signed up. In my opinion, this is a beautiful example of how much it matters how open leaders are and what signal they give to people in the company.

How valuable is such a benefit to HR departments and to the company as a whole?

A lot. HR people often tell us that their role is already very broad. They handle recruitment, payroll, administration, interviews, personnel agenda, and on top of that, employees also come to them with personal issues. Naturally, then, there is pressure to be a bit of HR, a bit of manager, and a bit of psychologist at the same time.

This is where the enormous value lies in the fact that a company can offer an expert to an employee. HR does not have to carry something that is not their competence, but at the same time they can direct a person to a safe space where they will receive quality support.

Of course, this is also of secondary importance from the perspective of employer branding. Companies today increasingly communicate that they care not only about the physical health of their employees, but also about their psychological well-being, personal development and ability to cope with difficult times. This is a strong signal to current and future employees.

If a company can connect physical wellbeing, mental health, development and practical support in difficult life situations, it creates a much more mature and balanced picture of what caring for people means. And I think that is what will become increasingly important in the coming years.