By Rick Murray, President and CEO, ACNSC
The holidays bring bright moments. They also stack pressures on your people. Family obligations. Financial strain. Complex relationships. Grief that hits harder this time of year. Year-end deadlines. For many industries, it is the busiest stretch on the calendar. Your employees feel it. No doubt you feel it too.
Mental health is a workplace safety issue. I wrote about this earlier in an article for the National Safety Council, “Like Heat Stress, Mental Health Is a Workplace Safety Issue. Let’s Treat It Like One.” Stress, distraction, and fatigue raise the chance of mistakes and injuries. If leaders want safe, productive teams, they need to treat mental health as a core component of safety, especially during the often-stressful holiday season.
There are several ways that employers can help:
• Start with communication. Tell employees what mental health offerings are provided to them and how they can help. People forget benefits when they’re overwhelmed.
• Protect time off. Encourage employees to use PTO and make coverage plans so time away doesn’t become extra work later. Plan workloads like safety depends on it — because it does. Consider staggering deadlines or rotating on-call duty. Add flexibility, including short-term schedule changes or temporary support if demand spikes.
Use short pre-shift huddles to surface hazards, staffing gaps and fatigue.Train your managers to check in and, most importantly, to listen. Thank the employee for speaking up. Point to resources. Don’t diagnose, don’t pry and don’t judge. When signs point to something more serious or prolonged, act quickly. Early support protects health and safety.
• Share practical tips for stress relief. Focus on basics that help during busy weeks, including sleep, movement and hydration. Keep guidance short, useful and easy to find. Check out additional recommendations for employers, including NSC partners’ resources and solutions on addressing employee mental health and distress. Mental Health America offers several mental health resources for the workplace, including screening tools, research reports and toolkits. See a full list of these resources here.
• Is it time to rethink holiday events? You bet. Not everyone celebrates in the same way, or at all. Big parties with alcohol can be triggering. Gift exchanges can add financial strain. Give employees a say. Make celebrations optional and low or no cost. Choice gives people a sense of control and respect for their situation.
And for those who may be struggling today, make sure they can access the Suicide and Crisis hotline at 988.
This season, give your employees support, flexibility and a workplace that treats mental health with the same seriousness as any safety hazard. It is the best gift you can offer. It builds loyalty, reduces burnout and helps people enjoy the season with confidence and peace of mind.
This article originally appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal on November 13, 2025.