May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and at General Dynamics Information Technology, a global technology company and defense contractor, employee health is a top priority each month. General Dynamics Corporation’s business unit has been implementing a comprehensive program focused on mental wellness since 2021, receiving praise from both employees and mental health organizations. I spoke to his GDIT president, Amy Gilliland, about the program and why mental health is an important issue in the workplace.
This conversation has been edited for length, clarity, and continuity. An excerpt was published in Sunday’s Forbes CEO Newsletter.
Note to readers: This interview mentions suicide and other reasons for emotional distress.
Why did you start focusing on mental health at GDIT?
Gilliland: It was truly an experience. Being president of a 28,000-employee company is actually just one section of a broader population. Our employees are located all over the world.In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic [pandemic shutdowns], this was August 2021, and conversations and interactions in both my personal and professional lives made me realize that mental health issues are more prevalent in this position than I remember. I was at a local lake for a long weekend and got a call from one of the guys on the report telling me that someone who was often seen at GDIT had committed suicide. At that moment, I decided that his GDIT needed to play a role in this issue, and I resolved to commit to addressing this issue and supporting our employees and their families.
I think we all know how stressed everyone was at that moment. Our kids were homeschooling or recovering from homeschooling. People have lost people in their lives. There has been a failure in our support network. And the economy: Inflation was rising. Then the George Floyd incident happened. There was a lot of confusion and confusion, and it all happened at the same time when people didn’t have access to resources or didn’t have enough resources to deal with it. I was just focused on doing something.
said Amy Gilliland, president of General Dynamics Information Technology.
GDIT
I came back, sat down with the great team we have here, and put together this campaign we called “How Are You, Really?” It’s common to find yourself in the office or at the water heater asking someone, “How’s it going?” Then I just kept walking down the hallway and said, “Oh, I’m living the dream,” rolling my eyes, right? But this has led employees to ask questions and really care about what the answers are.
I started this job in September 2017. [There is] Nothing I’ve ever done at work has been as well-received and widely accepted as the message, “How are you, really?” motion. Everywhere you go, someone talks about it.
What is this campaign about?
As we looked deeper into this area, statistics proved that this is a problem that will outlast the pandemic. This is a pandemic in itself and we will be seeing the effects of this for some time. Interestingly, the Department of Health and Human Services has announced suicides for 2024. [Prevention] Strategy, it basically states that this is a 10-year strategy for society as a whole. Everyone needs to follow.
We launched this campaign and said this is not going to end in a month. “As president, let me send a message to my employees and say, ‘Everyone, we need to check in on each other.'” I’m taking a long-term view on this issue, and for some time to come, I’ve been meaning to work on this issue seriously for some time because I think it’s something that needs to be focused on.
We have established many resources. website, [which is] In fact, there are easily accessible videos, links to articles about mental health, and links to where you can get help within your company. [with] Resources We Provide. Links for managers on how to engage and discuss issues with employees.
We realized that being a leader post-COVID-19 is different than being a leader pre-COVID-19. A generational shift in the workforce is occurring. There are many different work positions when it comes to working from home. Our mission is very dynamic, and there’s a lot going on here given the geopolitical things going on right now. We train all HR managers. One of those trainings is how to have difficult conversations, especially around things like mental health. We expect leaders to make it part of their job to help their people succeed, and part of that is to proactively discuss mental health if they think something is going on. I am. It really starts with “How Are You, Really?” type of conversation. It might not be the first, second, or third time, but ultimately you can make your employees feel like it’s okay to not be okay.
We have also held many speaker events. We brought in experts to talk about everything from stress and anxiety management to suicide prevention. This can be very nuanced for different parts of your employee base. For example, the issue of suicide and how to prevent it among veterans is different than for early career employees. This year, research was released that revealed for the first time that young people and younger workers are more likely to suffer from mental health problems than older workers. Suicide is becoming more prevalent and they are feeling isolated and depressed. We worked with an employee resource group for early career employees to host a lunchtime session about depression and anxiety and the realities of it. This is one of the most high-profile things we’ve ever done from an internal perspective. [events].
The landscape is evolving, so we continue to evolve what we offer. This year, we’re focused on encouraging people to find community at GDIT. If you’re a techie and want to connect with cloud engineers, there’s a community here. If you’re an early career employee, we have an early career employee resource group here. In the aftermath of COVID-19, one of the realities of the world we live in now is that people are even more isolated than before. That isolation affects people in noticeable and profound ways, sometimes in ways that people don’t realize. From a business perspective, that community is important for collaboration, innovation, and retention. However, I believe it is very important for our employees to feel a part of something and alleviate some of the loneliness that pervades the workplace.
What was the employee response to this program?
It was wonderful. I spend a lot of time traveling to meet customers and employees around the world. Our employees are located everywhere, including Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. I just returned from Hawaii, Korea, and Japan. I was in a trailer, a Kuwaiti employee’s workshop, and I walked up to the employee in the very back corner and said, “Are you sure you’re okay?” He looked at me and said, “For someone who almost died last month, you’re doing pretty well.”
An employee sends me an email. One employee bravely posted on LinkedIn that she wanted to end her life, but she talked it over with her manager because she felt like she could, and we hope she doesn’t. We have introduced resources to help you.
About 30% of my population are veterans. Of my 20,000 employees, 14,000 to 15,000 have security clearances. Both employee demographics have a built-in aversion to talking about mental health. In the military, you just plod along. keep calm and carry on. In the military, we don’t talk about things like this. People with security clearances feel that if the approver appears to have a mental health issue, he or she may have his or her security clearance revoked, but that is not the case. We’ve also tried to take our internal conversations externally to avoid instilling these biases and false beliefs in people that they’re going to lose their clearance. In fact, it happens 0.00001% of the time. In fact, those approving security clearances want people in need to come forward.
My employees thank me for making mental health a business imperative. This allows employees to express their opinions.
Another way you can measure impact and impact is in terms of retention. The number of layoffs is steadily decreasing. Is it just because of “How Are You, Really?” motion? No, but I think this exemplifies the kind of culture we’re trying to build here.
What do you say to business owners who say that mental health is important, but that it’s a personal issue that has nothing to do with the workplace?
I think those days are over. It’s been proven that when employees feel able to give their best at work and feel supported by their employer, employees perform better and businesses thrive. And the reverse is also true. I’m not saying we have to solve mental health issues here. But to go back to what I emphasized earlier, this is a society-wide problem. I think companies need to make the decision that they can be part of tackling that problem. An employee cannot ignore this because he spends 8, 10, 12 hours a day at work. Work can be perceived as a place of increased anxiety, difficulty, and tension. That it could make any of these problems worse. We’re trying to create a place where people have expectations and accountability for their performance. But importantly, when people feel that their leaders care about them, they become more committed and work in a healthier way, both mentally and physically.
What advice would you give to executives who want to start a similar program in their workplace?
they can call us. We will be happy to share our resources with you. We have external websites that describe external resources. There are also many organizations that support this.of [National Alliance on Mental Illness] There are resources. We built this organically, so we worked on it.
I think the important thing is to listen to the opinions of your employees. Because our employees have really helped us build a meaningful program here.
I also tell them that this doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. We have introduced flexibility where we can, and that is helping our employees. If someone needs to take a step back, we’ve come up with a way to make it possible for them to do so without having to.
Another piece of advice I would give is that leaders need to understand this too. Leaders need to be on board with this effort. This is important because it demonstrates the types of behaviors that need to be promoted across the organization and makes employees feel like this is more than just an initiative.
If you or someone you know is experiencing hardship or crisis, please call or text. 988 Lifeline for suicide and crisis 988 offers free, confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.Ann online chat is also available.
