Background

Employers have recently learned how devastating mental health challenges can be to their employees and organizational productivity. School districts like Washington County SchoolDistrict were severely disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the district’s administration knew they needed to proactively mitigate the pandemic’s impact on the mental health of their staffand students.

Website: www.washk12.org

Industry: Education

Company size: 4,000+

The Problem

Fighting attrition—a high stakes game.

High on the list of management’s concerns was the potential for mental health challenges to increase turnover. Not only is replacing an employee costly (Gallup estimates the price tag to be 50-200% of the employee’s salary), but churning employees also take with them their relationships and expertise. For most organizations, attrition negatively impacts the customer experience. For WCSD, the academic, economic, and emotional wellbeing of thousands of students was at stake.

The Solution

WCSD partners with Tava

“We became aware of Tava during the Covid Pandemic,” explained Lyle Cox, Executive Director of Human Resources at WCSD. “The mental health of all our employees was a significant factor in reaching out to Tava for assistance. We knew our students were struggling to feel safe and were coping with the challenges associated with isolation. To support students, we needed to support our employees."

“To support students, we needed to support our employees.”

After learning of Tava’s offering, the district was confident that implementing Tava would deliver the positive impact they needed.

The Results

Investing in Tava paid off.

The impact on retention was stunning. Employees that used Tava were 55.3% less likely to quit. Cox said that by focusing on employee mental health, “WCSD was among the best in the state and highest in the country in our effective retention of all employees during this national crisis.”

“I am so grateful for the therapists who have listened to my concerns and helped me make sense out of what I am experiencing. I appreciate WCSD for providing this valuable resource to us all." - WCSD employee

By partnering with Tava Health, WCSD was able to deliver on their commitment to support their employees. “We needed to oer support to our benefitted employees as well as employees who were not benefited, in other words those that do not normally have access to mental health assistance programs. These employees play a critical role in our mission to support students, but may struggle the most to pay for mental health counseling and support.” Cox said. With Tava they “were able to offer that support, and employees overwhelmingly responded with praise and gratitude for the Tava benefit.”

“WCSD was among the best in the state and highest in the country in our effective retention of all employees during this national crisis."

Changing social and economic conditions present all organizations with challenges, but as WCSD learned, focusing on employee mental health can help organizations emerge from challenges better and stronger. As one employee wrote: “Tava changed my life and my mind. I now feel confident to accept any situation."

Learn more online at tavahealth.com/employer.

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