Why is climate change a mental health issue—and what role should employers play in addressing it? On this episode of Tomorrowist, host Jerry Won speaks with Marjorie Morrison, SHRM’s Mental Health Executive in Residence, to explore the growing impact of extreme weather on mental health at work. Morrison explores what organizations can do to better support employee wellbeing and workplace preparedness. From embedding climate considerations into mental health strategies to preparing for future disruptions in climate-vulnerable regions, she shares actionable insights to help leaders protect both their people and their bottom line.
Why is climate change a mental health issue—and what role should employers play in addressing it? On this episode of Tomorrowist, host Jerry Won speaks with Marjorie Morrison, SHRM’s Mental Health Executive in Residence, to explore the growing impact of extreme weather on mental health at work.
Morrison explores what organizations can do to better support employee wellbeing and workplace preparedness. From embedding climate considerations into mental health strategies to preparing for future disruptions in climate-vulnerable regions, she shares actionable insights to help leaders protect both their people and their bottom line.
[00:00:00]
[00:00:31] Jerry: I'm Jerry Won and Welcome to this week's episode of Tomorrowist. I. we explore the trend shaping the future of work and how business leaders can stay ahead. We talk a lot about the operational risks of climate change. Hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves. These events can disrupt supply chains, hot production, and even shut down offices. But what we talk about less is the emotional and psychological toll they take on employees. This week we're asking a question more business leaders should be considering.
[00:00:58] Why is climate change a [00:01:00] mental health issue? Joining us to explore this is Marjorie Morrison, Sherman's Mental Health Executive and residence. Marjorie has spent her career at the intersection of mental health and workforce wellbeing. She's the founder of Psych Hub, a trained therapist, and a leading voice on how workplaces can better support employee mental health, especially in times of crisis. Marjorie, welcome to
[00:01:20] tomorrows.
[00:01:21] Marjorie: Thank you so much, Jerry, for having me. I'm really looking forward to this conversation.
[00:01:25] Jerry: Let's start with the big picture. Why is climate change a mental health issue?
[00:01:31] Marjorie: You know, I think we've never
[00:01:34] really talked about this in a big enough landscape between what happens with climate change, and really we're talking about like extreme weather events and the
[00:01:45] mental health of
[00:01:46] individuals and employers that get impacted, and then how does
[00:01:49] that affect the workplace? Right?
[00:01:51] So. It's not something that's intuitive that
[00:01:54] everybody's thinking about, but yet they're really connected in a lot
[00:01:58] of different ways. There's like a few different
[00:01:59] [00:02:00] ways that we could
[00:02:00] look at it. One of them is when you've had direct exposure
[00:02:05] to
[00:02:06] an extreme weather event. So when I'm
[00:02:08] like referring to extreme weather, I'm
[00:02:09] thinking about things like hurricanes, tornadoes,
[00:02:14] floods, wildfires, um. Earthquakes. You know, it could be extreme heat, it could be extreme, like, you know, cold, snow, ice, things like that. And when you've been exposed to these kind of extreme things, it can lead to a lot of different psychological effects. Things like stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and it. also
[00:02:38] can have socioeconomic disruptions, right?
[00:02:40] If you think about it. Now all of a sudden you're evacuated. Maybe your job is you can't physically go there because there are some issues. There might be issues with, um, food insecurity, maybe you can't get food. Things like that, that can always like exacerbate mental health, things. And I mean, there's, there's a [00:03:00] whole new Jerry, a whole new kind of. Theme going on right now called eco anxiety, and it's really about that fear of what's going to happen as the
[00:03:11] climate continues to change over the years, and what is the grief around it, what is the helplessness
[00:03:17] around it, and just kind of that fear of the unknown.
[00:03:20] Jerry: Yeah. You know, I, I think we've started to see people change, even just the way that we talk about climate change and its effects from a if to a when. Right. And I think we've seen across the country, whether it be North Carolina or Katrina in the south. Hawaii, the wildfires, and even where I live in Los Angeles, we had the fires at the beginning of 2025. And we start to see both the direct impact, as you mentioned, the immediate, how do we help people, and then the lingering economic effects, the
[00:03:48] Marjorie: Right.
[00:03:49] Jerry: social effects of, I have personal friends who've lost homes and who've had to, you know, figure life out. And like you said, it does carry, uh, an [00:04:00] extreme emotional and mental toll that we don't. Quite talk about, and so let, let's connect this back to business, right? And then how do you see these issues impacting the bottom line? Or how workforce or companies, um, you know, talk about climate change, how employees are impacted by all of these things.
[00:04:17] Marjorie: I think like
[00:04:18] first your lead up to that question is exactly right. I
[00:04:20] mean, one of the
[00:04:21] reasons and ways I became passionate about this was during the LA fires and I grew up in Los Angeles and
[00:04:28] just. Seeing
[00:04:29] so
[00:04:29] much of the city disrupted at the same time. It was on the heels of what was going on in North Carolina. and so it just, I, And there was that kind of uncertainty as far as like, okay, there was a
[00:04:41] popup fire here. Was it gonna get contained? And
[00:04:45] so like when I think about
[00:04:46] an individual, right, all of that impacts businesses. When you think about these extreme weathers,
[00:04:53] what happens to. like infrastructure, right?
[00:04:57] All of a sudden now there's power cables are [00:05:00] down and maybe you don't have
[00:05:01] electricity or you don't have the internet,
[00:05:03] or what if it like
[00:05:04] disrupts supply chain, it halts your operations. You know, all of
[00:05:09] that can lead to financial stress. and then there's these increased costs that maybe we didn't plan on, right?
[00:05:15] When. Maybe there's damage to the infrastructure that has to be, you know, replaced. Now insurance costs could go up. I. mean, that's kind of one of These issues. Now we had insurance. Did you have enough insurance? And then What is it gonna cost to continue to ensure? and then there's compliance, right? What needs to happen when
[00:05:32] things go wrong?
[00:05:34] And all of that can disrupt the everyday operations of a company. then there's like also. I think like more of the reputational risk, right? Like what happens to companies that, um, are involved in, in something? You know, you, you hear in all of these things. Was there, was it someone's fault? Was there a
[00:05:55] Jerry: Hmm.
[00:05:55] Marjorie: You wanna make sure that as a workplace that you're on the. the the right [00:06:00] side of history, if you will, when these types of events happen. So all of
[00:06:03] those things I
[00:06:04] think
[00:06:04] really impact the companies.
[00:06:06] Then there's the mental health piece, right? Do we have productivity loss,
[00:06:11] like.
[00:06:11] people are stressed and they're going through all of this anxiety about
[00:06:14] living and all of the
[00:06:16] things
[00:06:16] that, those pressures, that affects productivity, that
[00:06:19] can affect turnover, right?
[00:06:21] If people are not able to sort of perform at work,
[00:06:24] maybe they're changing. There's healthcare expenses. With so many companies being self-insured, you know, we're all
[00:06:32] Workplaces are incurring a lot of
[00:06:33] healthcare costs. So the more kind of
[00:06:36] issues that we have going on that are unaddressed, that can escalate,
[00:06:40] um, you know, workplaces.
[00:06:42] So I think there's, there's a lot, there's a lot here to discuss.
[00:06:45] Jerry: Well there, there certainly is a lot and and one thing that I experienced and just through the lives of my friends and even myself, is. You know, we, we talk about the direct business impacts, right? Um, offices, factories. But as we have, you know, lived now in a [00:07:00] remote first workplace or work from home environment,
[00:07:02] you know, the ability for people to have shown up to work the following day, right? And so there were
[00:07:07] people directly in the path to
[00:07:08] fires and hurricanes were immediately displaced. But then the secondary or the tertiary impact of this is that people don't have the capacity to show up to work even in a virtual setting. Right? and so if you are. Packing up your car to evacuate, you're physically able to log into a Zoom call.
[00:07:26] But are you going to, and will you be in a, in a state of mind to function, uh, and, and to be productive and, and what is, you know, and the evolving question is then how does the responsibility. Or the, uh, impact of that play in an employee, employee relationship, and particularly not just in Los Angeles, but across the board.
[00:07:45] We have a lot of entrepreneurs and solopreneurs whose businesses were impacted. But
[00:07:50] that's not a big
[00:07:51] business question, but it does impact it. And so, you know, we saw in Los Angeles, you know, particularly events
[00:07:56] being canceled, productions being halted, you know, restrictions on [00:08:00] outside activities. Um, you know, entire school districts and their employers, right?
[00:08:04] Districts are employers with teachers and staff. Everything being impacted, and so we, We see the direct impacts of it, but I'm really glad that we're getting a chance to talk about the emotional toll And the mental toll of some of these things. And, and from your professional lens, how does the mental toll of extreme weather events differ from other kinds of stressors?
[00:08:23] When we talk about the mental health impact of workplace, uh, situations.
[00:08:27] Marjorie: That's a great question. You know, and it, in a lot of ways it's the same. And then in some ways it, it's different. And I, it's so important, this is such an important conversation to have Jerry. 'cause I think you had said earlier, it's really not a matter of if it's when, because even if it, if isn't a tornado or a hurricane or a flash flood, or a fire, or an earthquake.
[00:08:52] Extreme heat,
[00:08:53] extreme cold. it, it, we're seeing those trends happening, right? So this is really something that [00:09:00] impacts every workplace. So I think some of the ways that, you know, you're gonna see it differ, and that's why we really have to pay attention is that it's so sudden. They tend to be very severe and very sudden, and oftentimes we don't have any warning right now.
[00:09:19] In some cases we might know when it's like a hurricane, but in a lot of these instances we don't, you know, sometimes fires, earthquakes, we don't have any. Um, so there's, there's that kind of level of severity that comes with it that that can be very, very stressful. That can lead to things like PTSD, anxiety, depression, things like that. The other problem is, is that, and you, you experienced this firsthand in LA, is the repeated exposure. So o oftentimes what happens is, right there was a fire and then another fire spurts out and then another one. And so you keep getting re-traumatized to something common in earthquakes where we have these aftershocks.
[00:09:58] So, um, [00:10:00] you know, we have some of these, these things that keep going. You get a real. Disruption in basic services like you. You kind of mentioned that where all of a sudden things are canceled, but when we're dealing with these extreme weathers, it affects. Everyone so different than something that might affect you or someone dies or you're exposed to your own sort of micro traumatic event.
[00:10:23] These are kind of macro traumatic events, and so you think about you may not have electricity, you may not have. Food. You may not be able to go to the grocery store. You can't do your delivery, right? And so all of those things affect people's mental health, their stress, their anxiety, and then there's sort of what's coming in the future, which is anxiety about it.
[00:10:46] Just us talking
[00:10:47] Jerry: All
[00:10:47] Marjorie: right? Like some people feel like we have no control over this. It's happening, we're a victim in it. All of that exacerbates kind of, you know, the mental health. Sort of, if you will, the way someone goes about their [00:11:00] day-to-day life, right? All of that can impact it.
[00:11:03] Jerry: I, I agree. And I think, you know, even just the ways that we talk about these things, uh, comparing it to the ways that we were taught growing up versus the ways that we're now talking to our children about it, um, you know, it is almost sort of how do we prepare for the inevitable and, and almost expect things to happen from a preparation perspective.
[00:11:20] Right. And, and you talked about long lasting impacts of catastrophic weather events, where the biggest one that happened in our country was in Katrina. Where, you know, entire communities relocated to different states, different cities, and with that comes the impact of both small and large businesses, of economic, you know, socioeconomic changes of who lives where, and how people make money.
[00:11:42] And, um, you know, and so leaders have to make decisions both in the short term and the long term when it comes to these things, including where do we put our offices? Right? And so, um, or where do we put our facilities? At the points of risk mitigation. And so from that perspective, how do [00:12:00] these impacts show up at work and, and how can leaders be best prepared so that there's not a spot or a perspective that they miss out on, both from a tactical perspective and from a long-term employee wellbeing perspective?
[00:12:11] I.
[00:12:12] Marjorie: Yeah, I mean I think it's a, the, it is another really great question and. IT leaders might overlook the signs, you know, and so it's really important that they're aware of what some of these signs look like so that they know how to address them effectively. Um, one of them is, you know, increased absenteeism and presenteeism, right?
[00:12:35] So if you
[00:12:35] Jerry: Yeah.
[00:12:36] Marjorie: people who are impacted by extreme weather and they're taking more sick days, or they're coming to work unwell. That's gonna affect productivity, right? So that's like kind of your presenteeism. So it's really important to try to recognize that. you'll see it in a decline in like work performance.
[00:12:56] Oftentimes, you'll, you'll notice that individuals [00:13:00] are, um, just not as, they're not as focused because when they have a lot of anxiety or depression, or PTSD. Um, they're not, they're kind of struggling to stay mentally, mentally engaged. You really start to see a change in behavior and mood, and I think that's one of the things that we all need to look for with each other. Managers need to know their, their team and their employees, but, but peers and colleagues also have to look out for each other because that's when you really start to sort of see those changes in behavior when you know someone and they're not acting quite the same. If people are stressed, Jerry, they don't sleep. And so oftentimes you see people who are, you know, have sleep disturbances, they're tired, they're yawning all the time. They're not kind of as focused. Or you have people that have, like I, I mean, this is another big issue, like physical conditions, like headaches, stomach aches, things like that. Like how do you, and maybe there's not something to attribute it.
[00:13:57] So those are kind of the signs that employers [00:14:00] need to look for and what they can do about it. Is to really foster open communication, right? Really create a psychologically safe environment where people can have these dialogues. They
[00:14:12] Jerry: Hmm.
[00:14:12] Marjorie: it okay for employees to share. one sort of one silver lining, always trying to look for the glass half full here of these types of events is you have a shared experience when you're going through it with other people, so people can really rely on each other and count on each other for all of that. Um, it's important to be able to have resources, know what they are and know how to access 'em. Right? So it could be your EAP, it could be mental health resources. You know, you mentioned earlier about the zoom, like someone might be able to get onto Zoom or might not, but like flexible work schedules. Policies. 'cause I, I do think so much of this is we gotta be prepared ahead of time as a workplace knowing that these really events can happen. And then what do we do when [00:15:00] it happens? Right? So having some of these policies in place of flexible hours and then, you know, I'm always a big advocate of training and management, really need to know what we just talked about.
[00:15:11] Like what are the signs that they should be looking for and what should they do when, you know, when something like that happens.
[00:15:17] Jerry: Uh, these, these are such wonderful points you bring up Marjorie. And I think another thing to consider too is the, the secondary and tertiary relationships, right? And so I may not be impacted. But if my family is in an area that we're not in, I'm still not sleeping. 'cause I'm worried about them.
[00:15:34] Marjorie: That's
[00:15:34] Jerry: I'm taking in people, you know when, when, uh, placements happen and evacuations happen, people go to family and friends and so that might be, or in our never ending news cycle, I.
[00:15:45] Just the anxiety of the news, right? And how it impacts people not directly in the path. And so where we are in Los Angeles, we, were not in the direct path of fires, but we're keeping in touch with friends. Our lives are disrupted because that impacts, you know, our, our [00:16:00] children's school and sports schedules are impacted.
[00:16:02] And, and so it, it, there is certainly a, you know, uh, a tertiary, secondary and tertiary effects of. These things that impact how people show up if they can show up to work, that I think managers, as you mentioned, and colleagues and clients, vendors, whatever their relationship is, just be mindful of and and have that relationship and that expectation that it is something that people need to be talking about.
[00:16:22] Right. And I think I. Culturally, sometimes people don't want to share as much or just want to toughen it out and show up. And I think, you know, it is a good suggestion that you have to be able to have these expectations of open communication so that people can feel comfortable showing up. Um, are there particular, um, lenses through, whether it be industries or regions, uh, that we generally believe to be a little bit more prone to climate disruption, um, does that impact.
[00:16:50] Retention, recruitment, productivity, or even, where should we open up our next facility? How does that play?
[00:16:56] Marjorie: Um. You know what? I was just gonna go [00:17:00] backwards really quickly to kind of, also, to piggyback on what you were saying, survivor's guilt is also involved in this because like when you mentioned that, um, you know every, because you're absolutely spot on, it affects everybody. But what happens, like, I lived through the Scripps Ranch Fire in San Diego,
[00:17:18] Jerry: Hmm.
[00:17:19] Marjorie: I lived in Scripps Ranch and my house was okay, but many of my neighbors were not.
[00:17:23] And there was all kinds of this kind of survivors. You know, guilt of like, why their house and not mine or why this community or, or your, your house is fine but you can't go back in it 'cause of smoke. Anyway. So I, I think I just wanna kind of double click on your point 'cause I think it's such an important one is that it's. Oftentimes the stress, the mental health bene, you know what? Ha, the symptoms aren't as obvious as someone might think. It might not be as, you know, it could be someone lost their house. I mean, I know several people in LA right now who are still housing people who lost houses. Now all of a sudden, you don't really [00:18:00] have your.
[00:18:00] Family, just as your
[00:18:01] Jerry: Yeah.
[00:18:02] Marjorie: You've got guests in your house. So I just, I I, I wanted to just take a moment and just kind of like acknowledge that. 'cause I think it, it was a really good point. because Depending on sort of where you are. of those things will change. I mean, so for example, recruitment, right? So there was a study that was done that 76% of millennials consider a company social and environmental commitment when they decide what to where to
[00:18:27] Jerry: Hmm.
[00:18:28] Marjorie: I mean, I think as far as like thinking about certain areas, I think it's really, especially with this younger generation, they're gonna think about it and then. That could affect like, retention. So there could be issues, um, in climate, vulnerable regions, right? So if there are areas that you know are, you know. Going to be oftentimes could be affected by it. It could, it could make it harder to recruit people. Um, you know, kinds of, all [00:19:00] kinds of things like, like that. And I, I, so I guess I would imagine maybe less about industries, but more about geography, like where some of these companies are as an employer.
[00:19:10] You gotta think about it. if you know that you're in an area that. Tends to get tornadoes in the Midwest, or tends to go through hurricanes in Florida, or earthquakes in, California. All of those are going to be areas that you're gonna wanna think about when it comes to retention. And some of the ways maybe that companies can mitigate it, like we talked about, flexible work plans.
[00:19:35] You could talk about that when you're. Interviewing or letting people know that you're making an investment into a resilient infrastructure. You're aware that extreme weather can affect the business, that you have a policy in place that you prioritize employees wellbeing. really keeping good communication.
[00:19:53] And I think saying all that on the front end and then following through with
[00:19:56] it
[00:19:57] Jerry: Yeah.
[00:19:57] Marjorie: will really sort of help it so that [00:20:00] your. In a situation where if you're vulnerable, can we call
[00:20:03] Jerry: All right.
[00:20:03] Marjorie: climate vulnerable, you know, companies, and by the way, we should also be talking about that companies may have an office or within in a area that has some vulnerability, but yet that they might have other offices that don't.
[00:20:19] Jerry: Right.
[00:20:19] Marjorie: it might be that your office in California has to have different kinds of policies than your
[00:20:24] Jerry: Sure.
[00:20:25] Marjorie: Michigan.
[00:20:26] Jerry: No, I, I, you know, I, I, I think again, like it's, it is something that we have. Now accepted as the, you know, again, not from a defeatist mindset perspective, but let's prepare for that. It will happen, right? And so let's talk a little bit more about actionable steps, right? And so we know that regionally things might be different, generationally things might be different.
[00:20:48] Different industries will, you know, experience different things. From a reaction perspective, we've talked about how some of these events can, in the short term trigger, trauma, [00:21:00] anxiety, even PTSD, those have lingering effects as well. Those have been well studied. Um, walk us through what symptoms employers should look out for or be even proactively asking about, uh, in their teams and in their ecosystems post-disaster to be most helpful to them.
[00:21:17] Marjorie: Yeah, I mean, I, I, I'll say it's things that are. That you would kind of be aware of to say that person doesn't seem quite right. Are they irritable? Do they have mood swings? Do they seem withdrawn? Right. A lot of times. We have to be really careful. When we see people withdrawal, we tend to think, oh, they're, you know, ignoring us or they're mad at us and we need to be, it's really important we don't take it personally that we are like really looking at our people as like, are you okay? Are they hypervigilant? I mean, a lot of times this brings out hyper vigilance where you're, you're on edge, right? Depending on what it is. You're like operating from a state of fear. It takes a while physically for that body to calm [00:22:00] down. And for some people it could be days. For some people, it could be weeks.
[00:22:04] For other people, it could be months, even years. I mean, you'll hear stories about people who have been exposed to these traumatic events and they carry it with them. It's our whole lifetimes. you wanna be aware of the cognitive difficulties, right? Things like, are they concentrating? Do they have a hard time focusing?
[00:22:22] Right? Can they make decisions? Do they seem disoriented? I've heard a lot of people say that, um, in these kind of post types of situations. I, I had someone share with me recently that they had a friend who lost her house in the fire and. Once that happened. They were reliving this trauma, Jerry from, they had a stillborn, this was 25 years earlier, but you know, it brought back all of that trauma.
[00:22:54] So one of the things that happens with trauma, it's like a magnet to other trauma. So when you have these events, sometimes, like you'll [00:23:00] see people just being really upset about something that's. Disconnected to the vent, but it's actually all connected. It's sort of a, a trigger. And then of course you have your physical symptoms, right?
[00:23:10] Are they tired, like we talked about, because maybe they're not sleeping. Do they have those kind of somatic things? Headaches, stomach aches, things like that. But listen, as employers, we need to get the job done. So you're gonna see it. You oftentimes can see it as decreased productivity, like frequent, you know, days off, things like that. Um, you might see an increase in substance use. So. of that to say these things will impact your employees. These types of events, they will. But there are actionable steps that leaders can do, and I think much of this is preparing for it on the front end so that you actually have yourself a plan when it happens.
[00:23:51] So. It's so important to foster open communication, create what we call psychologically safe environments, where people [00:24:00] feel comfortable sharing their experiences and their challenges. The more people feel comfortable talking about it, the more you can create an environment that you can find out what's really going on and provide those kind of resources. Most companies have really good mental health resources, EAPs, you know, mental health services, but knowing how to access them is really important. Knowing how to get employees to go find it, you know, and whatever other flexibility might make sense within reason, right? Because we gotta get the job done. But offering flexibility during these times, um, is really important. Like you said, if you're evacuated or whatever it might be, you're gonna have to be very, very, very. Very flexible and then, you know, just really educating the managers, right, so that they, they know what to do.
[00:24:49] Jerry: When we talked about tracking absenteeism and, you know, uh, I guess just paying attention or being present in the workplace rather, um, are, are, is there, and when [00:25:00] we've talked to leaders, are there different things that we should be mindful of in a. A remote first environment. And, and I wanna bring that up because even though there's a lot of conversations about, you know, work from home, uh, transitioning back to in the office, we still are in a, we we're still in a predominantly remote, whether permanently or in a hybrid situation.
[00:25:22] Um, it's hard to track, right? And somebody continues to show up to Zoom, right? Where, because it doesn't really matter where they're calling in from. It, it's hard to track that, the badging system, obviously if somebody's coming in late or they look bothered, but, you know, we attend meetings now with the cameras off and it's hard to pick up on some of these things that we used to be able to, what, what are some of the different things that those leaders, uh, can, can do, um, so that it's not too late for them to be helpful?
[00:25:46] Marjorie: It is such a great question because you are right. I mean, it's a whole nother challenge and I think it is really okay to say, you must turn your camera on. I want, and it's in a caring way, I wanna put eyeballs on you. I wanna make [00:26:00] sure that you're okay. And you know, oftentimes I've heard people say the first few minutes of every meeting. Uh, every virtual meeting you should allow for some type of social chitchat, if you will, because you're, you miss that,
[00:26:16] Jerry: Hmm.
[00:26:16] Marjorie: And then you are absolutely right. It's hard to know how someone's doing if it's just like it's business and they're off, and, and that can add so much more stress to it. So creating these, you know, I, I often talk about this like it's quality over quantity. We all just need to kind of. Find our people have our people that we know, and it's so important at work that we have a person or two. We don't need all of them. It. Could be your manager. It doesn't have to be. It could be your subordinate. Doesn't have to be, it's feeling connected to someone and feeling comfortable and safe to share with someone.
[00:26:53] And I think then that, and we all need to do that for each other, right? You don't just have to be that, that for someone, that you have [00:27:00] to have them be that both ways, give and to take. And when you have that person, it's really hard, but you have to be willing to ask the hard questions. Are you okay? I'd say. Ask that question. You don't have to have the answer like of how to fix it. And I think sometimes so many of us fall into this
[00:27:21] Jerry: Yeah.
[00:27:22] Marjorie: feeling like we don't wanna ask if you're okay. 'cause we feel like we have to fix it and we don't know how to fix it. We don't have to. You know what we have to do is just be good listeners.
[00:27:28] I. listen, make that person feel like we hear them, they're heard and you know you can do that by just repeating sometimes what they say, like, wow, it sounds like this has been really, really, really stressful for you. And I completely understand, you know, empathy goes such a long way. I can only imagine how you feel like those little things Jerry will make such a difference in, especially in that remote environment where you know, you don't see someone.
[00:27:55] And I'm so glad you asked that question 'cause it's so important.
[00:27:58] Jerry: I, I agree. Uh, we, we talked about [00:28:00] the sort of the reactive things that business leaders can do. Uh, let, let's touch upon, um, as we wrap here, sort of the proactive things. Uh, what can leaders do? What does it look like to integrate climate resilience, the climate vulnerabilities, and the known impacts of possible climate events into a company's mental health strategy, into a recruitment strategy to be proactive about these things?
[00:28:20] Marjorie: Yeah, I, how great would it be if every company had one of these kind of strategies? So it's like it. start embedding climate considerations in their mental health programs. I mean, every company has thought about mental health, especially, it's been top of mind now. So like, you know, really acknowledging that there are these climate related stressors and recognizing that they can lead to all the things we're talking about, anxiety, grief and then incorporating these discussions. into the existing mental health initiatives, training up the managers and letting [00:29:00] them know, and even just everybody letting them know that these things are gonna happen and that we all have to be supportive to each other. Get, really do some front end research on what are the relevant resources, what are the coping strategies?
[00:29:16] coming up with a preparedness plan, right? Are we able to say, if the internet goes down, we have this, or if Just like you would design any emergency plan, but also it's not just your physical safety, it's also just like, what do we do for someone's mental health when these kind of incidents happen?
[00:29:36] Um, and I think it's important to do regular drills and trainings, just like really take it seriously. Let people know that you take it seriously. You wanna foster a supportive organizational culture, right? You wanna again. I, I can't say it enough. Promoting o open dialogue is so important 'cause it's gonna make your employees feel heard, [00:30:00] feel valued, fear. cared for. And that is what we get
[00:30:04] Jerry: Right.
[00:30:05] Marjorie: end up getting a lot more productivity out of our employees. You know, again, coming up with flexible work policies. Um, you know, I've, I've talked to some companies that have done like community and environmental initiatives
[00:30:18] Jerry: Hmm.
[00:30:18] Marjorie: they have like volunteer days or things like that that can help sort of show.
[00:30:23] We care about the environment. E even though it doesn't have to do with extreme weather, it still shows that they are, they care about environmental projects and things like that, you know, so it kind of shows we're doing our part to try to mitigate kind of these traumatic types of events. And just, I think at the end of the day, really just educating
[00:30:42] Jerry: Yeah.
[00:30:42] Marjorie: to, you know, your employees on sort of what to do.
[00:30:45] And then. keep assessing them, you
[00:30:48] Jerry: Yeah.
[00:30:48] Marjorie: it doing, how are we doing? And, and make changes to the policy as it's going. This is a new frontier. I mean, this isn't something we've done, critical incident training. We've done, you know, trauma-informed trainings. [00:31:00] This is new and I am gonna suspect every company at some point is going to need to be thinking about it.
[00:31:06] So like, let's all learn from each other. If companies are doing things that are, you know, making a difference and they work, let's all learn. And just, I think talking about it's the first step.
[00:31:16] Jerry: And as you mentioned, you know, uh, different generations and then we don't want to generalize all generations, but, you know, uh, employees are starting to ask employers of these questions. What is your policy on this? What happens in this case? Right. And I think, you know, um, the, the questions, and I think they're good questions for also leaders to ask of their own organizations, right?
[00:31:35] Because they have to lead people who will prioritize mental health maybe more so than previous generations. No judgment either way there, but that is the reality of what's happening. And so if you want to recruit the best, if you wanna retain the best, and if you want to have the A team, these are important things to at least be mindful of and to be asking, you know, far beyond where do we open our offices?
[00:31:56] What is our operational procedure? But. You know, the climate [00:32:00] impacted and even the not so climate impacted mental health effects of all these things are important if you want to build a great team. And so, uh, Marjorie Morrison, it's been wonderful. Let me ask, uh, let me wrap up our episode of tomorrow's with this final question.
[00:32:13] what is the one thing that leaders can do tomorrow to get started on this issue?
[00:32:17] Marjorie: Yeah, I mean, I think it's, it's pretty much what we've, you know, been talking about validate, you know, validate your employee's experience, let them know what you're saying matters. I hear you. That I. That's going to foster trust. You know, the open communications, you know, encourage proactive coping strategies like problem solving, resilience building strategies. Um, I. Have, like we talked about, have meeting check-ins, like, you know, dedicate a few minutes every day to just kinda see how people are doing. Um, especially if there was a climate event, even if it was weeks ago, months ago, you'd be surprised if you give people the, the space to talk what they'll [00:33:00] share. And that doesn't mean that you're triggering that, that trauma. What that means is that you care. You're giving people space, and I promise you that actually helps people focus more on work because they feel that they're cared for. Keep sharing resources. I know we have a lot of resources, but sometimes people just don't know what they are.
[00:33:21] You know, leading by example, right? Being able to share your own concerns, your own experiences. That creates a space like I'm sure we all have seen this before. If we admit something, we create a space to make it okay for everybody else. To do those things too, and like just encourage the conversations of climate, right?
[00:33:42] Like participating in events, thinking about events, and um, know, just we're, we're all on this earth together, so.
[00:33:50] Jerry: This has been really fascinating and I hope it's given an audience, our audience, an opportunity to either validate some of the concerns that you've had or experienced or have sparked a new [00:34:00] idea to begin conversations within your own team, your own leadership level, and even your organizations about what we can do to both prepare and to react to some of the climate events that we have seen and that we will continue to see.
[00:34:10] Particularly through the lens of, uh, mental health, uh, Marjorie Morrison, SHRM Mental Health Executive and residents. Thank you so much for coming on. Tomorrows. I'm your host, Jerry won, and we'll see you on the next episode of the Tomorrows and here's to a better tomorrow.
[00:34:25]