From Crisis to Innovation: A Mental Health Entrepreneur's Journey - Vlad Gheorghiu
In this episode, I am interviewing Vlad Gheorghiu about mental health in the workplace, a highly relevant topic.
Why?
The World Health Organization estimates that 12 billion working days are lost every year due to depression and anxiety. This costs $1 trillion in lost productivity.
McKinsey research showed that ‘60 % of employees have experienced at least one mental-health challenge at some point in their lives’. According to the same study ‘Failing to address the effects of mental health and well-being challenges is a missed opportunity for employers’.
Employees dealing with mental health issues are 4x more likely to say they intend to leave, 3x more likely to report low job satisfaction, 3x more likely to experience toxic workplace behavior, and 2x more likely to report low engagement.
At the same time, classic Employee Assistance Programs do not seem to work…
Vlad Gheorghiu experienced mental health issues firsthand, whilst working for McKinsey.
This experience inspired him to design solutions. First for McKinsey, and later by co-finding a start-up company called Kyan Health.
In our conversation, we covered the following topics
- Vlad's background
- Vlad's engagement with mental health
- The gap in the workplace between the mental health support employees need and receive
- The concept of Kyan Health
- Measuring impact
- Creating a start-up company: Three Dos
- Creating a start-up company: Three Dont's
- Vlad's role models as an entrepreneur
Finally, we also talk about his personal experiences as an entrepreneur and co-founder of a start-up.
Vlad’s email address is: vlad@kyanhealth.com
Website KyanHealth: www.kyanhealth.com
Links to relevant (McKinsey) reports:
https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/present-company-included-prioritizing-mental-health-and-well-being-for-all
https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/people%20and%20organizational%20performance/our%20insights/the%20state%20of%20organizations%202023/the-state-of-organizations-2023.pdf