The Importance of Mental Health in the Workplace (and how it relates to your I.T. department)

I spent the middle of the month in Dallas, with 9 other business owners that are all leaders in our industry.

  • On top of our peer group membership, we are starting Effective Feb 1st, an engagement membership with the Secure Outcomes Integrators team.
  • This takes us to a new level. We will be trained on compliance and have people in-house trained as “Integrators” – to learn the best security trends in the world.
  • I.T. Service Provider compliance and regulations are coming – it’s just a matter of time. It’s already in multiple states.

There are dozens of security platforms out there: NIST, CIS, HIPAA, and CMMC (to name a few). We will now have access to policies and procedures and be required to do mandatory training to become experts. What this really gives us is one source for ALL information and training related to all the compliance and security needs. It is all based on a strategic partnership with CompTIA – the world-recognized leader in cybersecurity for I.T. providers who support businesses, large and small.

 

In Summary –  I am planning for an upcoming newsletter, strictly focused on the highlights and takeaways from the Peer Group sessions. I’m sure you will be gritting your teeth in anticipation.

 

 

2023 I.T. Planning Appointments (reminder from last month)

  • We need to get on your schedules for a new year I.T. Audit / Technology Business Review. Please email me back with some days and times that would work for you (if you haven’t).
  • We have a number of people who responded, and are already on the calendar! 🙂

 

The importance of Mental Health in the Workplace (and how it relates to your I.T. department)

 

As somebody prone to anxiety myself, this definitely hits home with me. I ran this company for 10 years by myself, as a one-man band. It literally almost killed me.

 

One of our clients is “1 Source Business Solutions” They are a PEO/Outsourced HR & Payroll Firm. They manage payroll, benefits, etc. I have commented on them in the past because we are big fans and they make our lives better. They did a lunch and learn last week regarding a new Mental Health program for employees.

 

Some highlights:

  • 1 in 5 adults Nationwide are experiencing mental health conditions – (1 in 4 in Utah)
  • Anxiety and Depression ranked 3rd and 4th on the list of ADA disability charges filed in 2020
  • Mental health issues are not always apparent and may be mistaken for performance-related issues
  • Stress and mental health are commonly coupled together
  • The pandemic shot these numbers through the roof

The rest of the presentation went on to talk about the importance of culture in the business. 

 

If there is one thing I am most proud of with SOS|Support – it is our culture. I do believe our people love working here. I also believe we have the best and strongest team that we have ever had.

We have some amazing people here that help our team culture (Thanks Scott! He leads the way with this!)

 

As I was reviewing the Mental Health in the Workplace presentation notes, I noticed a trend:

 

The solution to obtaining a solid business workforce culture is eerily similar to your I.T. provider providing your business I.T. services. It takes what I have always called a layered approach. For Culture, they mention the office environment, being Proactive in the workplace, engaging employees, and looking for signs of when they may need help (a lot of people won’t admit it until it’s too late).

 

As your I.T. provider, we may be providing a host of services – some that may slightly overlap with others, or run side by side – but in ways so that every angle is covered (see image at the bottom of this email).

 

It’s really interesting to see how a combined/”layered” approach to the company culture is similar to what’s needed these days to provide “layered security” in your I.T. environment.

 

I am in no way considering I.T. to be as important as mental health. We have recently learned that a boy at my son’s high school took his own life this past week. Nothing ever can ever be compared to this. 

 

But what I would suggest is to look at your I.T. big picture.

 

Your I.T. hosts the most valuable part of “the business”. I am not referring to people or employees here, I’m referring to DATA, which is the “Business’s intellectual property”. Whether that is CAD drawings, Patient information, Work orders, and the list goes on and on… If this data were lost or compromised, the business would be in pain.

 

When thinking about Your I.T. big picture: 

  • What do you like about it?
  • What could be better?
  • What could make the company more efficient?
  • More protected and secure?

***Feel free to email me back – and comment to me on your thoughts on those 4 bullet points!***

 

Our job here at SOS|Support is to help you get the most out of your I.T. and to help keep your Intellectual Data SAFE. We are YOUR I.T. Department. However – we will not push or force you to do certain things either (your insurance company might, however).  We are not going to FORCE you to meet with us to go over the security services that you do and do not have. We are not going to FORCE you to include in your I.T. plan for us to audit, validate and verify your data backups. We will not FORCE you to have I.T. policies and procedures to restrict home users from using a computer to VPN into the office from a computer who have teenagers or kids doing who-knows-what on said computer.

 

In summary – we are not a cookie-cutter I.T. provider. We are here to help you with what YOU need. If you don’t know what you need, we are here to educate, investigate, audit, advise, and give recommendations. That doesn’t mean you MUST do what we advise (your insurance company might require certain things, however).

 

 

 

I’ll leave you with my current Desktop wallpaper. I love this cause I will usually choose one of the eight things to think a little extra about each day.

 

 

 

The LastPass Hack Saga Continues

 

In December I reported a major breach – LastPass. Many people – hundreds of thousands, use LastPass. It is possibly the most popular free password manager on the planet. We like it and have always recommended it in a general sense – if used smartly.

 

Well news broke this past week that what was revealed in December wasn’t the full truth. It has now become evident that some encrypted passwords were stolen.

 

I’m not going to get into details here – I’m not the expert on this. I am just passing some very pertinent information. For more details check out:

 

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/lastpass-customers-need-to-change-all-of-their-passwords/

 

 

If this headline doesn’t sum it up well enough, I don’t know what will:

 

 

 

And, here is a snapshot of Google Search “Lastpass breach”

 

 

——————————————-

 

For the latest cyber-attacks reports, follow these links:

 

https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/current-activity

https://www.csis.org/programs/strategic-technologies-program/significant-cyber-incidents

 

 

——————-

Jason Kidman

President

SOS|Support

801-563-9700