In Case You Haven't Heard…

Lyft, a transportation network company, has unrolled a workplace mental health strategy for full‐time employees but excluded its drivers, Quartz at Work reported April 11. The initiative includes a guide for managers on how to respond to signs of poor mental health among their staff, and will benefit those software engineers, marketing directors and accountants working at the company full time. The guidance is nuanced, but there are no plans to consider the mental health of Lyft's drivers, who are legally classified as contractors and so denied such benefits. The company developed its manager guide with help from Lyra Health, a company focused on employee mental health care, as a way to take a proactive approach to the issue. A Lyft spokesperson sent details from the guide to Quartz. These included instructions like: “If you notice behavior that is out of the ordinary, use phrases and words that are open ended. Example: ‘Just wanted to check in and see how you are doing’; ‘How are you?’; ‘Are things going well with you?’” There are no initiatives for drivers to get the same mental health support as Lyft's corporate employees.