Delta Air Lines will require employees who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 to pay a $200 monthly surcharge on their company-provided health insurance beginning Nov. 1, and will require weekly testing for unvaccinated employees starting on Sept. 12 and lasting until case rates decline. Delta head Ed Bastian told employees, "With this week's announcement that the FDA has granted full approval for the Pfizer vaccine, the time for you to get vaccinated is now," in a recent memo and added that three-quarters of Delta's workers are already vaccinated.

US office structural vacancy "has risen several hundred basis points," and the trend might persist, says Green Street's Daniel Ismail. If supply growth progresses and remote work continues to drive a decline in demand, "you're going to get elevated vacancies across the US," Ismail notes.

Data from the most recent Mental Health Index show that anxiety and PTSD incidence have risen sharply among US employees. Workers between the ages of 40 and 59 have experienced the greatest increases in anxiety, stress and negative feelings compared with the previous month, the research showed.

Training and communicating with workers is an important factor in retaining skilled talent while improving productivity and safety, says Jordan Ekers, chief operating officer of communications platform Nudge. The Nudge app uses behavioral science to gather data and generate feedback that is "passed to managers who can make decisions around operational changes, and then use nudges to influence that change across the field," Ekers says.

As more employees continue to resign, Mario Peshev, CEO of DevriX, outlines how to address this phenomenon with your team and position your business to succeed. Be upfront with clients on any delays, rework your financial roadmap considering your resources, and be willing to take a step back and put your business in maintenance mode until year's end.

The pandemic has done a number on worker mental health, as we see in today's Benefits & Compensation story. The numbers in that story are staggering. Anxiety spiked 94% from June to July this year and issues with PTSD have increased 83% over the last six months. Return to work and school are cited as the reasons for the dramatic uptick.

I want to share a few more numbers reflecting where educators land in this discussion about mental health. A survey conducted by the RAND Corporation found that the percentage of educators concerned about burnout increased from 25% in May 2020 to 57% in October 2020. A different study from the CDC Foundation showed that among teachers who participated in the survey:

• 27% self-reported symptoms consistent with clinical depression.
• 37% self-reported symptoms consistent with anxiety disorder.
• 19% started or increased their alcohol use to deal with stress and emotions.

I don't think these numbers surprise us, but I felt my gut lurch when I saw them. Almost 20% of our teachers began drinking or increased their drinking to help cope with the stress of their day-to-day work? Anxiety jumped 94% in one month? That grieves me.

But I am encouraged that we are discussing these things more. I'm encouraged that increased numbers of employers are taking steps to help workers cope and find solutions. There are no easy answers. But, I believe we can make progress as we pull these issues out of the closet, look the ugly in the eye and have practical, honest discussions about healing.

On that note, I am leading a webinar today focused on teacher mental health and self-care. If you are a teacher or educator -- or know one -- please invite them to the discussion. This won't be a fluffy conversation. I'll be talking with an LCSW and two principals about how leaders can improve support of their teacher staff and how teachers can better manage their own mental equilibrium. We'll dig into the hard questions and talk about practical ways to resolve them.

What are you doing to support your employees' mental health? Let me know! And if you enjoy this brief, tell others so they can benefit also.