When you think about mental health conversations, a steel fabrication job site might not be the first place that comes to mind. But at Lexicon, a 56-year-old construction company with a workforce of over 3,000+ employees, it’s becoming part of the culture.

We sat down with Janell Schmidt, Lexicon’s Chief Human Resources Officer, to talk about their month-long internal campaign “Strong as Steel: Building Mental Might” — and how an already-embedded communication app helped spark a powerful cultural shift.

Let’s start with the basics. What is Lexicon, and what makes your workforce unique?

Janell:
Lexicon is a second-generation, family-owned steel fabrication and construction company headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. We’ve been around for over five decades and run more than 30 job sites across the country at any given time.

What really defines our people is loyalty. We’ve got folks who’ve been with us 10, 20, even 40 years. It’s a tough job — long hours, high pressure, physical demands — but our teams show up and deliver. And they care deeply about the work they do. But caring for themselves? That hasn’t always come as naturally. And when you work in an industry where the suicide rate is 4x the national average, it’s something we can’t afford to ignore.

What made you decide to focus on mental health?

Janell:
In construction, the mindset is often: "tough it out, keep moving." We already had a strong safety culture and even a Health & Wellness Center onsite. But we realized physical health was just part of the equation.

CEO Patrick Schueck came to me and said: “We need to change the conversation. This team deserves more than just band-aid solutions.” So we asked ourselves: What would it take to talk openly about mental health — and actually reach people?

And that’s where the campaign came in?

Janell:
Exactly. We reviewed our internal programs and policies and identified areas that we could improve in order to support our workforce more, including things like options for personal leave and bringing in a more powerful and comprehensive Employee Assistance Program partner. Next, we launched “Strong as Steel: Building Mental Might” in August 2024 — a 30-day internal initiative focused entirely on mental health. It wasn’t fluff. It was real talk: daily posts, personal video messages from our CEO and COO, reminders about resources, and weekly engagement challenges to make it fun but meaningful.

What kind of content did you share?

Janell:
We had:

• Daily posts with reflections, tips, and conversation starters, all posted in both English and Spanish to reach our diverse population, all with the ability for people to respond, share their experiences, and how they have overcome challenges in their lives
• “Easter egg” days where commenting entered you in a prize draw — Carhartt gear, hoodies, lunchboxes, gift cards
• Video messages from leadership
• Breakroom banners, hardhat stickers, personal stories

One post in particular — about how anxiety can show up in unexpected ways — got over 200 comments. People were sharing their own experiences, thanking others for speaking up. It was... powerful.

A lot of companies struggle to get employees to even see internal comms, especially in non-desk roles. How did you make sure people engaged?

Janell:
That’s where LexCOMM made all the difference.

LexCOMM is our employee experience app, powered by Speakap. We launched it to streamline communication, reduce paper, and move away from hallway posters and word of mouth. We have a highly-distributed workforce who work often in remote areas of our country. Having a system that reaches them digitally was critical.

Over time, it’s become our primary communication hub we leverage to keep everyone engaged, informed, and involved.

Because it was already part of our culture, the campaign didn’t feel like an interruption. It felt like something that belonged. Every post came with a push notification. People could comment on their phones while grabbing lunch or walking between projects. We didn’t have to build engagement — we just had to show up consistently.

And how did the team respond?

Janell:
Better than we could have imagined. Engagement spiked in week two. We saw more logins and post interactions than any other month that year. More importantly, the comments were vulnerable. People shared things you’d never hear during a shift — struggles with anxiety, stress, grief, even gratitude for the support.

Some of our site managers even started posting on their own. That peer-led energy is what made it stick.

Was there a turning point where you realized, “This is working”?

Janell:
There was a day one of our general foremen posted something like, “I never realized how many others felt the same way. These stories really hit me.”

That’s when I knew this wasn’t just an HR campaign. It was a shift. People were learning from each other — not just from leadership.

What happens next? Are there plans for follow-up?

Janell:
Absolutely. We’re now working on Phase II. That includes Mental Health First Aid training and continued storytelling on LexCOMM. We’re also evaluating long-term metrics like claims, absenteeism, and how stress affects job site performance.

But we’re not rushing it. Culture change takes time — and consistency.

And providing mental health support can’t just be about discreet initiatives, it has to be an integrated part of our business. We post updates about benefits and resources periodically throughout the year.

What would you say to other organizations in high-risk, high-stigma industries thinking about doing something similar?

Janell:
You need two things:

1. A platform your people already trust and is accessible to everyone, no matter where they are working — for us, that’s LexCOMM.
2. The courage to start the conversation — even if it’s uncomfortable.

If you wait for the “perfect” moment, it’ll never happen. Just start. Be human. Be consistent. And meet people where they are.

Final question. What do you think your team took away from this experience?

Janell:
That it’s okay not to be okay. That support isn’t weakness — it’s strength. And that no matter how tough the work is, we’re not in it alone.

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