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Anxiety and depression is a growing issue in our community, and businesses aren’t immune.

As I’ve networked in the valley, a surprising number of business owners tell me that this is one of their great concerns. You should be concerned — beyond just the human compassion that we all share, the American Psychiatric Association says that anxiety-associated poor job productivity and short- and long-term work disability result in more than $4.1 billion in indirect workplace costs.

Many people assume that you have to know what’s causing someone’s anxiety or depression before you can be helpful. Do they need different medication? Is there an addiction problem? Maybe it’s a family or religious issue.

The problem is, you often can’t ask these kinds of questions in the workplace. And the issues that underlie the anxiety or depression may be so huge that they’re beyond the scope of what an employer can do anything about.

Here’s the good news. You don’t have to know everything about a person’s exact circumstances to be able to start being helpful and compassionate. Modern psychology actually puts forward that the things people need in order to thrive are universal. If you learn what those needs are, you can become a supportive person in their life.

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What are universal needs? There’s a helpful framework I learned from Dr. Matt Swenson, who is a child psychiatrist at Intermountain Health, called Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. You might remember this from high school or college Psych 101. This is a brilliant and underappreciated little bit of psychology.

At EveryDay Strong, we break down Maslow’s hierarchy into four main tiers.

First, having your physical needs with is the foundation for all well-being. Food and sleep are the most obvious examples, but they also include shelter, access to health care, exercise and sensory needs.

After that, people crave a sense of emotional safety. This might include safety to talk openly and honestly, safety to fail and make mistakes, or safety to explore or try new things. Feeling like it’s OK to be yourself, make mistakes and be different also falls under this category of emotional safety.

Connection and friendship are the next universal needs, and that doesn’t have to mean long lunches or ping pong tournaments; it can be as simple as a shared joke in a meeting.

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The final need is a feeling of confidence. The best way to help someone feel confident? Express confidence in them. Remind them of what they’re good at. If they’re still unsure, help them build a sense of competence by helping them practice for that upcoming presentation or teaching them a new skill that will help them at their job.

That’s great in theory, but how does this apply to the workplace?

When your employee or co-worker seems to be having an unusually hard time and you aren’t sure how to help, these levels of needs can help you brainstorm how you can be supportive and caring.

Start at the bottom. Maybe this means you bring them a snack or buy them lunch, or you ask when was the last time they slept. Consider holding “walking meetings” where you both can stretch your legs outside.

You can also work on being a “safe person” who they can talk to about their mistakes, failures and struggles by validating them and being open minded.

Try to find small but meaningful ways to connect and build rapport, and build their confidence by complimenting their work or reiterating your belief in their abilities.

This framework might seem so simple it’s almost childish.

However, I want you to imagine for a moment that the people in your life (your boss, spouse, friends or co-workers) were aware of your needs and actively looking for ways to care for those needs. Imagine they spent time thinking of ways to help you feel more safe, connected or confident.

How might your performance change? How would your relationship with those people change?

We often don’t spend enough time thinking about other people’s needs and ways to care for them. It can be absolutely transformative when someone does.

The bottom line is you won’t be able to solve all the problems of someone who is anxious or depressed by yourself. Nothing will magically change overnight.

But Maslow taught us that what a person needs to be happy is the same as what they need to be resilient. Both equal wellness. And this is the beginning of overcoming anxiety, depression and the other difficulties that so many people are going through.