Workplaces that promote mental health and support people with mental disorders are more likely to reduce absenteeism, increase productivity and benefit from associated economic gains.
Why is mental health considered important?
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
How does mental health impact the workplace?
Mental illnesses such as depression are associated with higher rates of disability and unemployment. Depression interferes with a person’s ability to complete physical job tasks about 20% of the time and reduces cognitive performance about 35% of the time.
Why is mental health a priority for the workplace?
Workplaces that prioritize employee mental health benefit from increased employee loyalty, engagement and retention. More and more studies point to the relationship between a psychologically healthy workplace and job satisfaction, motivation and performance.
How can we promote mental health and wellbeing?
- Connect with other people. Good relationships are important for your mental wellbeing.
- Be physically active. Being active is not only great for your physical health and fitness.
- Learn new skills.
- Give to others.
- Pay attention to the present moment (mindfulness)
How do you promote mental health in the workplace?
- Create clear workplace guidelines for health and safety.
- Establish an employee assistance program and talk about it frequently.
- Reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues or concerns.
- Provide supervisors and managers with mental health training.
How can we improve mental health and wellbeing in the workplace?
- Look after yourself.
- Lead from the front.
- Pay attention and trust your instincts.
- Raise awareness around mental health.
- Keep the conversation going.
- Know where to go for further support.
- Prioritise work-life balance.
What are the impacts of mental health?
Health Impact of Mental Health Evidence has shown that mental health disorders—most often depression—are strongly associated with the risk, occurrence, management, progression, and outcome of serious chronic diseases and health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease,2, 3 and cancer.
What are the negative effects of stress in the workplace?
- High absenteeism.
- High labour turnover.
- Poor time keeping.
- Poor performance and productivity.
- Low morale.
- Poor motivation.
- Increased employee complaints.
- Increased ill-health, accidents and incidents reports.
What is mental health in the workplace?
Mental health in the workplace refers to employees’ psychological, emotional, and social well-being within a shared work environment.
How does depression affect work performance?
It contributes to presenteeism, or employees at work but not engaged, and absenteeism, or employees missing days of work. It may also adversely impact multiple areas of employee performance, including focus and decision making, time management, completing physical tasks, social interactions, and communication .
Why addressing mental health is important?
Mental illness affects people of all ages and backgrounds, and addressing the symptoms that may signify a problem can lead to successful treatment. When mental illness remains untreated, the symptoms can worsen and negatively impact a person’s well-being.
How do you maintain mental health?
- Get regular exercise. Just 30 minutes of walking every day can help boost your mood and improve your health.
- Eat healthy, regular meals and stay hydrated.
- Make sleep a priority.
- Try a relaxing activity.
- Set goals and priorities.
- Practice gratitude.
- Focus on positivity.
- Stay connected.
How do you deal with mental stress at work?
- Track your stressors. Keep a journal for a week or two to identify which situations create the most stress and how you respond to them.
- Develop healthy responses.
- Establish boundaries.
- Take time to recharge.
- Learn how to relax.
- Talk to your supervisor.
- Get some support.
What can employers do to reduce stress in the workplace?
- Offer flexible hours.
- Allow telecommuting.
- Support the use of paid time off.
- Encourage employees to take care of their health.
- Provide resources and support.
- Ask employees what they need.
- Related Reading.
What is a healthy work/life balance?
A healthy balance might look like: meeting your deadlines at work while still having time for friends and hobbies. having enough time to sleep properly and eat well. not worrying about work when you’re at home.
What makes a toxic work environment?
A toxic work environment is one where negative, antagonistic, or bullying behavior is baked into the very culture. In a toxic work environment, employees are stressed, communication is limited, blame culture is rife, and people are rewarded (tacitly or explicitly) for unethical, harmful, or nasty attitudes and actions.
How should employers treat employees with depression?
Be positive – focus on what employees can do, rather than what they can’t. Work together and involve people in finding solutions as much as possible. Remember people are often the expert when it comes to identifying the support or adjustment they need and how to manage their triggers for poor mental health.
How does mental health affect motivation?
Mental health difficulties can make life challenging, and they can zap our motivation and zest for life. Motivation is a force within us that can inspire and energize. Motivation can also be the opposite; it can be an unreachable concept that zaps and deflates.
What are the benefits of mental health awareness?
- Provides a better understanding of how mental illness can affect a person’s life.
- It can help to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
- Gives you confidence when helping those who are suffering.
- Helps you to recognise early signs and risks of mental illness.
What are the benefits of good mental health?
- Reduction in anxiety.
- Improved moods.
- Clearer thinking.
- A greater sense of calm or inner peace.
- Increased self-esteem.
- Reduced risk of depression.
- Improvements in relationships.
Who has the most stressful job?
For the third year in a row, enlisted military personnel, firefighter, airline pilot, and police officer are the four most stressful occupations, according to CareerCast’s annual Most Stressful Jobs report.
Should I quit my job if I am stressed?
If your job is causing you so much stress that it’s starting to affect your health, then it may be time to consider quitting or perhaps even asking for fewer responsibilities. You may need to take a simple break from work if stress is impacting you from outside your job.
How do you motivate a stressed employee?
- Keep your door open. Employees may need frequent assurances.
- Don’t bear down on employees because you’re stressed out.
- Praise and recognize hard work.
- Help employees fulfill career goals.
- Move dissatisfied employees.
- Plug leaks.
- Plan ahead.
- Get out of the office.
What do you say to a stressed employee?
Acknowledge the stress It’s important to make the stressed-out person feel “seen and heard,” Webb says. “Say something like, ‘I notice you were working late last night, and it wasn’t the first time. How are things going? ‘” Then, after your colleague recites the usual catalog of pressures, “say, ‘That must be hard.