What is mental health?

Mental health is a state of well being of mind which shows how a person thinks, how a person feels and how a person reacts in an emotional situation. This is one of the factors of overall health. Both psychological and physical health are the factors of overall health . Mental health is different from mental illness.

For example, poor mental health doesn’t necessarily mean you’re mentally ill, and vice versa.

The most common mental illnesses at work include:

• Depression
• Anxiety disorders such as phobias, panic attacks or post-traumatic stress disorder
• Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Bipolar disorder
• Substance use disorders (drug or alcohol addiction)

Factors that may affect mental health at work

Employees’ mental health can also be negatively impacted in the workplace:

• Excessive workload
• Poor communication
• Long or inflexible working hours
• Unsafe or poor working conditions
• Lack of work-life balance
• Job insecurity
• No support
• Low recognition
• Violence, harassment or intimidation
• Discrimination and exclusion
• Inadequate pay
• Lack of investment in career development.

For example, an employee experiencing long-term occupational overload or work stress is at greater risk of developing depression – the most common mental illness among employees. Of course, non-work stressors can also affect workers’ mental health and thereby their work.

The dangers of ignoring mental health in the workplace

‘Presenteeism’ – remaining at work despite illness – is an important cost to business due to untreated mental illness at work: a survey by Mind Share Partners revealed that 61 per cent of working people with mental health problems said their mental health adversely affects their productivity at work, and 37 per cent of workers said their symptoms were related to their working environment.

Beside of lost due to poor mental health of workers are:

• Increased absenteeism (taking sick leave)
• Increased likelihood of workplace accidents
• Increased disability costs
• Increased turnover
• Reduced employee engagement.

The World Health Organisation estimates that we lose 12 billion working days a year to anxiety and depression. Because a worker can appear perfectly sound one day, and less than fine another, it is hard to spot mental illness in the workplace.

Why mental health in the workplace is so important

While not all mental illness begins at the office, there are still good reasons to start there; the CDC cites the workplace as an especially good fit for programmes strengthening good mental health for the following reasons:

• Communication structures already exist.
• Social support networks are available.
• Workplace wellbeing programs can identify those at risk and engage them in treatment.
• Employers can offer incentives to reinforce healthy behaviors.
• Employers can use data to track progress and measure results.

This is good business: you know instinctively that this is the right thing to do for your staff. Putting mental health stigma on the corporate agenda and crushing it, like a twig beneath your boot, is good business too. WHO predicts that every four dollars you spend on treating and supporting mental health disorders will bring you nine dollars of improved health and productivity.

9 ways to improve mental health in the workplace

In the increasingly ambitious attempt to address mental health at work, organisations attempted to cultivate work-appropriate approaches, by doing other, indirect things. In particular, firms have converted offices into beautiful and pleasant spaces to be, in hopes that making offices a fun place to spend time with co-workers – by offering free food, napping pods, game rooms, dog- and pet-friendly offices, kegs of beer on tap, soda fountains, apps for planning vacations, and so forth – would make work fun. Battling Death Inc with a ping-pong paddle while your dog frolics around you at your side, all energised by a carbonated lightning strike to your senses from the nearby soda fountain and pizza – that makes office life fun. But maybe making office life fun isn’t what workers need to cultivate mental-health resilience.

HR departments and leaders can do lots of things to support improved mental health and a healthy team – and many do not cost anything, or very little.

Here are the recommendations from the CDC and others:

• Make mental health self-assessment tools available to all employees.
• Implement or expand an employee assistance programme (EAP) or employee mental health programme to provide employees with free, short-term counselling for issues related to their mental health and other personal issues.
• Offer health insurance that includes periodic prescriptions for depression medications as well as mental health counselling, with no or minimal co-pay.
• Provide free or subsidised lifestyle coaching or counseling programs.
• Disseminate pamphlets, leaflets and video presentations to all staff on signs, symptoms of mental ill health and possibilities of treatment.
• Host seminars or workshops that focus on mental health and offer stress management techniques.
• Provide a quiet space for relaxation in the workplace.
• Train all levels of management to spot the warning signs of mental disability in their staff, and to refer those staff to specialists.
• Give ‘healthy mind days’ to workers — allowing them to work from home with few or no checks, and to recharge their mental batteries.

If you’re starting from scratch and none of this stuff exists in your industry or your company, don’t try to boil the ocean at once – pick a few things to get started, and then grow the pile a item or two at a time whenever time and money is available.

You should do everything possible to communicate to employees that they will not face adverse action at the same time. While it’s illegal to say anything at all, much less fire an employee and demote an employee just because they disclose a mental health problem, there remains a very real risk that people will be seen by a co-worker and by a supervisor through a glass darkly. Organisations can reassure – and encourage disclosure – in part by being forthright about management mental health training, and in part by making clear (and showing in their actions) what ought to be the result for those they’re serving.