Introduction
The world as we know it changed in 2020. The very premise of unrestricted mobility upon which most of us based our careers and built our lives was challenged. And it came to a grinding halt under the pressure of the Pandemic. We were forced to find innovative solutions to the roadblocks encountered as, slowly but surely, the pace of daily life picked up again. However, our office and work culture changed in ways we never thought possible! The need of the hour required us to embrace virtual platforms and the digitalization of almost all services. The resultant flexi-timings, work-life balance concerns, and culture of virtual meetings with hybrid work models put the workforce under novel and unheralded pressures to adopt to this New Normal.
Employee Mental Health:
‘A lot of people are living with mental illness around them. Either you love one or are one.’ – Mark Ruffalo.
Mental illness is expected to be the leading cause of economic burden amongst non-communicable diseases, surpassing even cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes by 2030.[1] A simple calculation will tell us that assuming a 40-hour work week, we may be expected to spend around 2000 hours a year on our work!! It is also worth remembering that approximately 65% of the population will probably belong to the working age group by 2036.[2] Post-pandemic estimates heralded an alarming 25% increase in the cases of depression and anxiety during the first year of the pandemic alone. The situation even warranted W.H.O. to raise concerns about a possible mental health pandemic!! Recent studies also point towards an ever-increasing number of employees endorsing the likelihood of burnout and stress, the primary cause of which is a toxic work culture. [3]
Employee Mental Health Support – 5 Tips
- Work-life balance: Learning proper Work-Life balance techniques at an individual level will go a long way in helping employees cope with the daily stresses. These skills can include Time management techniques, Effective communication methods including setting boundaries, Dealing with deadlines and even proper Sleep Hygiene practices.
- Stress management: Developing effective stress management techniques that an employee can utilize in times of stress is critical handling work-pressure. Relaxation exercises, Yoga and Mindfulness exercises are simple yet powerful tools to help regulate stress that can be practiced easily. Allowing the use of stress-buster toys and conducting office stress buster activity on pre-fixed days can also help.
- Team Lead level: A courtesy daily verbal check-in on the emotional state of your team during the morning check-in and evening check-out meetings can help identify and deal with any concerns that may arise. This also enables a person to feel included and valued as a member of the team.
- Mentoring sessions: Assigning a designated mentor to employees also serves as a solid and confidential platform to a mentee for guidance and discussion on the right way forward in a crisis.
- Institutional Level: Making Mental-health a priority by acceding and sanctioning a culture of Mental-health holidays or Employee health and well-being goals like incentivising the use of Yoga or meditation may go a long way in demonstrating corporate will and commitment towards the same.
Employee Mental Health & Well-being
Even pre-pandemic numbers indicated an urgent need for quality psychological interventions at the workplace, with approximately 12 billion lost working days and a loss of 1 trillion USD yearly to the global economy due to depression and anxiety alone![4] The lack of motivation and concentration suffered by the person will often translate to frequent absenteeism, an increase in human errors, an inability to meet deadlines, and, consequently, a loss of overall productivity. Personal financial concerns and security have also been a major source of anxiety and stress with the cost-cutting exercises seen post-2020.[5] The morale and discipline of the workforce might be affected, increasing the attrition rates.
Employee Mental Health Program: The Need
The establishment of a grassroots-driven structure dedicated to the Mental Health of the employees is perhaps the most logical step in ensuring their psychological well-being. It will enable the creation of a supportive, secure, and stigma-free environment for conversations around mental health on daily basis. Some suggestions for building such a program include:
- Creating Awareness: Organizing Health-talks, Seminars and daily reminders dedicated to spreading awareness about Mental Health from prevention to cure is of critical importance.
- Ensuring access to quality Mental Health Services like counselling and Psychiatric interventions when necessary. Creation of a dedicated Tele-Mental Health helpline staffed by trained counsellors for use by the employees is often an important step in this process.
- Training volunteers when possible, from within the workforce in basic Psychological first aid and counselling techniques will ensure that the bridge to the ready access of services is bridged.
- Open forum discussions and experience-sharing sessions on dealing with work pressures by Management and Senior leadership will also help boost morale and reduce the stigma.
- Wellness audits done periodically for the entire workforce can be a great barometer for gauging the motivational level of the organization.
Importance of Employee Mental Health
‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on shoulders of giants.’ – Sir Issac Newton Nothing perhaps sums up the value of the individual employee to the team than this quote by Sir Issac Newton.
- The work of an individual employee is the foundation on which the productivity innovation, aspirations, ethos, success, and longevity of the Team, The Branch, The Division, and The Company are built.
- The employee, too, is reliant on the workplace for a very important part of their self-identity, which impacts their overall sense of well-being, self-confidence, and self-worth!
- In some cultures, the work identity may serve as a benchmark with which the person is socially assessed!! Hence, it is of vital importance to ensure the Mental Health & well-being of grassroots level employee and take proactive
- steps to maintain and protect it!
Conclusion
We live in an exciting time where the possibilities of innovations are limitless and awareness of social concerns and responsibilities are limitless!! Traditional barriers to development, like geographical locations, time zones, availability of required expertise have been made redundant by the virtual world. This scenario also makes it possible for us to show our support and care for the people that we could call our work-family! So, it falls on us to watch out for each-others mental health & well- being. Starting from spreading awareness, training volunteers in crisis intervention, setting up tele-helplines and holding open-forum discussions … to ensure last mile connectivity between a person in need of Professional help and to those who can help them!! We can tide over the Mental Health Pandemic together!!
References
[1] World Economic Forum and the Harvard School of Public Health: The Global Economic Burden of Non-communicable Diseases (2011). Read Report
[2] Frontiers in Public Health- Workplace Mental Health Interventions in India: A Rapid Systematic Scoping Review (2022). Read Report
[3] McKinsey: Employee mental health and burnout in Asia: A time to act (2022). Read Report
[4] World Health Organization (2022) Mental Health at Work: Policy Brief. Read Report
[5] PwC’s 2023 Employee Financial Wellness Survey (2023). Read Report
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