Did you know that if your work is not decent enough, your mental health is at risk? The “how?” will surprise you.
The world is fast turning the word “mental health” into a cliché and undermining its relevance. Let’s quickly draw our minds back to the actual meaning of this word.
Mental health consists of our psychological, emotional and social well-being. It affects how we feel, think and do things. It is a key determinant of how we make wholesome choices, associate with other people and how to deal with stress.
You may ask, what has your job got on your mental health? A lot!
According to Global estimation, 12 billion working days are lost to anxiety and depression which is a total of US$ 1 trillion lost in productivity every year. In 2019, over 15% of adults within the working age were estimated to have a mental disorder due to poor working environment, excess workloads, inequality, discrimination, job insecurity, and low job control.
Safe and healthy working environments help minimise tension and conflicts at work and improve staff retention, work performance, and productivity and so it is fundamental in every work setting. In the same way, an unhealthy work environment may lead to the development of mental health issues for those without any history of mental health conditions and for those already living with mental health conditions, it can affect a person’s ability to enjoy their work and do their job efficiently.
Decent work promotes good mental health in the following ways:
- Provides a means of livelihood.
- Gives you a sense of purpose, confidence, and achievement.
- Gives a good opportunity to build positive relationships and a sense of belonging.
- It creates a medium for structured routines.
- For people already battling with mental health conditions, decent work can help promote fast recovery, boost confidence and promote social functioning.
Now, take a deep breath and ask yourself, is my current work affecting my mental health? If yes, here are some effective actions to prevent mental health risks at work, protect and promote mental health and support workers with mental health conditions.
Work-related mental health threats otherwise known as psychosocial risks, may come from work content or schedule, specific characteristics of the workplace or opportunities for career development among other things and they include:
- Under-use of skills or being under-skilled for work.
- Imprecise job roles.
- Too much workload.
- Understaffing.
- Rigid long working hours.
- Inability to control the workload and work design.
- Unsatisfactory and hazardous working environment.
- A poor organisational culture encourages negative attitudes which include bullying, harassment, and violence.
- Limited support from superiors and co-workers.
- Segregation and exclusion.
- Poor pay, job insecurity and inadequate investment in career growth.
- Over or under promotion.
- Irreconcilable home/work demands.
Chances are that people with extreme mental health conditions are likely not to be employed and when they are employed, they are more likely to experience inequality at work.
What next?
TAKE ACTION!
This responsibility is saddled on everyone, the government, employers, employees, individuals and other stakeholders whose duty is to enforce workers’ health and safety.
Prevent work-related mental health conditions
This involves managing those psychosocial risks in the work environment. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends the implementation of organisational interventions by employers that directly target working conditions and environments, and mitigate, modify or remove workplace risks to mental health. For instance, providing flexible working arrangements, or implementing frameworks to deal with violence and harassment at work.
Promotion of mental health at work
This deals with intensifying abilities to recognise and act on mental health conditions at work, especially among individuals responsible for the supervision of others, such as managers.
Educating workers on mental health and awareness creation to improve knowledge of mental health and reduce stigmatisation against individuals with mental health conditions at work and also interventions to enable them to build skills to manage and combat stress and mental health challenges.
Support people with mental health conditions to participate and thrive at work
People living with mental health conditions should not be exempted from work, they also own the privilege to work full and fair. WHO recommends these interventions to support people with mental health conditions to gain, sustain and participate in work.
Reasonable accommodations at work, and adjusting working environments to the needs, capabilities and inclinations of a worker with a mental health condition. A perfect example is, giving individual workers extra time to finish tasks or flexible working hours.
Return-to-work schemes in combination with work-directed supervision alongside clinical care to help workers settle into work after an absence associated with mental health conditions, while also reducing mental health symptoms and stress.
Develop an environment that enables change
Again all hands must be on deck. Starting with the government and employers, down to employees and stakeholders, all must come together to improve mental health at work by building a change-enabling environment and incorporating mental health at work into applicable guidelines.
Also, there is a need to invest adequate funds and aids aimed at improving mental health at work and ensuring the availability of mental health and employment benefits to lower-income establishments.
Work participation rights and zero discrimination policies should be aligned with employment rules and regulations in association with international human rights bodies with full implementation.
Workers should be allowed to participate in decision-making with due consultations with their delegates and those with mental health experiences.
Lastly, there should be proof of the effectiveness of these psychosocial risk interventions. Do not forget, your mental health comes first before anything else.
