May is the month of mental health awareness and this year’s theme is anxiety.
What is mental health? Mental health has been defined by the World Health Organisation “as a state of mental wellbeing that enables people to cope with stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community”.
How do we identify mental feebleness in our work environment? What are the commonest indicators of mental unwellness?
In workplaces, there are direct and indirect signs of mental problems. Low-energy engagements can signify mental challenges.
If an employee becomes disinterested in output it implies a mental problem. Deteriorating critical thinking faculties is a sure sign of mental breakdown. Too much worrying can impair one’s performance.
There is a difference between fear and anxiety. Fear is about a particular real thing while anxiety has no particular basis because one worries about everything with no discernible danger insight.
A salesperson, for example, can be anxious about seeing a client nonstop. Someone presenting a performance report may worry about their public speaking skills or presentation flair.
There is extreme anxiety in the workplace that causes performance anxiety. This can be very debilitating.
What are the predisposing factors for one to have mental problems?
Organisational culture can predict one’s mental well-being or its absence. Cultures that can lead to mental instability comprise professional stagnation, poorly done policies, gossip, unfair remuneration, work overload, lack of dexterity, bogus job descriptions, harassment, inflexibility, unrealistic deadlines, micromanagement, lack of emotional intelligence, lack of recognition, unprofessionalism, lack of transparency, poor working conditions, and inconsiderate ergonomics.
Some organisations experience substance abuse due to extremely anxious employees who take drugs to manage their nerves.
This is a vicious cycle of mental instability. It may include inordinate consumption of alcoholic beverages, smoking of marijuana and in extreme cases, cocaine and heroin.
The moment you notice the level of sick-offs increase that means that there are mental problems that need further investigation.
It is estimated that almost 90 percent of all doctor visitations are for stress-related ailments and complaints. Absenteeism is a way of coping with mental predicaments.
How then do organisations promote mental health awareness?
One of the ways is through learning and development. This is where mental experts can be invited to give talks so that employees are more decisive about the causes and symptoms of mental imbalances.
Employees can be equipped with mental grit and purposefulness. How about the optimism fuel, social currency enrichment, work-life integration and eradicating stigma?
The presence of mental health policies, processes and procedures for dealing with mental cases can help in making things better.
Employee assistance programmes can play a stellar role in shining light on wellness issues in the environment.
Some organisations have dedicated specialists to counsel employees on matters of wellness. The specialist can be in-house or outsourced.
Regular checkups can also enhance the wellness of employees. The availability of wellness resources placed strategically in various rooms can go a long way in sensitising employees.
The resource can be magazines, articles, reports and bulletins. Some organizations have posters on walls that drive wholesomeness.
Forward-looking organisations promote vigorousness through gyms, Zumba, yoga and meditation rooms.
Gamification is fast becoming an integral part of organizational creativity and stress management mechanisms.
This is the addition of playfulness in organisations in order to combat boredom and burnout. Games like chess, scrabble and darts and team building
What are the benefits of employee hygiene to organisations? Human wellness impacts on performance.
Wellness does argument talent attraction and retention. Sometimes employees leave because matters of wellness aren’t prioritized.
Advanced organizations have put strategies in place that look at well-being issues at wider perspective. One of the leading causes of employee conflicts is mediocre mental health.
When well-being is well-taken care conflicts are minimized. Wellness activities can combat absenteeism. Frequent accidents can be lowered by sufficient mental education.
Mental optimism is vital in employee productivity. Wellness can boost spirit de corps which is critical in employee-optimized efficacy.
Investing in wellness leads to reduced healthy costs. Wellness promotes the employer brand which is good for business. Mentally sound employees make quality decisions.
