Mental Health at Work
Safe and healthy working environments are a fundamental right and can improve staff retention, work performance, and productivity.
Work is beneficial for mental health:
Provides a livelihood
A sense of confidence, purpose, and achievement
An opportunity for positive relationships and inclusion in community
Allows for structured routines
For people with mental health conditions, work can contribute to recovery and improve social functioning
Risks to mental health:
Psychosocial risks include:
Under-use of skills or being under-skilled for work
Excessive workloads or work pace
Understaffing
Long, unsocial, inflexible hours
Lack of control over job design or workload
Unsafe and poor physical working conditions
Limited support for colleagues or supervisors
Violence, harassment, bullying
Discrimination and exclusion
under or over promotion
Job insecurity, inadequate pay, or poor investment in career development
Conflicting home/work demands
Work can be a setting where wider issues impact mental health
People with severe mental health conditions are more likely to be excluded from employment and when employed are more likely to experience inequality
Being out of work or unemployed gives a risk to mental health
What can be done to prevent:
Protect and promote mental health at work
Support workers with mental health conditions to participate and thrive at work
Manager training for mental health:
helps recognize and respond to workers experiencing distress
Builds interpersonal skills for open communication
Better understanding of how job stressors can affect mental health
Interventions for individuals:
Build skills to manage stress and reduce mental health symptoms
Reasonable accommodations for mental health conditions, includes flexible work hours, more time to complete tasks, modified assignments to reduce stress, time off for health appointments
Creating an enabling environment for change
Integrating mental health at work into policies
Investment into actions to improve mental health at work and having mental health services available
A good working environment is a right. This can be obtained through work incorporating safe, healthy environments that promote wellness and prioritize mental health. This is important because the better mental health is at a workplace, the better it is for productivity and dynamism.