Mental Health At Work – Why HR Needs To Focus On It

We all are quite aware of the importance mental health plays in our overall well-being – both at the personal level and in our professional life.

A large percentage of an individual’s life is spent commuting to work and in the office. 60 percent of our weekly hours are spent with people we know and interact at work. It is true that one needs to be busy and do some work to be mentally and emotionally healthy. But what happens when the work environment and policies ignore important aspects of mental health? Well, it directly impacts the productivity. According to WHO reports, depression and anxiety have a significant adverse economic impact and the estimated cost to the global economy is US $1 trillion per year in lost productivity.

Mental health at workplace is not just about stress, depression and anxiety. It is about all those obvious and not-so-obvious aspects which impact and influence the functioning and emotional safety of an individual at work. Going beyond the standard issues like stress; organizations and particularly Human Resources (HR) need to focus on psychological risk factors which affect the mental health of an individual. Some of these lesser known factors include health and safety policies, communication practices, working hours, unclear objectives, manager behaviour, work space and lighting or even the food in the cafeteria.

The role of HR is important in being not just a business partner, but also an equal partner in being a wellness supporter. Though HR personnel are not trained psychologists or counsellors, they can be conditioned to act as mental health first-aid givers at work. HR plays a very crucial facilitator between the employees and the business and for business to thrive, employee well-being needs to be at the foundation.

As a first step, HR can start with putting up a simple vision for mental health at work. Some of the following suggestions can help promote workplace mental health.

Building awareness

Start by creating campaigns and story boards which communicate the right message about mental health. Awareness needs to be aimed at reducing the stigma, myths and misconceptions surrounding mental health. Your workforce needs to understand and internalize that it is normal to experience mental health issues. Through various inhouse or outsourced training programs for employees and line managers, build awareness on signs and symptoms for anxiety, depression, stress, aggression and other mental health issues.

Engaging and collaborating with external specialists

Identify psychologists who relate with the organization’s mental health values and vision. They can be engaged to provide mental health support through onsite or offsite therapy sessions. The aim is to provide an outlet to the employees with a third-party in a non-judgmental and a safe environment.

Providing coping support

Other support services like onsite yoga, retreat passes, spiritual and mental health talks, inhouse movie screenings, group workshops etc. are different creative ways to keep your people engaged and reinforce the positive attitude towards mental health.

Providing screening

Just like annual health check-ups for your employees, integrate a mental health check-up through reliable and valid psychological assessments. A mental health screening would help in identifying individuals and teams which may need support.

Plugging in policies

Including policies for mental health is a great way to formalise and communicate the organizational support to all employees across levels. It not only helps in employer branding but also indicates that the organization cares.

As far as return on investment is concerned, it makes your workforce feel good, taken care of, boosts their sense of self-worth and value, and for sure adds on to the loyalty points. Hence, it is a humanitarian investment to support the growth of the organization and its people.

The changing workforce in India is characterised by an experience-seeker generation over a money-accumulator generation. Apart from financial growth, they place equal importance on hygiene factors like mental health support at workplace. Invest in creating a supportive experience for long term sustainability.

Aakriti Varshney Member since May 16, 2020

Aakriti Varshney is an occupational psychologist, working in the area of psychometric assessment and people development for over a decade. Her expertise lies in behavioural assessments and training workshops for multi-national companies and start-ups. She also works as a therapist for adults and adolescents, using techniques like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. She is also a passionate traveller, a voracious reader, a dancer, a blogger and a space enthusiast. She lives in Luxembourg.