Impact of Mental Health Issues on Employees
Discuss about the Environment and Employees Turnover Intentions.
The present essay provides an overview on the managing mental health issues in the workplace. Mental illness are the health issues that impacts the way people think about themselves , relate with others and also interact with globe around us. This impact the individual thoughts, abilities, behaviours and feelings. Mental health condition can be generally classed as disability if only it has lasting and significant impact on the capabilities of the individual in terms of carrying out regular activities (Cottini and Lucifora 2013). Some of the most common mental issues are anxiety disorder, depression. Mental health issues usually occurs mainly during the time of uncertainty or stress that can be the part of several peoples job. Moreover, life stress apart from work also impacts mental health, which in turn affects the individual at work. Recent evidences reflects that mental health issues are mainly responsible for lost from work per year in the respective nation and thereby is a leading reason of absence in the workplace (Travis 2014).
The individuals who experiences mental health issues might appear to be less confident or doubt their abilities. The individual might have hard time in concentrating, making decisions and learning. Mental health issues also affects the relationship with the co-workers of the business. Some facts reflects that the individual who experiences mental health problems might withdraw from others in unexpected ways and appear to be less productive as compared to other individuals (Galy, Cariou and Mélan, 2012). This in turn strains relationship with the co-workers as well as supervisors of the company. But there are times when mental health problems often goes untreated as well as unrecognized in the business. This not only decreases overall productivity at the work but also damages the health as well as career of the individual. Several studies in this area concludes that indirect cost of the mental health issues exceeds the organizations’ expenditure on the direct cost that involves- pharmacy expenditure and contributions of health insurance. One of the best studied mental health issues in the workplace is depression as it is common in the general population. Owing to depression, the workers might become aimless, withdrawn and unproductive. In addition to this, depression might also lead to cloud decision making or impair judgement. Some of the researchers has also found out that the employees of the enterprise having depression has reported to lose near around 27 days of work every year. Furthermore, it has also been found out that the workers with huge depression are likely to lose their job and change their job frequently. Few evidences also show that anxiety disorder in the organization might manifest as fatigue, excess worrying, restlessness and difficulty in concentrating. In fact, the workers might require constant reassurance about the performance if they goes through mental health issues.
Need for Health and Safety Measures
The need for health and safety measures which are applicable in organization is very essential in todays world. The focus in most of the businesses nowadays is to follow Corporate Social Responsibility for which a main consideration is the health and safety of the workers in the organization (Qureshi et al. 2013). The management of the businesses are responsible for the social and mental well being of the employees of the company. It is seen in most of the companies nowadays in order to perform and compete in the dynamic market the business often put immense pressure on the employees of the business. The employees are given targets on the basis of which the performance of the employees is measured. This exerts serious pressure on the employee of the business and is one of the major causes for high employee turnover.
Most of the employee can work and still face mental health issues such as depression or anxiety with minor impact on the productivity of the business at first. This then converts into a major issue and affects the work life balance of the employee and also the productivity of the employee (Nielsen et al. 2012). This affects the day to day tasks which the employee need to perform and demotivates the employee of the business. It is the role of the management to identify such problems which are faced by the employees of the company and take corrective actions to rectify or mitigate the same. The first step for the management is to identify the cause of the disability which the employee is facing and how the management can help or motivate the employees of the company.
The steps which the management can take for the purpose of tackling mental health issues at an early stage can help the employee drastically. In case of Mental health issues which the employees of the business faces need to be treated as early as possible so that constructive working relationships can be established and the productivity and performance issues can be minimized and also reduces the risks of grievances and tribunal claims (McDowell and Fossey 2015). However, the major issue is that in most cases management is unable to identify the problems which the employee faces. The various indicators which can be noticed by the management for mental health problems are given below in point format:
- The decline in productivity or communication or even uncharacteristic behaviors of the employees are possible signs of certain problems which make be related to mental issues. Signs like sleeplessness and stress signatures are also common signs which the tlls the management of the declining health of the employees (LaMontagne et al. 2014).
- Absent records of the company will be able to portray the attendance of the employee and irregular attendance can be considered as a sign of mental health disorder of the client.
- The level of responsibility which the employee is given and the critical factor of the work is also a contributing factor to the mental health issues which can arise in an employee of the business.
In the above case the HR manager of the business is responsible for ensuring that the above indications are noticed and also responsible for the well being of the employees of the businesses.
Steps for Tackling Mental Health Issues
The current Mental Health in Workplace Report reveals that near around 42.4% of the workers have agonised from huge stress, which in turn led to severe physical as well as mental health issues of these workers. There are some main causes of mental health problems in the workplace, which are explained below-
This is one of the major reason behind mental health problems in the workplace with near about four out of ten naming as the leading cause. In fact, there are several causes which includes- hitting deadlines (8.7%), managing clients (3.7%) and managing employees (4.2%). It has been opined by Karanikolos et al. (2013) that, an increased as well as unmanageable workload leaves the workers frazzled. As a result, this adversely impacts the mental health condition of the employees. In order to manage this increased workload, the organization provides training and development to the employees. The training and development that are provided to the employees involves- time management training, utilization of task management software, implementation of morning briefings.
It has been found out by the researchers that near about two out of ten workers agree with the fact that financial concerns has been one of the major causes of the mental health problems. It has also been seen that near about 6.8% jobs of the employees were insecure, which in turn led to mental health problems of the laborers in workplace. Recent evidences also found out that the workers are mainly stressed about the money paid to them. As a result of which the average households takes mortgage into account. It has been cited by Henderson et al. (2013) that, mental health and money are usually linked with each other. As the individuals finds it difficult to manage money, it creates stress and mental health issues among them. Some of the practical steps that few organizations take in order to help their workers deal with the financial situation includes – proper support, affordable loans, paying them in proper time, providing them pensions, providing training as well as education.
It has been found out by some researchers that near around one out of ten workers has said that bullying in workplace has one of the leading reasons behind mental health problems of the individual at workplace. As per Beehr (2013), bullying might have devastating result in an individual’s life. It has been stated by workplace bullying Institute that the victims might suffer from serious mental health problems involving- panic attacks, anxiety, depression and so on. It has been estimated that near about 75% of the individuals are bullied in the workplace, which in turn causes well- being of the workers. It has been evaluated by ACAS that productivity, turnover rate of staff, bullying related absence cost a huge amount of money to the business (Einarsen and Nielsen 2015). The organisation in the modern world has adopted few strategies in order to curb workplace bullying, which involves- raising awareness among the individuals, writing formal anti- bullying policies and os on.
Causes of Mental Health Issues in the Workplace
It has been evident from recent studies that one police officer named as Jose aged between 45-50 years has been experiencing lot of mental stress owing to huge demands of the job. He has been continuously having difficulty in sleep and also decreasing his appetite. Moreover, he also experiences headaches as well as muscle tensions on regular basis. However, he realized that all these mental health issues were occurring due to workload. For this he focused more on small mistakes and overviews the positive feedback that he attains from this work.
Another example of mental health issues that has been occurring in workplace is that the employees working in the call centre are having several mental health issues owing to work pressure (Ganster and Rosen 2013). Moreover, some of the employees also faces bullying in the enterprise, which in turn led to numerous mental health related issues of them. In order to overcome with this mental stress, few call centre has been providing training and education to their employees. However, this facilitates few workers to come out of mental stress and lead a healthy life.
Actions taken by the management of the organization regarding this issue
The actions that the management of the organizations have taken in order to mitigate this mental health issues of the individual are explained below-
- Few organization arrange meetings in order to discuss several concerns as well as any kind of support measures
- Now- a-days the management of the business also takes into account various kind of adjustments in order to assist the individual regarding mental health related conditions.
- They also provide proper training and development to the employees so that they can overcome their mental health issues
- Now- a – days the management of the organization try to have good communication with the employees so that it can relieve them from mental stress
- The management of few companies also provide gifts or any other kinds of rewards for the good performance of the workers. This in turn motivates the employees to stay in the organization for longer period of time.
- The management of few enterprises also maintain proper records of every discussions as well as processes in order to clear the view of the employees, so that they do not become responsible for the individuals mental health related issues.
- The managers of the companies also provide open as well as comprehensive working environment. Moreover, the training managers also takes initiative as well approach the matters of the employees sensitively by taking consultation with HR( Human Respurce).
- The managers also motivate their workers to overcome these mental issues and focus on the work.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the employees now – a days are much more suffering from mental health issues due to workload, workplace bullying and low wages paid to them. It has been seen that the unemployment rate in an economy increases owing to this factor. In addition to this, youth suicide rate also increases owing to their mental health problems. However, the government along with the management of the business have been working collaboratively in order to mitigate this issues and improve the individual’s mental health condition. The management of the companies are also implementing effective strategies and practices for helping these individuals come out from mental health issues.
References
Beehr, T.A., 2014. Psychological stress in the workplace (psychology revivals). Routledge.
Cottini, E. and Lucifora, C., 2013. Mental health and working conditions in Europe. ILR Review, 66(4), pp.958-988.
Einarsen, S. and Nielsen, M.B., 2015. Workplace bullying as an antecedent of mental health problems: a five-year prospective and representative study. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 88(2), pp.131-142.
Galy, E., Cariou, M. and Mélan, C., 2012. What is the relationship between mental workload factors and cognitive load types?. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 83(3), pp.269-275.
Ganster, D.C. and Rosen, C.C., 2013. Work stress and employee health: A multidisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 39(5), pp.1085-1122.
Henderson, C., Williams, P., Little, K. and Thornicroft, G., 2013. Mental health problems in the workplace: changes in employers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices in England 2006-2010. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 202(s55), pp.s70-s76.
Karanikolos, M., Mladovsky, P., Cylus, J., Thomson, S., Basu, S., Stuckler, D., Mackenbach, J.P. and McKee, M., 2013. Financial crisis, austerity, and health in Europe. The Lancet, 381(9874), pp.1323-1331.
LaMontagne, A.D., Martin, A., Page, K.M., Reavley, N.J., Noblet, A.J., Milner, A.J., Keegel, T. and Smith, P.M., 2014. Workplace mental health: developing an integrated intervention approach. BMC psychiatry, 14(1), p.131.
McDowell, C. and Fossey, E., 2015. Workplace accommodations for people with mental illness: A scoping review. Journal of occupational rehabilitation, 25(1), pp.197-206.
Nielsen, M.B.D., Bültmann, U., Madsen, I.E., Martin, M., Christensen, U., Diderichsen, F. and Rugulies, R., 2012. Health, work, and personal-related predictors of time to return to work among employees with mental health problems. Disability and rehabilitation, 34(15), pp.1311-1316.
Qureshi, M.I., Iftikhar, M., Abbas, S.G., Hassan, U., Khan, K. and Zaman, K., 2013. Relationship between job stress, workload, environment and employees turnover intentions: What we know, what should we know. World Applied Sciences Journal, 23(6), pp.764-770.
Travis, C.B., 2014. Women and Health Psychology: Volume I: Mental Health Issues. Psychology Press.
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