“When people feel valued for their work, when leaders work hard to ‘catch people doing something right’ and share praise and feedback widely and often, employees feel better—feel more committed, happier at work, and more engaged.”
In light of the observation of World Mental Health Day (October 10) and National Mental Health Week (2nd week) this month of October, this is how Julie Zadow, chief marketing officer of HR consulting services firm TalentFirst describes the utmost importance of a psychologically healthy workplace environment to maintain and support mental health and organizational well-being of employees.
The subject of mental health is a serious matter not only on a societal compass, but it is equally as critical in human resources and talent management. According to a research by World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labor Organization (ILO), there’s increasing evidence that a negative work environment can lead to different kinds of mental and physical health issues.
The workplace and its role in promoting mental health
“Work is at the very core of contemporary life for most people—providing financial security, personal identity, and an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to community life.” – National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
Besides the home, the workplace is another environment where we spend a lot of time, thus making it a key environment that has a significant effect on proper psychological health—that involves a normal level of mental, emotional, behavioral, and social maturity of an individual.
Depending on the quality of the work environment, it can contribute negatively or positively to our psychological well-being. If we’re already exposed to a toxic environment at home, plus we also have the same kind of environment at work; imagine the extent of damage both of these can inflict to our overall health.
If employees are unhappy at work, do not feel valued and involved; mental health issues can manifest in different ways such as: difficulty in organizing tasks and thoughts; trouble focusing and recalling important details; behavioral changes; withdrawal; poor performance; burnout; conflict with colleagues; and frequent absenteeism or calling in sick often.
At home, these manifestations can continue in the forms of insufficient sleep, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes.
The WHO-ILO study adds, a responsible employer can utilize employment and the workplace as an environment that grants employees five kinds of psychological experience that promotes mental well-being: time structure, social contact, collective effort and purpose (providing a social context outside the family), social identity (an important element in defining oneself), and regular activity (organizing one’s daily life).
Creating a healthy workplace
To better understand how the workplace affects the well-being, researchers Maria Jahoda and Peter Warr suggest the Vitamin Model of Mental Health as a general perspective—wherein the psychological features of the said environment have varying effects depending on the level.
It’s just like how we take vitamins and how it affects our physical health—some vitamins like A and D when consumed in large quantities can cause harmful effects, while other kinds like C and E have no detrimental effects even when taken in large amounts.
This model further demonstrates other characteristics of a healthy work environment: supportive supervision, clarity of career outlook, growth and development, physical security, opportunity for skill use and acquisition, opportunity for personal control, and availability of resources.
Here are other workplace practices that foster employee psychological well-being that employers can implement according to American Psychological Association (APA): decision-making participation, feedback availability, valued skills utilization, adequate privacy, good working relationship with others, and meaningfulness of the job, extending employee assistance, employee involvement, healthy scheduling (flexible work schedule), wellness programs, and employee recognition (monetary and non-monetary).
What employers need to keep in mind is that when they ensure the health of their employees, they also benefit from its associated economic gains. A healthy workplace is as simple as creating an environment where individuals can be their real selves while being respected and involved within the workplace.
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