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Mental Health at Work: It’s time employers took notice of the other pandemic

Employers operate in a piece-meal manner, with Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), counselling sessions and interventions aimed at alleviating stress and improving motivation and productivity. But in the absence of norms and standards, such initiatives often fail to reach their desired outcome. The need of the hour is to formulate a robust framework for enhancing mental wellbeing

Source | economictimes.indiatimes.com | Avik Chanda | Siddhartha Bandyopadhya, ET CONTRIBUTORS

The COVID-19 experience has created in its wake a new pandemic – that of mental health. In India, traditionally, there has been minimal engagement by bottom-line driven company leaders to enhance mental wellbeing at work.

But recent reports, e.g., the Deloitte Mental Health Survey, published in September 2022, have aimed to deliver a jolt to this reticence. The study found that poor workforce mental health costs Indian employers around $14 billion each year, that 80% of the Indian workforce has reported mental health issues, 47% of respondents consider workplace-related stress as the biggest factor affecting their mental health, while societal stigma prevents around 39% from taking steps to manage their symptoms.

Further, 33% of respondents continued to work, despite poor mental health, while 29% took time off and 20% resigned, to address their mental health challenges.

Despite such evidence, there are currently no Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) norms mandated by law in India, to deal with mental health at work. Consequently, employers operate in a piece-meal manner, with Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), counselling sessions and interventions aimed at alleviating stress and improving motivation and productivity. But in the absence of norms and standards, such initiatives often fail to reach their desired outcome. The need of the hour is to formulate a robust framework for enhancing mental wellbeing.

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Source
economictimes.indiatimes.com
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