Some battles in life become debilitating, or at the very least completely overwhelming, when they are shouldered alone. When a problem becomes too big for one individual to bear individually, my solution offered as a clinician has always been, “When it gets too big... communicate with your community. Share the problem.” The idea of “sharing the problem” is at the root of every activist movement. As the importance of mental health has captured our collective attention, it has demanded we turn to activist efforts. As a society, we are tasked with the responsibility to work towards breaking barriers to mental wellness. We, as members of the global workforce, are accountable for advocating for mental health equity, highlighting the urgent need to address the severe impact that workplace burnout and other occupation-related mental health hazards have. Thus, it is ever fitting that the World Federation for Mental Health has titled this year’s global initiative for World Mental Health Day 2024- “It is time to prioritize mental health in the workplace!” To remain solution-focused and action oriented, I have highlighted four key areas that we can begin focusing on to support these efforts today!
A Brief Look at the Data
Workplace burnout is not a new phenomenon, nor is our organizational focus on it. As far back as WWI, it was observed that ammunition factory workers were experiencing many work-related injuries and fatalities. The British government, of the belief that this correlated with workplace stress, commissioned the Industrial Fatigue Research Board to study the impact of workplace burnout on safety and production (Schaufeli & Salanova, 2014). Today in 2024, the World Health Organization estimates that mental health issues in the workplace cost the global population over $1 trillion, annually (World Health Organization, 2024).
Effects of COVID-19
The recent global pandemic has not helped this cause, but rather made the symptoms of it more exacerbated and thus, the problem more visible. The resultant increase in remote work has boasted many advantages but has also forced individuals into increasingly isolated work environments and deeply blurred work life boundaries.
Benefits of Mobilizing Efforts
By prioritizing the need for solutions, the hope is to address the impact burnout, stress, isolation, anxiety, boredom, lack of engagement, and absenteeism has on work culture and individual employees. If workable remedies are identified, the hope is to increase worker productivity, work life balance, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction for the individual. At the organizational level, the benefits are increased worker productivity, higher rates of creativity, and lower employee turnover rates.
Proposed Adjustments to the Workplace
To achieve this, practical solutions must encompass reality-based practical steps. Organizations are often innately hierarchical. Thus, we are presented with both top-down and bottom-up solutions. Top-down solutions focus on the role and responsibilities of organizational leaders. Mental health training for managers promotes increased empathy by dispelling misinformation and promoting well-informed psychoeducation. Bottom-up solutions encompass increased resources for employees, such as employee assistance programs and on demand workplace counselors and/or break rooms. Somewhere in the middle, we may find opportunities for more flexible working conditions and greater freedoms for discussing occupation-related mental health hazards, without fear of repercussion, such as stigmatization or job loss. An example of this can be found in organizations such as Google, where freedom of expression is considered virtuous, rather than disobedient (Coyle, 2018). In conclusion, it is my hope that by bringing awareness to this issue, the World Mental Health Federation is successful in its effort to create workplace cultures of mental health support and work life balance. But, let us hear this call to action for what it is and not depend on a top-down savior. Instead, let us begin today by recognizing our individual contributions to this effort. We start by meeting ourselves where we are, here and now, in our own organizations. References Coyle, D. (2018). The culture code: Secrets of highly successful groups. Bantam Books. Schaufeli, W. B., & Salanova, M. (2014). Burnout, boredom, and engagement in the workplace. In M.C. W. Peeters, J. de Jonge, and T. W. Taris (Eds.), An introduction to contemporary work psychology (pp.294-320). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. World Health Organization. (2024, September 2). Mental health at work. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work
