World Mental Health Day 2017

CAIRO – 10 October 2017:Launched in October 1992,this year'sWorld Mental Health Day, Tuesday,is focusing on mental health in the workplace.

Having a healthy workplace is important because it leads to effectiveness and good performance, which necessarily depend on the well-being of the employees and their mental health. When employees work while ill or when they feel overworked and unappreciated, they are usually stressed and unproductive.

Needless to say, a negative working environment can lead to workers’ poor mental health, which would subsequentlylead to low productivity.But when employees feel that they are happy at work, they are more likely to be productive, motivated, and loyal.

The World Health Organization has posted a list of factors that can lead to workers’ dissatisfaction:

● Inadequate health and safety policies
● Poor communication and management practices
● Limited participation in decision-making or low control over one’s area of work
● Low levels of support for employees
● Inflexible working hours
● Unclear tasks or organizational objectives.

The WHO has also included a list to aid employers in creating a healthy working environment:

● “Awareness of the workplace environment and how it can be adapted to promote better mental health for different employees.
● Learning from the motivations of organizational leaders and employees who have taken action.
● Not reinventing wheels by being aware of what other companies who have taken action have done.
● Understanding the opportunities and needs of individual employees, in helping to develop better policies for workplace mental health.
● Awareness of sources of support and where people can find help