Mental health problems at the workplace

Following several articles regarding creating a healthy environment at the workplace - including the new Employment and Industrial Relations Act and the new Health and Safety Act, Commercial Services Bureau has now been targeting problems employees may face at the workplace. These articles focused on how these employees, their colleagues and even their employers can help these people overcome their problems.

Health and safety at the workplace is not simply the wearing of gloves, helmets and other protective gear. It also has to do with the problems we all encounter in our daily lives: at work, at home or in the interface between the two.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), health incorporates several aspects, including physical, social, spiritual as well as mental well-being. 'Mental' is a word that is usually seen in the negative sense. However, mental health is just as important as physical health. If we want to grow and flourish in order to contribute individually and collectively to our society, we need to accept and understand that we are 'mental' beings with emotional and spiritual needs, as well as physical ones.

Mental health problems can affect anyone, regardless of age and class. Such problems can shatter the lives of those affected and of people close to them. These problems have personal, social and financial consequences for everyone.

The working population spends more time at work than any other place during the day - at least eight hours at work, eight hours asleep and another eight hours engaged in other activities.

Mental ill health or distress is a major cause of sickness, which results in absence from work, reduced productivity and increased staff turnover. Stress is the root cause of a great deal of mental ill health, especially anxiety and depression.

According to UK government statistics, work-related stress is estimated to be the biggest occupational health problem in the UK. This follows musculo-skeletal disorders such as back problems, neck aches, headaches and others.

It is estimated that three in every ten employees will experience mental health problems in any one year, with a great percentage thereof being related to anxiety and depressive disorders. Mental health problems in the UK account for the loss of over 91 million working days each year, half of which due to anxiety and stress. One has to note that the working population in the UK is around 25 million.

The Richmond Foundation

The Richmond Foundation, founded in 1993, is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation that specialises in mental health. It receives part of its funding from the government and the rest is collected through fund-raising activities.

Richmond Foundation CEO Doris Gauci explained that while the foundation helps persons with mental health problems by providing community-based rehabilitation facilities and support services, it also provides services that will prevent the development of mental health problems at the workplace.

Ms Gauci said that while other services provided by the Richmond Foundation focus upon supporting persons with mental health problems, the Staff and Organisation Support Programme aims to provide a service which will help prevent mental illness from occurring, as well as to support organisations to provide a working environment which promotes positive mental health.

The foundation identifies possible sources of stress within an organisation, provides training and promotes the best practices to prevent stress throughout the organisation and in the individual employees, maximising their well being.

The foundation also provides counselling and support services to employees enabling them to resolve problems while maintaining their functioning at work, maximising their productivity and minimising unnecessary burnout and staff turnover.

Ms Gauci emphasised that if employers have their employees' well-being at heart, they would provide their staff with a confidential service which can be used in times of distress.

What is good mental health?

Good mental health is not just the absence of mental health problems. Individuals with good mental health develop emotionally, creatively, intellectually and spiritually; they initiate, develop and sustain mutually satisfying personal relationships and are confident and assertive.

People with good mental health face problems, resolve them and learn from them; they are aware of others and empathise with them; they use and enjoy solitude; they play and have fun and laugh, both at themselves and at the world.

A person who is mentally healthy feels loved and is capable of loving others, has important relationships and feels supported by them. These people are productive at work and at home and have leisure activities. Mental health also entails being in touch with one's vulnerabilities and limitations and realising when one needs to reach out for support and professional help.

Defining a mental health problem

The term "mental health problem" covers a very wide spectrum, from the worries and grief we all experience as part of everyday life, to the most bleak, suicidal depression or completely losing touch with everyday reality. A problem becomes serious when it interferes with someone's ability to cope or function on a day-to-day basis or when someone's behaviour becomes a concern for others.

The more extreme forms of mental distress can be very disturbing, both for the person experiencing the mental health problem as well as those around them. However, while mental distress can lead to considerable disruption and difficulty in people's lives, many have found ways of managing their problems and are able to lead fulfilling and active lives.

WHO defines health as "a state of complete well-being: physical, psychological, spiritual and social. Health is not merely the absence of illness." When someone experiences severe and/or enduring mental health problems, they are sometimes described as "mentally ill". However, there are certain difficulties with this term.

There is no universally agreed cut-off point between normal behaviour and that described as "mental illness". What is considered abnormal behaviour or an abnormal reaction to circumstances, differs between cultures, social groups within the same culture, and even different social situations.

The label "mental illness" is highly stigmatising, Ms Gauci explained. It encourages people to think of "the mentally ill" as an entirely separate category from "people like us", rather than as ordinary people who have, for whatever reason, more severe emotional difficulties to cope with.

Popular misconceptions depict "the mentally ill" as violent and dangerous. These stereotypes are contradicted by ordinary people's experiences of mental health problems affecting themselves, their family members, friends or colleagues.

But what is the cost of mental ill-health? Mental ill-health among the workforce results in a substantial cost for Maltese firms. There are many other "hidden" costs in addition to those of sickness absence. Ineffective working and poor interpersonal relations can substantially reduce productivity. Moreover, increased staff turnover necessitates recruitment and re-training costs.

What is stress?

Stress is a necessary part of everyday life. Indeed, some degree of stress or pressure is considered healthy. Under-employment can lead to boredom and a loss of energy and motivation. On the other hand, excessive stress can lead to fatigue, impaired judgment and decision-making, exhaustion and the beginning of serious menthal and physical health problems.

Physically, stress is implicated in the development of coronary heart disease, certain types of cancer and a host of other ailments such as stomach ulcers, skin rashes, migraine, asthma and increased susceptibility to infections. The psychological effect of stress can be just as bad. Increased anxiety, irritability, disturbed sleep; poor concentration and aggressive behaviour can increase the risk of accidents and disrupt relationships both at work as well as home.

Individuals under stress are often inclined to smoke more, drink more alcohol and consume excessive amounts of caffeine, thus increasing irritability, sleep impairment and so on. Exposure to prolonged periods of stress will increase the risk of serious health problems, including depression and disabling anxiety conditions, as well as alcohol misuse.

Where does it come from? Stress is a relative issue. It depends on several factors, including personality, life experience, background and so on. Stress tends to build up over a period of time through the combination of circumstances. Problems at home, such as marital difficulties, child-care problems or money worries, can all contribute to reducing a person's ability to cope with the stress created at the workplace.

How susceptible are we?

How many people experience mental health problems? Anyone can experience a mental health problem, Ms Gauci explains. On average, one in four of us will experience a mental health problem in the course of a year. One in every four women and one in every six men suffer from depression. One in every 100 people suffers from some form of schizophrenia, while one in every 100 suffers from manic-depressive psychosis.

Ms Gauci said these problems could cause real and lasting damage, both to the individual and to the community. Fortunately, the majority of people who experience mental health problems can get over them or learn to live with them especially if they get help early on.

Unfortunately, many people experiencing a mental health problem do not receive the right help and some do not receive any help at all. In fact, many people with mental health problems are shunned or discriminated against by their families, friends and the professionals who are supposed to be caring for them.

This is what the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offered by the Richmond Foundation is all about: getting the right, professional help from the people who know most about these problems.

The EAP

Ms Gauci said the EAP started off in the United States and Canada initially to deal with alcohol and drug abuse problems. However, as time went by, the programme was extended to help employees with problems they might face both in the workplace and at home.

She said the Richmond Foundation approaches firms in order to offer its services to their workforce. In the long term, it turns out to be much cheaper for an employer to provide this service for his employees, because productivity will increase and the work environment will improve.

Moreover, Ms Gauci explained, by allowing the foundation to make the service available to its employees, the firm is also extending its social responsibility - not only caring for employees while they are at work, but also providing support in their private lives after they would have left the workplace.

Some firms, she said, offer this programme through the human resources department. However, this will not work as effectively as it were offered by an external organisation on a totally confidential basis. Ms Gauci said that depression and stress are the most common mental health problems the foundation's personnel encounter during the course of their work.

She said the foundation's personnel meet all the company's employees to provide them with information about the service. These employees are then given the foundation's contact number in case any of them want to follow the programme. All this is purely confidential. Moreover, the foundation takes extra care so as not to overlap appointments of employees working at the same workplace.

Some tips

In order to prevent the development of mental ill health, psychologists suggest a number of ways to achieve this including making time to do the things we enjoy most, cutting down on coffee, alcohol, smoking and other addictive substances, physical exercise, keeping things in perspective, developing and sustaining friendships, listening to and respecting people, and asking for help if we feel distressed.

The Richmond Foundation may be contacted on tel. 2144-5551 for further information regarding the EAP. The line is also open for companies wishing to introduce this service for the benefit of their employees and also their businesses.

CSB Recruitment Agency has been supporting the local business community with its services since 1987. For further information you can write to us at Vincenti Buildings, 14/19 Strait Street, Valletta VLT 08, or call us on 2122-5800 or 2124-6543, fax: 2123-0520, e-mail: jobs@vacancycentre.com, or visit www.VacancyCentre.com.