Work stress affects one in 10 workers

More than one out of every 10 employees went on leave over the past five years because of stress or burnout, according to the Richmond Foundation’s latest report.

The Impact Assessment of Mental Health on Employment for Policy Development shows that 10.5 per cent of employees had to take leave as a result of work stress. More than 20 per cent said work caused them some form of emotional or mental health problems.

In 75 per cent of the cases, up to one week of leave was taken and 14.6 per cent took up to two weeks. The remaining 10.5 per cent were on leave for an even longer period of time.

Richmond, in partnership with the Employment Training Corporation, the Malta Employers’ Association and Compagnie de Sporen (Belgium), was granted EU structural funds to conduct the study.

Carried out over 2009 and 2010, the project assessed the impact of mental health on employment.

The research acknowledged issues that have to be addressed to develop policies contributing towards employment access, integration, retention and progression for people experiencing mental health difficulties.

Richmond is working on addressing such issues to support not only those experiencing mental health difficulties but, especially, individuals at risk of experiencing such problems.

The foundation promotes mental well-being at the workplace and provides organisations with support for stress management through its Staff Organisation Support Programme (SOSP).

After seeking help through the programme, Nadia Borg was employed at Yellow Pages and retained her job for the past five years as a sales administrative assistant. Commending Richmond’s initiative, she said the programme got her back on her feet.

Her progress was constantly audited and reviewed and this included regular meetings between the counsellors and herself or her manager.

Another beneficiary, Ivan Vassallo, stressed the importance of mental health management at the workplace.

Describing himself as a bookworm and “on the good side of 45”, Mr Vassallo has, for the past 14 years, held a senior management position in a small trading organisation in the health care and scientific market industry.

Working in a very demanding environment, Mr Vassallo, a father of two, was unaware that something was not right until his colleagues drew his attention to symptoms, such as his dictatorial traits and arbitrary decision process. Referred to Richmond’s programme, he met with what he called “discreet nice professionals”.

The service provided by counsellors, psychologists and therapists is free of charge for employees.

Mr Vassallo said his visit was just an experiment and entailed a simple discussion between two people. Workaholism, time and stress management issues were among the problems identified in Mr Vassallo’s case. He said lack of awareness about one’s own mental health was the main drawback. People are unaware of mental problems until they start perceiving obvious symptoms.

“Social stigma was another hurdle. Fixing the problem was quite easy as long as I was aware of the problem and shown how to deal with stress,” he admitted.

Richmond’s impact assessment illustrated a widespread perception that people with mental health problems are violent and unpredictable while 54 per cent of respondents felt people with chronic mental health issues were more dangerous than the rest.

“If you want to call stress and bad time management mental illness, then there are a lot of ill people out there,” Mr Vassallo said, stressing a need for new terminology.

Bank of Valletta’s resourcing department manager, Ray Debattista agreed with Mr Vassallo that human resources were vital for a company’s success and individual counselling helped bank employees develop confidence in their everyday life.

BOV has been benefitting from Richmond’s support programme since 2008.

Mr Debattista said the programme guaranteed full confidentiality and personal data was not disclosed. Employers, he added, were provided with the minimum information to keep a basic record of the number of employees who benefitted from the service.

“Although the issue is improving, individual and organisational stigma about mental illness is persistent. We acknowledge the need of more training to handle these issues. Our ultimate aim is to persuade our top management to introduce the mental health policy,” he added.

Project team member Charles Pace insisted on drafting an action plan promoting a mentally healthy environment at workplaces. Such a plan would tackle various entities, including Parliament, trade unions and entertainment places.

A social policy consultant, Dr Pace said one in every three people faced mental health problems. The country would be the main beneficiary of a mental health policy at the workplace.

A mentally healthy population required less sick leave while good employees were retained in the workforce.

The main issue hindering the development was the misconception that people with mental health issues did not recover or could not tolerate job stress, he said.

The state of play

The number of Maltese suffering from depression, anxiety and stress problems is nearly 12 per cent higher than the European average.

Eurobarometer figures for 2010 show that 29.3 per cent of the Maltese population suffer from depression, anxiety and stress when compared to the European average of 17.6 per cent.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 65 per cent of people suffering from depression did not seek the necessary professional help, Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea said. WHO predicts that in 2025, depression will be the most prevalent disease, superseding heart illness, cancer and other chronic diseases. Every year, 10 per cent of European citizens go through a depressive period.

Quoting a 2009 MA research study by Antonella Sammut, Mr Galea said 21 per cent of Maltese 13- and 14-year-old adolescents suffered from depression.

Mr Galea insisted on stricter mental health prevention, as Europe’s GDP lost out by more than two per cent due to recurring mental health issues. He said the country required further training with regard to mental health promotion and companies should audit their bureaucratic administration in order to ease stress at the workplace.