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Work can protect mental health
60% of the world’s population is employed (1).. All workers have the right to a safe and healthy workplace environment. A good job supports good mental health by providing:
- Livelihood
- A sense of confidence, purpose and achievement;
- the opportunity for positive relationships and inclusion in the community; And
- A platform for integrated routines among many benefits.
For people with mental health problems, good work can contribute to recovery and inclusion, improving self-confidence and social functioning.
Safe and healthy work environments are not only fundamental rights, but are also more likely to improve employee retention, performance and productivity by reducing workplace stress and conflict. Conversely, a lack of effective structures and support at work, especially for people with mental health problems, can affect a person’s enjoyment of their work and their ability to perform well. It can weaken people’s participation in work and even stop people from getting a job in the first place.
Mental health risks at work
At work, mental health risks, also called psychosocial risks, may be related to work content or work schedule, specific characteristics of the workplace, or opportunities for career development, among other things.
Mental health risks at work can include:
- Improper use of skills or underperformance;
- Excessive workload or speed of work, lack of staff;
- long, unsocial or flexible hours;
- lack of control over work design or workload;
- poor or poor physical working conditions;
- An organizational culture that supports negative behaviors;
- limited support from colleagues or authority;
- assault, harassment or bullying;
- discrimination and exclusion;
- Unclear role;
- Under or over promotion;
- job insecurity, inadequate pay, or poor investment in career development; And
- Conflicting home/work demands.
More than half of the world’s workforce works in the informal economy (2), where there are no regulatory safeguards for health and safety. These workers often work in unsafe work environments, work long hours, have little or no access to social or financial protection, and face discrimination, all of which can affect mental health.
Although psychosocial risks can be found in all sectors, some workers are more likely to be exposed to them than others, depending on what they do or where and how they work. Health, humanitarian, or emergency workers are at increased risk of adverse events that negatively impact mental health.
Economic recessions or humanitarian and public health emergencies can cause risks such as job losses, financial instability, reduced job opportunities or increased unemployment.
Work can be a setting that highlights a wide range of issues that negatively impact mental health, including discrimination and inequality based on factors such as race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, social origin, immigration status, religion or age.
People with serious mental health problems are more likely to be excluded from work, and when they are in work, they experience inequality at work. Being out of work is also dangerous for mental health. Unemployment, lack of work and money, and recent job loss are risk factors for suicide attempts.
Action for mental health at work
Government, employers, organizations representing workers and employers, and other stakeholders responsible for the health and safety of workers can help by taking action to improve mental health at work:
- Prevention of work-related mental health conditions by preventing mental health risks at work;
- Protecting and promoting mental health at work;
- supporting employees with mental health problems to engage and thrive at work; And
- Creating an environment conducive to change.
Action to address mental health at work should involve meaningful involvement of employees and their representatives and people with experience of mental health conditions.
Prevention of work-related mental health conditions
Prevention of mental health conditions at work is the management of psychosocial risks in the workplace. The World Health Organization recommends that employers implement organizational interventions that directly target work conditions and environments. Organizational interventions that assess and reduce, ameliorate or eliminate risks to mental health in the workplace. Organizational interventions include, for example, offering flexible work arrangements, or implementing frameworks to deal with violence and harassment at work.
Protect and promote mental health at work
Protecting and promoting mental health at work is about strengthening the capacity to identify and deal with mental health conditions in the workplace, particularly for those with supervisory responsibilities, such as managers.
To protect mental health, WHO recommends:
- Training for mental health managers, which helps managers identify and respond to supervisors experiencing emotional distress; It builds interpersonal skills such as open communication and active listening, and fosters a better understanding of how work stress affects mental health and how to manage it;
- Training for employees Knowledge and expertise in mental health; to the improving mental health literacy and reducing stigma around mental health conditions at work; And
- Intervention for individuals To develop skills to manage stress and reduce mental health symptoms, including psychological interventions and leisure-based physical activity.
Support people with mental health problems to engage and thrive at work
People with mental health problems have the right to participate fully and fairly in work. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides an international agreement to promote the rights of persons with disabilities (including psychosocial disabilities) at work. The World Health Organization recommends three interventions to help people with mental health problems find, support and participate in work.
- Reasonable accommodations Adapts the work environment to the abilities, needs and preferences of employees with mental health problems at work. They may include offering individual employees flexible work hours, more time to complete tasks, modified tasks to reduce stress, time off for health appointments, or regular support meetings with supervisors.
- Return to work programs It can be combined with measures to help employees meaningfully return to work (such as reasonable accommodations or phased-in transitions to work) associated with mental health conditions and reduce mental health symptoms.
- Supported employment initiatives Helping people with serious mental health problems to enter paid employment and maintain time in work by continuing to provide mental health and vocational support.
Create an environment conducive to change
Both governments and employers, in consultation with key stakeholders, can help improve mental health at work by creating an environment conducive to change. In practice, this means strengthening:
- Leadership and a commitment to mental health at work, for example by integrating mental health at work into relevant policies.
- Investment Adequate funding and resources, such as budgeting for action to improve mental health at work and making mental health and employment services available to low-income enterprises.
- Rights To participate in work, for example by aligning employment laws and regulations with international human rights documents and implementing non-discrimination policies at work.
- Integration about mental health at work across sectors, eg integrating mental health into existing systems for occupational safety and health.
- Participation Staff involved in decision-making, for example through meaningful and timely consultation with staff, their representatives and people with experience of mental health conditions.
- Evidence Ensuring that all guidelines and measures are based on the latest evidence on psychosocial risks and the effectiveness of interventions, such as on mental health at work.
- Compliance With laws, regulations and recommendations, for example, integrating mental health with national labor inspectorates and other compliance mechanisms.
World Health Organization response
WHO is committed to improving mental health at work. of WHO Strategy for Health, Environment and Climate Change And WHO Global Mental Health Action Plan (2013-2030)
Describe the relevant principles, objectives and implementation strategies to enable good mental health in the workplace. These include addressing social issues of mental health such as living standards and working conditions. reducing stigma and discrimination; and increasing access to evidence-based care through health service development, including occupational health services. In 2022 WHO World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for AllHe highlighted the workplace as a key example of a setting where change is needed in mental health.
of WHO guidelines on mental health at work Provide evidence-based recommendations to promote mental health, prevent mental health conditions, and enable people with mental health problems to participate and thrive. Recommendations include organizational interventions, manager training and employee training, individual interventions, return to work and job access. The attached policy brief is from the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization. Mental Health at Work: A Policy Brief It provides a practical framework for implementing WHO recommendations. It specifically sets out what governments, employers, employers’ and workers’ representative organizations and other stakeholders can do to improve mental health at work.
- World Work and Social Outlook – Trends 2022. Geneva: International Labor Organization; 2022https://www.ilo.org/global/research/global-reports/weso/trends2022/WCMS_834081/lang–en/index.htm(accessed 26 August 2022).
- Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture. Geneva: International Labor Organization; 2018https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_626831/lang–en/index.htm(accessed 26 August 2022).
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