Canadian Safety Reporter republishes the award-winning commentary on mental health from a N.L. university student
Occupational mental health is a major concern in many workplaces, as employee stress and depression are increasingly prevalent.
This fact is supported by the results of two surveys released in October 2012, which clearly demonstrate the growth of these risk factors are a detriment to employee mental health. Coupled with the rising socioeconomic costs reflected in absenteeism, health claim costs and work-life conflict, it is therefore imperative the causes of workplace stress and depression be identified and addressed.
Looking first at workplace stress, 57 per cent of respondents to a Carleton University survey of the work-life experiences of 25,000 Canadians employed full-time, reported high levels of stress. This figure has risen from 54 per cent recorded by the authors in 1991.
Across the country, workers are struggling to balance their work responsibilities alongside home demands of child care and elder care. The survey indicated 50 per cent of employees brought their work home to complete outside regular hours and were twice as likely to let work interfere with family responsibilities as vice versa.
In addition to the stress of meeting job demands and achieving better work-life balance, one-third of those surveyed also reported experiencing depression, which is defined by the Canadian Association of Mental Health (CAMH) as a stress-related mood disorder. This finding was further confirmed by a 2012 Ipsos Reid survey on depression in the workplace, which found 22 per cent of Canadian employees report they are currently suffering from depression, up from 20 per cent in 2007.
While there is extensive occupational health and safety experience in dealing with workplace physical injuries (accident reports are completed, investigations undertaken and workers’ compensation claims submitted), standard protocols for identifying and handling employee mental health issues are less well developed. Where are employers to turn for help and information? There are professional organizations and in-house measures employers can marshal to aid those who are mentally distressed and to act as a means of prevention.
As a starting point, familiarity and understanding of the local and provincial mental health systems and services are essential. Employers need to know how to access these services and obtain referrals for mental health programs. In addition, many online resources are available.
For example, in a collaborative effort, CAMH and the Mood Disorder Association of Ontario have developed a video-based program titled Working Through It that strives to identify workers who may be dealing with mental health issues at work.
Once individuals struggling with workplace mental health issues have been identified and assistance has been provided, there remains a challenge of pinpointing changes in the working environment needed to reduce employee stress and depression. Some positive steps practitioners of OHS can recommend to employers to improve the workplace environment include the following:
• Promote a positive mental health culture by emphasizing a commitment to it in the OHS policy
• Establish an employee assistance program (EAP), offer counseling services to workers suffering from work-related or personal stresses
• Become aware of the signals that indicate a worker is stressed. Some powerful indicators include the following: physical signals (high blood pressure), psychosocial signals (depression), cognitive signals (decreased attention) and behavioural signals (poor job performance)
• Conduct a hazard and risk assessment. Find root causes by surveying workers to identify stress sources, such as health and safety hazards, workload, lack of training and threats of violence
• Develop proper education, training and safe work practices and procedures
• Utilize job design, to examine not only how various job tasks are accomplished, but also to consider both the physical and mental abilities of employees.
In addition to employing the practical steps listed above, consideration of organizational culture is also essential to any discussion of workplace stress and depression. Organizational culture, which refers to the unwritten rules and corporate norms that proclaim what is valued in an organization, plays a pivotal role in affecting change to reduce stress and thus improve employee mental health.
It is also a determining factor in work-life balance and absenteeism rates where there is clear evidence both are interconnected. The Carleton University study notes employees reported work-life issues have negatively impacted the amount of sleep they get and their energy levels. In the past decade, those absent due to emotional and mental fatigue have increased 12 per cent (absent approximately eight days in 2011).
Positive changes to the organizational culture will help bring personal benefits to workers and their families. This pertains to not only stress and depression, but also issues surrounding work-life balance.
In addition to these social benefits, healthier workplaces also bring major financial benefits to organizations. For employers, the business value of a less stressed worker is reflected in an organization’s bottom line. The financial costs associated with stress are staggering, with Statistics Canada reporting in 2012 that the cost of work time lost to stress is $12 billion annually.
This supports the argument that a more mentally healthy workplace is essential. The path to arresting rates of stress and depression will only be found when employers actively pursue the reduction of high stress levels. By utilizing the aforementioned steps to alleviate stress and depression, availing of the resources through professional organizations experienced in this field and maintaining a sounder organizational culture, a healthier work environment can be achieved. These changes will also make it easier for workers to balance work and life demands and substantially help to foster employee well-being.
Bernard Kenny is studying occupational health and safety at the College of the North Atlantic in Cornerbrook, N.L. This article won him the CCOHS Dick Martin Scholarship, which is an annual national award for OHS students.
