Mental Health in the workplace Part 1: Brain Science
'The mind is everything. What you think you become'. - Buddha
KNOWLEDGE
A healthy mind is a humans greatest asset, but with 301 million people suffering from anxiety disorder worldwide, a healthy mind is one of the hardest things to obtain.
Workplace stressors are one of the key issues contributing to this, acquiring top place as a causal of mental health. In fact, 2/3 of workers face significant job-related stress issues resulting from:
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Workload pressure accounting for 73% of work-related stress cases.
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Work environment, with 72% of employees reasons for leaving a job due to a toxic work environment.
As a result of these stressors, globally, only 21% of employees are fully engaged at work with 79% of employees lacking productivity due to mental health issues. Even more alarming, is that stress, anxiety and depression also accounted for the most days lot to work-related illness in 2022/23, 17.1 million (covid!) and 6.6 million respectively. The result of this- significant financial loss averaging £1652 per employee per year.
So what is the science behind workplace stressors, and how can we use this science to reduce the prevalence of work related stress issues?
The implication of workplace mental health is not only costly for businesses but is placing increasing demand on our NHS every year.
- In 2023/24, the NHS plan to spend £14.4 billion on mental health
- 86 million antidepressants items were prescribed in 2022/23, to an estimated 8.6 million identified patients
- Prescribing of Central Nervous System (CNS) stimulates and drug s for ADHD increased by 32% in adults over 18 and 12% in children 17 and under
- There were 6,446 suspected suicides from Q3 2022- Q3 2023 in the UK alone.
This isn't to say the problem is isolated to the UK, it is an international problem. More people overdosed in the US last year than the combined death of the Vietnam, Afghan and Iraq wars.
IMPACT
Managing stress in the workplace shouldn't just be a key factor on improving employee retention but should be a moral responsibility for organisations to support their employees and the NHS.
TACTIC
Addressing mental health in the workplace requires a holistic approach- one that acknowledges the integration of our social, emotional and environmental wellbeing. At BeyondNow we consider all these aspects to create a workplace where mental health is at the forefront of the choices we make.