The work place is one out of the few environmental factors that affect our mental health and wellbeing. There is a growing knowledge on the role of work in hindering or promoting mental wellness and health. Although it is hard to measure the extend in which work alone has impacted on one’s personal identity, social recognition and self -esteem, some mental health professionals have agreed that the workplace environment can have a significant impact on a person’s mental well-being or health. Also, poor mental health and stressors at work place might contribute to a range of physical illnesses like hypertension, cardiovascular conditions and diabetes amongst others. Furthermore, it could lead to burn-out amongst employees, which will affect the productivity of the individual professionally and in their personal life.
Data of different countries shows that mental health problems are some of the reasons employees stopped working. Also, many large companies have come to realized that their employee’s productivity is connected to their health and well- being, although traditionally more emphasis has been placed on physical health than on mental health and well-being. It has impacted on employers and their businesses directly through negative impact on productivity, increased absenteeism as well as the cost to deal with the issues and has adversely impact on the morale of the employees.
Stress is seen as the adverse reaction people have due to excessive pressures or demands placed on them. There is a clear difference between pressure; that is a motivating factor and stress itself, which is as a result of excessive pressure.
Work- related stress as a major of cause of mental and physical illness could manifest as headaches, back pain, gastrointestinal disturbances or various minor illnesses as well as psychological issues such as depression, anxiety and poor decision making.
Severally factors at workplace can help promote employees’ psychosocial well-being and mental health which may involve the employee having the opportunity to be included in the planning and carrying out of activities and events in the workplace and also the degree to which the environment encourages the utilization and development of skills.
The consequence of mental health problems in a workplace can be summarized as follows:
They are tools that can be used to assess or evaluate the level of work-related stress and the measures to be taken to help control them.
Activities that go on in a workplace can be very challenging and can affect our mental wellbeing and health, speaking with qualified professionals will help relieve the mental stress.
