MENTAL HEALTH
Fostering A Health , Happy Workforce
Mental Health
BY : JENNIFER BOUZANE FIT FOR WORK
The vast majority of employers would likely agree that they have many challenges nowadays , and retaining a psychologically healthy workforce and managing mental illness in the workplace is one of those challenges . One in five people in Canada are diagnosed with a mental illness and the obstacles that come with that can be present in the daily work lives of these people . Therein lies the challenge for employers : What are their responsibilities ? And how best can they support the well-being , and facilitate the optimal job performance of their employees ? Compassion and empathy are good places to start . But there ’ s more to it .
Costs associated with the impact of mental illness in the Canadian workplace total $ 50 billion . These are the costs associated with healthcare , employee downtime and lost productivity . Mental illness has also been identified as one of the top three drivers of short and long-term disability claims for more than 80 % of employers .
These statistics speak volumes and further highlight the importance of employers being part of the response to this challenge . There are many tools to assist employers in establishing their practices and cultures of workplace mental health . And a good place to start is with the recently drafted National Standard of Canada on this issue that was commissioned by the Mental Health Commission of Canada — Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace — Prevention , Promotion , and Guidance to Staged Implementation . The framework of the Standard has been designed to facilitate the following : identification and elimination of hazards that pose a risk of psychological harm to workers , assessment and control of the risks associated with hazards that cannot be
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