Supporting Mental Health at Workplace

A recent research conducted by the Indian Psychiatry Society stated that within the first week of Lockdown 1.0, India witnessed a 20% raise in the number of reported mental illness cases. Corporate sector has been majorly affected with Covid-19 outbreak; hence a sense of compassion and support is expected from the organizations with respect to the mental health of their employees.

Corporate world has been majorly affected by the current scenario, as mental health cases have been raising at a rapid speed. Given the current situation, it has become imperative for organizations to provide a healthy & stable work environment. Almost every organization has changed their policies with regards to employee betterment during lockdown, keeping in mind the present day need.

There are many organizations conducting virtual activities to keep their employees connected and involved in mental health exercises, some have even conducted sessions by professional counselors which help and understand the emotional well-being of their employees. The organizations are expected to respond with more compassion and provide their work force with support through constant communication, assistance, access to professional help or even start with portals where they can reach out to maintain the anonymity.

The idea behind conducting such activities is to make your workforce believe that everyone can thrive in their respective fields. Good management and good mental health of employees go hand in hand. The recent statistics have strong evidence of workplaces with high levels of mental wellbeing are more productive and positive. For HR professionals especially, it has become vital to protect their organizations well-being by addressing mental health awareness at work for the ones who are facing the issues and it is affecting their personal as well as professional life.

In a recently conducted survey, it has been proved that by addressing mental health awareness programs at work increases productivity of the work force raises by as much as 12%. It is important for organizations in today’s time of distress to have policies which helps the employees to be able to manage their mental health at work with the help of certified counselors. It has become critical to build communities within the organization where employees can share their issues without feeling exposed, in order to be able to cope with mental health crisis.

“Mental health of my employees is extremely important to me. Not just after lockdown even before that we have an internal community which allows employees to raise their concerns, maintaining their anonymity. We also have professional counselors in our team that helps the workforce whenever required. I believe it is the need of the hour and every organization should have such policies, after all there is nothing more important that someone’s emotional as well as mental well-being. And I urge you all to please seek for professional help if you are struggling, it is just like visiting a doctor after breaking your arm or having fever. Mental illness has been a taboo in our country and it’s time to change that. A happy mind leads to a happy life.” – Sumit Kumar, Founder & CEO of Nulearn.