Nearly 60% of the world’s population is employed (1). All workers have the right to a safe and healthy working environment. Decent work is conducive to good mental health because:
More than half of the world’s workforce works in the informal sector (2), where there are no regulations guaranteeing health and safety protection. These workers often work in unsafe work environments, work long hours, have little or no social or financial protection, and face discrimination, all of which can harm mental health.
Although psychosocial risks exist in all sectors, some workers are more exposed than others, because of the nature of their work or where and how they work. Health workers, aid workers or emergency service personnel often have jobs with a high risk of exposure to adverse events that can have adverse effects on their mental health.
Economic recessions or humanitarian and public health emergencies bring risks such as job loss, financial instability, reduced job prospects or increased unemployment.
The workplace can magnify broader issues that have detrimental effects on mental health, including discrimination and inequalities based on factors such as race, sex, gender identity, orientation gender, disablity, social origin, migrant status, religion or age.
People with serious mental health problems are more often excluded from the world of work and, when employed, are more likely to experience inequality at work. Being unemployed also poses a mental health risk. Unemployment, job insecurity, and financial insecurity as well as recent job loss are risk factors for suicide.
Acting for mental health at work
Governments, employers, organizations representing workers and employers, and other stakeholders responsible for the health and safety of workers can help improve mental health at work by taking steps to:
avoid work-related mental health problems by addressing mental health risks at work;
protect and promote mental health at work;
helping workers with mental health issues participate and thrive at work; And
create an environment conducive to change.
Workers and their representatives as well as people with practical experience of mental health problems must be constructively involved in efforts to improve mental health at work.
Avoiding work-related mental health problems
Preventing mental health problems at work involves managing psychosocial risks in the workplace. To do this, the WHO recommends that employers take organizational interventions directly focused on working conditions and environments. Organizational interventions involve assessing mental health risks in the workplace and then mitigating, modifying or eliminating them. These include, for example, the establishment of flexible working arrangements or arrangements to deal with violence and harassment at work.
Protecting and promoting mental health at work
The protection and promotion of mental health at work involves strengthening the ability, particularly of managers, to identify mental health problems at work and take action accordingly.
To protect mental health, WHO recommends:
to train managers in mental health issues in order to help them perceive the emotional distress of their subordinates and act accordingly; to develop relational skills such as open communication and active listening; and to increase understanding of how workplace stressors affect mental health and how they can be addressed;
to train workers so that they are better aware and have better knowledge of mental health and so that people with mental health problems at work are less stigmatized; And
provide interventions for individuals to teach them how to manage stress and reduce symptoms when experiencing mental health problems, including psychosocial interventions and opportunities for leisure-time physical activity.
Helping workers with mental health issues participate and thrive at work
People with mental disorders have the right to participate fully and fairly in the world of work. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international agreement intended to promote the rights of people with disabilities (including psychosocial disabilities), including at work. WHO recommends three interventions to help people with mental health problems gain and maintain employment and participate in the world of work:
Reasonable accommodations make it possible to adapt the professional environment to the abilities, needs and preferences of a worker with a mental health problem. This may include introducing flexible working hours, allowing extra time to complete tasks, modifying tasks to reduce stress, granting time off for medical appointments or organizing regular support meetings with management staff.
Return to work programs combine work arrangements measures (such as reasonable accommodations or gradual return) with ongoing clinical care to help workers return to work after an absence due to mental health issues, while also seeking to reduce symptoms.
Employment support initiatives help people with serious mental illness find paid employment and maintain working hours while continuing to receive mental health support and professional help.
Create an environment conducive to change
Public authorities and employers, in consultation with key stakeholders, can help improve mental health at work by creating an environment conducive to change. In practice, this assumes:
to take initiatives and commit to mental health at work, for example by integrating it into professional policies.
invest sufficient funds and resources, for example by providing special budgets for measures to improve mental health at work and by making services combining mental health and employment available to companies that lack resources.
to defend the right to participate in the world of work, for example by aligning employment laws and regulations with international human rights instruments and implementing non-discrimination policies at work.
to integrate mental health in the workplace across all sectors, for example by incorporating it into existing occupational safety and health systems.
involve workers in decision-making, for example by organizing timely, constructive consultations with workers, their representatives and people with practical experience of
Be First to Comment