Many Companies have changed their priorities due to the recession, but they shouldn’t neglect their most valuable assets.
I recently attended the Xeffects conference in Toronto on women and mental health in the workplace. After a morning of informative sessions, I wrote a brief article on the event, ensuring that it would be posted on our website and included in our daily e-newsletter. Then I moved on to the next task and thought no more of it.
Until the following day, when I received a number of emails on the article. Some people thanked me for drawing attention to an important issue. Others shared their personal experiences dealing with mental illness: the difficulties of trying to handle work commitments when they weren’t feeling up to par; the stigma they faced; the challenges of getting their managers to understand what they were going through.
I was surprised and touched by these stories. For all of the events that we, as an industry, hold on mental health, for all of our efforts to encourage discussion, perhaps we’re still not talking about it enough. And perhaps not in the right ways.
One of the main themes of the Xeffects conference was the need to stop thinking about mental illness and focus instead on mental wellness. It may seem like a nebulous concept, but there are practical ways that employers can support their employees and encourage mental well-being.
For example, giving people time off during the workday for medical appointments or support groups. Reintegrating employees after an absence in a graded way to ensure that they are neither overwhelmed nor under-stimulated. Teaching managers how to recognize symptoms and handle mental health issues with care. And, most important, ensuring that this knowledge and understanding cascades throughout the company to break down the barriers for employees seeking help.
Of course, mental wellness isn’t an issue specific to women or confined to the work environment. But employers shouldn’t lose sight of its importance—especially during an economic downturn like the one we are experiencing.
So many companies have mission statements stressing the value of human capital. When we focus only on maximizing resources and controlling costs, we run the risk of forgetting why we created such statements in the first place
Alyssa Hodder is Editor of Benefits Canada.
alyssa.hodder@rci.rogers.com
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© Copyright 2009 Rogers Publishing Ltd. This article first appeared in the May 2009 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine.