Growing up in Botswana, mental health was never a subject for discussing at the ‘dinner table.’
To be honest, most people didn’t even recognise it as a necessity, let alone a factor that could have adverse effects on the livelihoods of people. This undocumented and unfortunate attitude made its way to the workplace. Little to no attention was/is being paid to employees’ mental well-being.
However, the COVID–19 pandemic came and shook the entire world to the core in more ways than one and tried to raise awareness of mental health in a sweet and sour way. But the real question is, did it really change people’s perspectives completely regarding mental health or was it all temporary? Employees spend more than 60 percent of their day at work. In reality, employees spend more time at work with their colleagues than they do at home with their families. This should surely make it easier for employees to tell when a colleague is unwell or may be going through a lot, right?
This is unfortunately not the case where mental health is concerned. What makes it even worse is that some supervisors also fail to notice that their subordinates are not well emotionally or mentally. With those who do notice, only a few assist while the rest simply ignore and continue to demand the same or more of such an employee. Maybe mental health is not important in the workplace because clearly organisations continue to function without any measures to curb or eliminate poor mental health. But the question is for how long will they continue to function this way? Let’s break it all down!
Definition
According to the World Health Organisation, “Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community.” From this definition, it is clear that mental health is a very important aspect in the workplace as it ensures employees are at their best to deliver quality work. Since this speaks to the positives that come with a good state of mental health, what are the negatives that come with ignoring mental health in the workplace, and thus leading to a poor state of mental health?
The evil
When employees fail to cope with stress, it can manifest itself in the following ways, physically (e.g. high blood pressure, burnout, headaches), psychologically (e.g. anger, anxiety) or behaviourally (e.g. sudden or high alcohol intake). This would greatly affect such an employee’s welfare and consequently the organisation’s performance.
In some cases, employees resort to resigning from their duties while in most extreme cases some may commit suicide where depression has taken over. At that point, the employer would be faced with the loss of employees due to staff turnover in the form of resignations or death in cases of suicide. For HR departments, this then takes them back to the drawing board, recruitment, induction, training and policy formulation. These are processes that take time and prove costly for organisations that outsource recruitment and training services, in addition to reduced or completely lost employee productivity.
Conclusion
As an employer operating in Botswana, a Third World country that culturally does not recognise mental health, it may be difficult to adopt a philosophy that goes against this norm. But failing to adopt the philosophy may expose such organisations to the aftermaths just mentioned. The choice to indulge or not will then become yours as the employer being fully aware of what is at stake.
Contacts:
If you want to join our free HR WhatsApp group or to consult, contact us on +267 75 54 67 84, +267 393 9435 or info@aupracontax.co.bw.
