Despite employers putting in more effort to offer employees venues at the workplace to seek support in case of mental health issues, employees rarely approach their managers or HR for support. As per Deloitte’s ‘Mental health in the workspace 2022’ survey, 22 per cent of workers who are battling mental health issues admit that they would rather not talk about it at the workplace. About 25 per cent of employees with mental health issues felt they would prefer to reveal their issues to or discuss them with their peers or colleagues rather than others in the organisation.
That means, it is not enough for organisations to merely provide platforms or have therapists or consultants on call for employees to reach out to. It is more important for organsiations to develop a culture of support and openness where employees feel comfortable discussing their issues freely and communicating comfortably (without a sense of shame).
The Survey also revealed that31 per cent of youngsters, that is, those aged below 24, said they would not reveal their mental health symptoms to others at the workplace. In comparison, only about 13 to 23 per cent of the older employees had the same opinion.
It was discovered that the likelihood of employees who lived alone, that is, 27 per cent, to reveal their mental health issues to people is less compared to those who live with someone (19 to 24 per cent).
Awareness about resources at the workplace that can help with mental health issues was about 46 per cent. However, fortunately, amongst those employees who have experienced more than one symptom of mental health issues, the awareness was higher at 66 per cent.
Also, 64 per cent of those who experienced some symptom and accepted these as mental health issues were more willing to avail these resources.
Clearly, organisations need to focus on conversations around ways to help people identify, recognise and accept symptoms and then approach the right people for support and help.
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