The United Nations has expressed concern about the psychological pressures related to the workplace and stated that there is still a lot to be done to protect mental health at work. The UN agencies for health and labor published two documents with recommendations on how to prevent and safeguard against mental health risks at work, warning that psychological distress is costly for both individuals and society.
Depression and anxiety account for an estimated 12 billion lost workdays annually: WHO
According to the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization, depression and anxiety account for an estimated 12 billion lost workdays annually, costing the worldwide economy close to $1 trillion.
“It’s time to focus on the detrimental effect work can have on our mental health. The well-being of the individual is reason enough to act, but poor mental health can also have a debilitating impact on a person’s performance and productivity,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a joint statement.
Nearly a billion people worldwide were already coping with a mental illness when COVID-19 struck, and the pandemic just made it worse, the World Health Organization had warned in June.
One in six working people has a mental condition at any given moment, according to the WHO, making up a significant portion of the population.
“The numbers are alarming. We have a huge responsibility ahead of us,” Manal Azzi, the ILO team lead on occupational safety and health, told reporters.
UN released a report complete with guidelines on how to counter the mental health issues
Additionally, a study with recommendations for addressing the issue was made public. One of them claims that providing employees with meaningful employment helps safeguard their mental health by offering them a sense of accomplishment, self-assurance, and income.
A person’s mental health can dramatically deteriorate or be made worse by adverse or inadequate working conditions, poor working relationships, and unemployment. It noted that discrimination on the basis of gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability might have a harmful impact on mental health. The guidelines also discussed the value of stress-reduction techniques including mindfulness and exercise.