There’s so much talk today about mental wellness and how this impacts on employee productivity. Almost every human capital or business fora today has this as a core or sub-theme. And rightly so. With increasing suicide rates across the country and societal strata there is indeed cause for concern.
Associated factors are many with some pointing out an increasingly low resilience and/or frustration thresholds in today’s individual especially the younger folks.
Nigeria rank low on virtually all global indices related to identifying progressive societies and so it is easy to understand why many are finding life, living and sustenance increasingly difficult.
Beyond this, the reality of working in a cosmopolitan city like Lagos for example, comes with its peculiar challenges namely being susceptible to anxiety and stress. While there’s ongoing conversation about how this kind of environmental stress factor can be minimized on the Nigerian worker in ways that make him ultimately more productive, the question of being able to consistently provide his own power if he for instance, telecommutes remain a challenge.
Factors as these which continue to threaten an employee’s mental health are undeniably herculean. It is questionable though if these factors are the sole culprit where the issue of wellness and/or saneness of the worker is concerned.
Therefore, aside from focusing entirely on proffering solutions to alleviating the impact of these on the employee, perhaps it would be beneficial for employers to give consideration to how the work environment itself might be contributing to the mental troubles experienced by the employee. Hopefully if this area is well catered to, then perhaps there would be some recourse to alleviating stress induced situations with persons within our employ.
So question is how exactly could the workplace be a contributor to the problem and indeed how can it become part of the solution?
For starters a number of workplace issues could easily contribute to an employee’s emotional imbalance namely type of relationships at work, the type of leader and type of work place culture to mention a few.
Leadership: Every business leader worth his salt knows how critical leadership is to the sustenance of a business but how many employers really do the needful where the selection of leaders is concerned? Employers would do well to cater to how people arrive in leadership roles. It does not suffice for a leader to emerge solely on account of his/her proficiency at driving business objectives and outcomes. If team members are stressed out of their minds on account of the behavior and disposition of a leader then it is worth the effort for the business to reconsider its criteria for electing her leaders.
Conflict Management: Conflict can have adverse effects on work in more ways than we care to admit. People come along with their personalities to work! It is a significant part of who they are. This reality presents both pros and cons. Some people would generally avoid conflicts on account of the degree of stress it brings about. Others however, would gravitate to, even seek to initiate conflict [Check out America’s Donald Trump!]. While it’s possible through maturity and experience to find ways to navigate workplace conflicts, this competency is usually a rarity in many instances. There are behavioral models that expound on and show how people can manage conflict creating more productive work environments i.n the process. Employers should make this kind of knowledge sharing a priority.
Policies & Processes: It is typical for employers to initiate policies that benefit the business and drive profit. However, we hurt the people who work the business if business is insensitive to the impact of its policies on the employee. Organizations struggle from time to time with employee engagement issues and they’re often clueless to the particular reasons why this is. To create an environment that gives peace of mind, it is imperative for business to carefully consider the pros and cons of every policy it introduces into the system. Even more importantly is to carry along her employees in her decision making process. Suspicion, distrust and the like are all energy sapping elements and can easily induce stress so business need take caution.
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