What Is Mental Health at Work

Work isn’t just where we get our income. For many of us, it’s our main source of interpersonal connection and friendships, and can be closely tied to our identity.

Work affects our mental health, and our mental health affects work.

Having foundational knowledge about mental health helps us take care of ourselves and support our employees and colleagues. Just as our physical health changes, so does our mental health.

“There are many risk factors for mental health that may be present in the working environment. Most risks relate to interactions between the type of work, the organizational and managerial environment, the skills and competencies of employees, and the support available for employees to carry out their work. For example, a person may have the skills to complete tasks, but they may have too few resources to do what is required, or there may be unsupportive managerial or organizational practices.”

Risks may also be related to job content, such as unsuitable tasks for the person’s competencies, team cohesion or social support.

While bullying and psychological harassment are commonly reported causes of work-related stress, your workplace can still be unhealthy and feel unsafe for staff even if there is not any bullying or harassment taking place. Unapproachable managers, a “shoot the messenger” mentality when people raise concerns, and a lack of recognition for good work are just a few examples of workplace issues that can impact mental health.

Every job has both physical and psychological demands. For example, physical demands may include lifting heavy objects, standing for extended periods of time, or prolonged screen time. Psychological demands can include “people skills” such as negotiating situations with customers, having to make quick decisions in a high-stakes environment, or switching between independent and team-based work.

The psychological demands of every job will be different, and the associated stress can lead to mental health concerns including burnout, compassion fatigue, depression, anxiety and substance use disorder. It is important to act on concerns as soon as they are identified, to help ensure adequate and timely treatment or support.

It is important that employees are prepared for psychological demands, just as they would need to be for physical ones.

To learn more about psychological demands, check out this video from haveTHATtalk.ca

To learn more about the National Standard, visit: 13 Factors: Addressing Mental Health in the Workplace.