Good mental health at the workplace leads to better productivity and profitability - The Star Online
The Star Online, 08 September 2016
PETALING JAYA: It is important to maintain good mental health in the workplace in order to achieve better productivity and profitability.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said that investment in employees’ mental health and emotional well-being would result in a healthier bottom line for any organisation due to positive workplace culture, fewer employees taking sick days and lower incidences of absenteeism or presenteeism.
“Work-related stress is one of the most challenging issues in occupational safety and health today.
“Stress, if not managed well, can be very costly to the workers and organisation,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
He further urged all organisations to consider work-related stress and psycho-social risks as part of their safety and health strategy in order to reduce accidents and injuries at the workplace.
“There are also employers and managers who contribute to workplace stress by denying employees the work-life balance that is very much needed to maintain employees’ positive mental health,” said Lee, who also advised employers to use occupational safety and health committees to examine and identify problems relating to mental health at the workplace.
Niosh also called on the Government to introduce guidelines for promoting mental health at the office.
“Campaigns and education on mental health, either at the enterprise, state or national level, should be implemented just like public awareness campaigns that focus on the importance of maintaining physical health,” said Lee.
According to Niosh, there are five categories of health hazards in the workplace, namely physical, chemical, biological, ergonomics and psycho-social.
It said that mental health is defined as a situation where a person has a positive attitude towards one-self, is able to realise his or her potential, can cope with normal daily stress, is able to work productively, maintain harmonious relations with others and can contribute to the society.
