A good strategy would be to train people who hold management positions within companies so that they can prevent stressful work environments and thus have better tools to detect these mental disorders and understand and care for the people who are facing them.
And it is that speaking of the scope that the effects on the mental health of workers can have, not only are they affected, but the growth of these diseases has been so great that they have already had a direct impact on labor productivity, Well, the global invoice, according to the WHO and the ILO, is approximately 12,000 million lost work days, which translates into the loss of almost one trillion dollars annually.
Likewise, it is estimated that in our country work stress costs between 5,000 and 40,000 million dollars a year due to the expenses related to the decrease in productivity, absenteeism, increase in work accidents and sick leave. In addition, according to the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), stress reduces at least 25% of labor productivity and as if that were not enough, 75% of Mexicans suffer from fatigue and diseases derived from undergoing great stress situations. , far surpassing countries like China and the United States.
It has been proven that the main triggers for anxiety and depression in collaborators are work overloads, lack of spaces for coexistence, routine tasks, the use of unsafe equipment, obsolete internal communication, organizational cultures that encourage discrimination and abuse, authoritarian leaders, conflicts between work and personal responsibilities, and acts of violence, harassment and bullying, to name the most important.
In this way, creating a healthy work environment, providing counseling tools and emotional support to all those who are experiencing an adverse situation, encouraging open communication within the organization, providing schedule flexibility, remote work options, and fostering a A culture of support and collaboration among employees are some of the actions that we must offer as a company.
Another approach that should be considered is the promotion and prevention of mental health at work, especially through interventions that allow strengthening the skills to recognize and respond to risk situations, as well as empowering people to seek help, as well as support for workers who already suffer from a mental disorder with policies that allow them to continue carrying out their activities in a more favorable environment, as well as labor reintegration programs.
In addition, providing personalized employment benefits can be an effective way to help prevent and care for depression and anxiety in our team, since feeling listened to and not judged improves their emotional well-being. The result of being open and listening to our collaborators is impressive, since their performance in their work improves almost immediately. By offering these types of benefits, the organization shows its employees that their physical and emotional well-being is very important.