Workplace Diversity and Mental Health
Mental Health Awareness Month is an excellent time to be aware of and include 20% of your employees and consumers in developing quarter strategies.
Yes, 20%! In other words, every fifth adult is suffering from some mental health disorder problem. And that is about forty million Americans or more than the populations of twenty states in the US combined! Businesses must also be humane and care for their employee's well-being to the extent of understanding that poor mental health causes a business to incur costs. From the research conducted among the ten most prominent companies, it emerged that the most expensive health condition suffered by employees is depression. Depression costs the economy about $ 210 billion every year. Recently, it has been reported that approximately 18% of US workers "reported symptoms of mental health illness in the past month," the most reported disorders being depression, stress and anxiety, and drug abuse.
How do you address this? Make sure you incorporate mental disorders into your organisation's diversity statement. Here are the reasons why:
Diversity as Mental Health: Diversity means the essence or fact of the existence of difference, being different, or being unalike. A person's ethnic background, religion, legacy, sexual orientation, etc, makes them different. Health-wise, they are also different; every individual gets sick in a different way.
Performance standards have been set to 20%: A 20% percent difference, to be exact, which is acceptable diversity in the workplace. Another rationale for that figure is the majority inclusiveness approach. Awareness, respect, and inclusion, in that specific order, are the primary three objectives of any diversity/initiative. Most importantly, we acknowledge that there are disparities within our groups. Such disparities must be observed and respected as well. Finally, be inclusive as well.
Get Rid of the Stigma and Include the People: Inclusion includes people from all races, aggregates of gender, sexual and religious variances, ages, and more. It also provides for the inclusion of people who are mentally or cognitively disabled. We can change the way these people live and end the stigma and discrimination that goes with having a mental illness and mental disorders.
Watch Your Language: Language should be held in high regard, and in addition to understanding its importance, it should also be the goal. Self-advocacy has its advantages, and I have experienced, indeed, mental illness. Even more muscular still is the pain that comes from being called by your diagnosis. Please refrain from the use of phrases like "that's schizo," "he has ADHD," or "she was acting so bipolar."
Shout Out: Another alternative consists of calling someone who possesses excellent leadership skills but suffers from mental health or has other learning disabilities. Numerous prominent individuals, from the president of the United States to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, found a career in acting or creating visual end products in February 2009 due to being devoid of the pole star immunologically defective parasitic infection.
Wellness Advantages: Why not widen the scope of benefits when corporate mental health programs are incorporated into your training sessions? For instance, it is logical for any company with a workshop to ensure the equipment is in perfect operational condition. It is not machines that are very important, but human beings. Therefore, it is in the best economic rationality to ensure that your people's resources also work optimally.
Wellness ROI - Organisations focusing on corporate mental wellness, that is, corporate practices that protect their employees' health – mind, body, and spirit – can reap considerable rewards. The Center for Workplace Mental Health reports that 80% of all employees who undergo treatment for psychological disorders become more productive and more satisfied with their jobs within a few months. Employees who are happy and focused on their jobs are more efficient and more excellent.
To conclude, the issues of workplace diversity, the impact of which has been touched upon, can create the required incentives for a healthy organisational culture that benefits all. The benefits of being diverse are enhancing creativity and innovation, plus help the employees' mental health considerably. Organizations help the mental health of their employees by understanding and appreciating diversity in the workforce. Supporting a practical approach towards the diversity of workers and the employee's mental health improves employee engagement, productivity, and the general organisation's performance. Within the developmental context in which businesses operate, factors such as mental health and diversity will remain vital as they enrich organizational creation processes.