Mental health issues at the workplace are extremely common. Employees and workers have a lot to stress about — deadlines, workload, dealing with difficult employees, ensuring job security, etc. This causes a lot of pressure to build up which can be debilitating for the mental health of employees.

Mental health issues are at epidemic levels in Canada. 1 out of every 5 people experiences mental health issues at some point in their lives. The issue is even more severe at workplaces. The Canadian economy loses around $51 billion every year due to psychological illnesses.

This makes mental health awareness at the workplace all the more important. Here are the reasons why you should be promoting mental health awareness at your workplace.

Creates an Open Workplace

Creating mental health awareness reduces stigma in the workplace and helps employees get closer to each other. Mental health awareness is all about encouraging people to talk openly about their mental health issues. This creates an open environment and creates effective communication channels between employees. This is crucial for creating better functioning and more productive groups.

Promotes Early Prevention/Intervention

Creating mental health awareness will help employees identify distress in their colleagues at the earliest. This will lead to early intervention and prevention, so interventions can happen immediately.

reducing absenteeism and presenteeism rate

Reduce Costs and Risks

Promoting mental health awareness is a very fruitful investment, financially speaking. It maximizes cost savings by reducing absenteeism and presenteeism rates. Disability claims are also reduced. All this reduces the average costs of a firm and results in higher profit margins.

Improving Creativity and Innovation

No organization in the current market can survive without constant innovation and creativity. Mental health issues impair a person psychologically and hinder creative and innovative ability. Having mentally able employees, on the other hand, boosts creative thinking and will result in the creation of new innovative products that will expand the company’s market share and profitability.

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