Mental Health at Work
Mental health has been a popular topic that comes hand in hand with college/university life. Many post-secondary students face problems with their mental well-being, where they struggle on a daily basis to understand learning material, as well as complete projects/assignments. Not too many people talk about mental health in the workplace.
As I am settling into the work term (about 5 weeks in now), the topic of mental health becomes a revisiting thought. In conversations/interactions with my fellow colleagues, higher authoritative figures, and immersed in the work load itself, I have started to realize the importance of mental health in the workplace as well.
I began to realize that work is no longer mundane and repetitive like that part-time job I held in high school, and that using your critical judgement, solving problems, and being aware of deadlines is something expected out of you on a daily basis. The great part about this is that it is an opportunity to grow professionally, and to actually use your ideas, creativity, and intellect to benefit the real world. On the flip side of the coin, this can become very stressful and overwhelming at times, and for some people, this becomes taxing on their mental health.
As Simon Sinek explains in “Millennials in the Workplace”, millennials are often seen as lazy, entitled, and selfish. When they are thrown into corporate environments that “cares more about the money than the people” , they begin to realize that they may not be the best, and there may be no easy, instant way to achieve a task. As a result, this can be stressful for them to adjust to this cold environment.
Mental health is an important topic, and I’m glad that the stigmatism is slowly being released. However, the older generations that coexist in the workplace as your colleagues, or as your manager/supervisor, may have a different set of values of what makes a good employee, where they may frown down upon those who take frequent breaks, or socialize with their co-workers. For them, the notion of “mental health” does not exist, as it is simply seen as a coping mechanism and excuse for millennials to “slack off”. Thus, we see the stigma in “caring about mental health” continue to lurk in corporate environments, where millennials continue to come to and from work feeling like crap.
It has not even been two months since the work term started, and a few colleagues that I have just gotten to know were already fired from their position. The true reason why they were fired, I am not sure, but they were outspoken, bright individuals that were advocates of maintaining mental health. The positions that they had were very stressful, demanding jobs, and it saddens me that I did not get a chance to build a stronger working relationship with them.
This leads to what I believe another element to a healthy, working environment as well as good for your mental health; and that is a bond with your colleagues/co-workers. For sure, there will be some people in the office that are assholes, but when there are colleagues that you can trust, and are great to converse with, it gives you a break from all the stress and negativity from your daily tasks. There are companies that have team-building events and I love the idea of this, and wish to see more (correction, ANY) events like these from my current company, as well as many others.
From these points, if one were placed in a corporate environment where conversing with others and breaks are minimized/discouraged as an attempt to maximize productivity, it is no wonder that a person would feel depressed/empty.
In school, an individual can take breaks and “slack off” without any repercussions (besides their grades). When you’re out in the work field, making contributions to corporations, there is a fear that your breaks and caring for mental health as an “excuse” can lose millions of dollars for a business, or risk the safety of the general public (shout-out to engineers!). Here, we see a large difference how mental health is perceived in school versus work.
To me, it is impractical and nonsensical to force age-old work values to new generations entering the work force. What I wish to see in the future is companies refreshing their goals and core values to complement the values, and strengths of each coming generation.
