Unhealthy working environments “put workers’ mental health at risk”, the Cyprus Psychologists’ Association said on Thursday.
In a statement released to coincide with World Mental Health Day, which takes place on October 10 every year, they cited earlier statements made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) regarding the impact of unhealthy working environments on workers’ mental health.
“Unhealthy working environments, including those where discrimination, inequality, excessive workload, low autonomy at work, and job insecurity, puts workers’ mental health at risk,” they said.
They added that the content of the work being done, the work schedule, other “specific characteristics” of any given working environment, strained relationships with colleagues, and poor leadership in workplaces may contribute to deteriorating mental health among workers.
They also cited a WHO report which estimated that around 12 billion working days are “lost” each year globally due to depression and anxiety, with a total cost to the global economy of $1 trillion in productivity.
With this in mind, they said they wished to “draw the attention of those concerned both to the problems which arise and concern mental health in the workplace, as well as to the actions which need to be taken to improve workers’ quality of life.”
“Investing in policies and practices to promote mental health in the workplace can bring about positive outcomes, such as higher job satisfaction and wellbeing, better performance, and reduced costs due to reduced absenteeism,” they said.
They then called on Cyprus’ political authorities and employers “to take this opportunity to reflect on these issues and to create policies aimed at preventing the risk factors regarding mental health, building supportive workplaces where mental health is a priority.”
The latest Eurobarometer report on mental health, released at the end of last year, showed Cypriots reporting at the joint third-greatest frequency in the European Union that they had experienced emotional or psychosocial problems in the 12 months before the survey was conducted.
A total of 63 per cent of Cypriots surveyed said they had experienced emotional or psychosocial problems, including symptoms of depression and anxiety – a figure which is 17 per cent higher than the EU average, and higher than every other country in the bloc except for Lithuania and Malta.
Of those across the EU who said they had experienced emotional or psychosocial problems, 69 per cent said they had felt sad or “down”, 50 per cent said they had “excessive fears or worries”, and 42 per cent said they suffered from low self-esteem.
