Corporate Wellness Week, which takes place the first week of July, is a chance to spread awareness of the need of fostering a healthy work environment. Reduced productivity, increased presenteeism, a lack of a strong work ethic, and decreased workplace safety are all symptoms of an unpleasant work environment.
A healthy workplace, according to the WHO, is one where employees and management work together to apply a process of continuous improvement to safeguard and advance everyone’s health, safety, and well-being as well as the long-term viability of the workplace.
Mental Health
The South African Federation for Mental Health is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working to safeguard and defend the rights of those suffering from mental diseases. Employers are urged to support initiatives that will help them create a healthy workplace.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the typical adult spends one-third of their life at work. It is crucial that the workplace be a location where workers might potentially perform at their best.
According to the WHO, mental health is:
“…a condition of wellbeing in which each individual fulfills his or her own potential, can deal with everyday difficulties, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to contribute to his or her community.”
Workers in today’s fast-paced society deal with stress at work every day. The performance of businesses and organisations in South Africa is impacted by the productivity of employees when it is combined with other mental health problems including depression and anxiety. It is crucial that businesses focus more on the well-being of their staff, particularly in terms of mental health.
In general, workers are reluctant to discuss their mental health problems with their employers. According to a 2017 poll by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group, just 1 in 6 employees who experienced a mental illness said they would feel safe telling their manager about it. This is brought on by real or imagined stigma. While stigma is ubiquitous across society, it can become more vicious in the workplace because workers worry about being punished for what they view as weakness. This is so because, in contrast to people who have a physical ailment, mental illness is frequently “invisible.” Workplace bullying harms people in ways that aren’t often visible, thus awareness-raising and training programmes for all managers and their staff are crucial.
Employee responsibilities for self-care include:
adequate sleep and exercise
ensure appropriate socialisation and spiritual expression
ask for help and access services when necessary
Ergonomics
This study or measurement relates to work. The term “work” refers to deliberate human activity in this context; it goes beyond the relatively narrow definition of work as labour performed in exchange for payment to include all actions taken by a logical human operator who is methodically pursuing an objective. Thus, it encompasses athletics and other forms of recreation, household tasks like child care and home maintenance, education and training, health care, and volunteer work, as well as managing or adjusting to constructed systems, such as when riding in a car.
Ergonomics is more specifically the science of tailoring a job to the worker.
The individual or people involved are the main focus in all circumstances, duties, and activities. It is assumed that the operator serves the structure, the engineering, and any other technology, rather than the other way around.
A systematic approach to discovering, analysing, and controlling workplace risk factors, frequently with the goal of reducing overuse musculoskeletal illnesses, is known as an ergonomics programme. Employers, employees, and other parties with an awareness of ergonomics can work together to create effective programmes to prevent and reduce musculoskeletal problems at work.
What are the advantages of good ergonomics?
Increased savings: fewer injuries, more productive employees, fewer workman’s compensation claims
Fewer employees experiencing pain: ergonomics reduces the risk factors that lead to discomfort
Increased productivity: more efficient, productive, and greater job satisfaction
Increased morale: employees feel valued because their workplace is safer
Reduced absenteeism: healthy and pain-free workers