The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on another pandemic that has been with us for much longer even though many of us may not have noticed it: people struggling with mental wellness and the impact this has on their relationships and their work.
Many people will have come face to face with mental health issues for the first time. More and more people are realising that mental health is not just a figment of some people’s imagination but a real problem that needs to be addressed properly and professionally. And it needs to be talked about.
The Times of Malta recently reported that there has been a 500 per cent increase in requests for mental health support made to the Richmond Foundation.
The workplace is significantly impacted by all of this. According to a recent study carried out by the UK’s the Health & Safety Executive, mental health is the number-one reason cited for taking sick days. This is likely to be the case – or is becoming the case – in Malta and in other places too. This means that if you are an employer, you are likely to have employees who are experiencing problems with their mental wellness.
You too, as a business owner, might be struggling. Indeed, business owners are probably at an even higher risk of neglecting their mental wellness due to the added responsibility they feel for their employees.
On a more encouraging note, the Health and Wellbeing at Work report for 2021 prepared by the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) found that employee well-being is rising as a priority on the UK’s corporate agenda.
In Malta, at the recent annual conference organised by the Foundation for Human Resources Development, nearly every speaker and panellist mentioned mental wellness. Also, the Richmond Foundation has launched a programme called Healthy Minds Work, aimed at helping employers address mental health issues at the workplace in practical ways. It is well worth checking this out if you are an employer.
But mental health has not only become important now, just because it is getting more attention. As long as two years ago (it really does seem to be ages ago), Working Town, in partnership with the Richmond Foundation, the Malta Chamber, the General Workers’ Union and the Malta Employers’ Association, intended to launch its first annual conference on mental wellness at work, but had its plans repeatedly postponed by COVID.
Instead, a series of free webinars was organised, and it was clear that interest in this topic is increasing. This conference is scheduled to take place in the first half of 2022, and in the interim, a series of free webinars have been organised to discuss various aspects of mental wellness at work.
Fish, the singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1980s as the frontman of Marillion, will be one of the panellists of the Mental Wellness at Work webinar on December 15.The final webinar in the series entitled simply ‘Mental Wellness at Work’ will take place on December 15 between 2pm and 3.30pm CET and will feature two panel discussions, including one discussing the carrying impact that COVID has had on different sectors such as the arts.
The event includes a superb line-up of international panellists, including Fish, the singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1980s at the frontman of Marillion; Jane Piper, organisational psychologist and author of Focus in the Age of Distraction; Désirée Steinmann, master trainer, DISC profiler and coach; Yasmin de Giorgio, CEO at Shireburn and founder of Sanya Eco Spa; George Mangion, senior partner and head of audit at PKF Malta; consultant psychiatrist Rachel Taylor-East; and Robyn Pratt, founder at Impact Consulting.
The webinar will last 90 minutes, and Alexandra Cachia, founder of Thrive Malta, will facilitate proceedings.
The partnerships that this event brought together are also significant. Both employer and worker representatives are acknowledging the importance of talking about mental health. These organisations are taking initiatives, together and separately, to make sure that this topic keeps on being given importance.
The Malta Chamber, for example, has launched its Health & Wellness Committee and a lot of its work and events have been focussed on mental health. The GWU insists that clauses on mental health are included in collective agreements. And the Malta Employers’ Association runs Pro-Inklude, a pro-inclusion initiative through which businesses are guided on how to act responsibly and inclusively on various issues, including dealing with employees who have mental health conditions.
The webinar and eventual conference will also be an opportunity to discuss the benefits of doing something to improve mental wellness at work.
Better performance, healthier staff, talent retention, improved corporate branding ‒ The list is long, but irrespective of the benefits, there is only one reason that is sufficient for businesses to take action to address the mental well-being of their employees: it’s the right thing to do.
For more information, including the programme and full list of panellists, and to register for the webinar, go to https://bit.ly/wtdec15we.
Mark Azzopardi is a director of Working Town, organisers of the Mental Wellness at the Workplace conference. He is also a member of the Health & Wellness Committee of the Malta Chamber.