As we all know, mental health affects all aspects of our lives. It can motivate us or break us down, depending on our frame of mind. But how does it affect us at work? Can it make us take risks that we would not normally take? Can it make us stay quiet when we would normally speak up? Can it make us lose sight of our goals? Can it make us not care about an outcome? Can it make us less effective employees overall? The short answer is that it absolutely can.
10 Causes of Mental Health Problems at Work:
- Underutilization of skills: When your skillset is not being recognized or used to its full potential. You know you have more to contribute, but are unable to.
- Under-skilled: You are in a role in which you are out of your skill set. You will feel like you are over your head.
- Workload is more than you can handle: This is usually caused by a company being understaffed. You are required to “do more with less”. You do not feel supported.
- Unsafe work conditions: You are required to cut corners concerning safety. Your company’s acceptable risk level is higher than yours. You are told, “Just get it done”.
- Harassment or Bullying: You experience first or second hand a culture that accepts poor behavior regularly. You speak up, but are not supported in making a positive change.
- Discrimination and Exclusion: You experience people being left out or harassed because of their race, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability.
- Unclear Job Tasks: You get vague, unclear directions to achieve your goals. Just when you think you have it done within the parameters you were given, you are told it is done wrong and then need to redo it.
- No Clear Path for Career Development: This will lead you to feeling stuck or trapped in your position. Or you keep getting told that a promotion is just around the corner, but it never seems to manifest into reality.
- Conflicting Home/Work Demands: Your job starts affecting your home life, and vice versa. Not having a stable work-life balance can greatly affect our mental health.
- Job Insecurity: Having to worry about whether or not your job or position is safe can be very stressful. This can lead to burning yourself out trying to stay relevant.
Recognizing When You Need a Mental Health Day:
Everyone has different tolerance levels when exposed to different circumstances. The key is to recognize when your work starts to affect your mental health negatively. Being physically or mentally exhausted after a hard day at work is nothing new for a lot of people. But ask yourself, am I acting or thinking differently because of what I am experiencing at work? Are you unable to separate work from home life? Do you treat people differently? Do you experience mood swings? Do you get aggravated or angry more easily than normal? Are you feeling depressed? Do you feel the need to sleep more, or find it hard to sleep?
If you experience any of these symptoms, it might be time to consider a mental health day or some time off. Ideally, you should be able to talk to your superiors at work about the conditions that you are struggling with and the effect they are having on your mental health. But if not, seeking medical attention is a great solution. There are a lot of solutions out there regarding mental health and overcoming it. Accept that you are human and that you do not need to deal with it on your own. Take the necessary steps to be the best version of you that you can be. Stay aware out there!
