One (1) out of four (4) Hong Kong employees, suffers from poor mental health. Despite being known for economic stability, the mental state of the working population is a concern.
Cause of distress includes lack of social activity, job security issues, and workplace bullying. Common symptoms associated with poor mental condition range from being tired to having thoughts of self-harm.
Mental Health in the Workplace
Being in a workplace makes one a part of an organization that seeks professional value in exchange for monetary rewards. This impersonal aspect of getting a job makes it a difficult setting for expressing one’s emotional difficulties. With a culture that focuses on professionalism, it becomes uncomfortable not to bring up mental health concerns.
General Work Culture
Hong Kong is a very appealing target venue for professionals in terms of career growth and employment but there has always been a major concern for lack of work-life balance.
Sometimes dubbed as a toxic culture, it is normal to have more than 50 hours in a work week. Overtime is common. Locals prefer to stay longer in the office than what is stipulated in their work contracts. This willingness to spend more hours than necessary translates as a desire to perform better. Employees do not go home until the last piece of work is done.
Effects of Poor Mental Health
Performance and Productivity. An individual who struggles with their mental health usually finds it difficult to function normally. In a workplace where we are judged through performance, it is crucial to be in your best condition. Examples of effects on company output would be absenteeism causing a lack of manpower, task-related mistakes, and low morale among personnel.
Work Relationship. Communication is a key factor for the business and its stakeholders to make things work. Our well-being affects how we interact with people. When one is not in a sound state mentally and emotionally, even normal conversations become a challenge. It also becomes easier to be misunderstood by co-employees when one displays unusual reactions and emotions in the workplace. Isolation and gossip around the workplace can make things worst for a patient with a mental condition.
Promoting Good Mental Health in the Workplace
Encourage Good Work Relationship. Stress contributors can be caused by a simple lack of communication between colleagues. To promote good rapport between employees, it would be good to take the extra effort in organizing company gatherings where co-workers can connect outside the work setting. Periodical breaks between the high tension also give the employees the need to recharge for the next work project.
Set Reasonable Work Goals. The added pressure of excessive targets at work contributes a lot to an employee’s stress level. If possible, review the job in relation to the capacity of the company to deliver before deciding on the specific tasks to be assigned.
Set Proper Policies and Procedures. In times when there is conflict inside the workplace, it will be more convenient to have a set of bylaws on hand on how to handle such situations. A vague arrangement adds anxiety to individuals who are already suffering from mental health issues.
Make Professional Help Available. Companies can provide in-house professional assistance for their employees to address mental health issues. This makes it easier to resolve internal conflicts that cause stress in the workplace since the person to consult with is already familiar with the workplace dynamics.
There are also counselling centres around Hong Kong like Everyday Empathy that provide individual counselling assessments to further understand the factors affecting your mental health condition.
Progress Towards Awareness
There is no easy way of fixing mental health problems in Hong Kong. These issues may be the outcomes that come from the culture of professionalism in the country’s workforce, and fixing it might have negative effects on said culture. The balance may be hard to achieve but awareness of the issue has been growing in the past years and there have been significant efforts from the government and private institutions to make things better.
