Mental Health Awareness Month: 50% of Indian corporate employees at high risk of poor mental health

Last updated on May 15th, 2023 at 04:30 am

Mental health awareness is the need of the hour. But its importance is still undermined.

Quite evidently, mental health issues and psychological disorders are rising worldwide and placing a significant burden on society. Market research firm IPSOS is attempting to bring the topic into the limelight with its recent survey.

About one in every two corporate employees in India are at a high risk of mental health problems, showed a survey conducted by MPower, an initiative by the Aditya Birla Education Trust, in collaboration with IPSOS.

The results are based on responses from 3,000 corporate employees from eight different Indian cities and ten distinct sectors, including e-commerce, FMCG, and hospitality.

The poll also showed mental fatigue compelling nearly eight in ten corporate employees to skip work for at least a couple of weeks in the past year, with nine out of ten respondents feeling they do not have a work-life balance.

Female employees are relatively more vulnerable to mental health problems, with 56% of women at risk compared to 41% of men. One of the major reasons behind the difference is female employees often feel they encounter more stereotyping and gender bias.

Dr Sapna Bangar, Psychiatrist & Head at Mpower Centre, raised concerns over a number of complaints from her patients, including those related to working odd hours, unbalanced family life, or not having much time for themselves.

While numerous factors are known to affect mental health at the workplace, the following four potentially have the biggest impact.

• Work-related stress from working long hours without breaks and similar other reasons
• Problems in personal lives
• Anxiety over expenses and savings
• Physical health-related concerns
• Nearly 70% of survey respondents felt they are expected to work even on vacation, while 50% said they weren’t satisfied with their salaries.

Experts believe the poll results highlight the growing need for employers to pay greater attention to their staff and place more emphasis on creating a safer work environment, identifying early signs of poor mental health, and normalising mental health leaves.

Parveen Shaikh, VP-Operations, Mpower stressed the importance of encouraging employees to talk about mental health so the topic doesn’t get stigmatised while stopping judgement as well.

“When someone says I’m really upset and if people say ‘go walk’. Stop doing that. Stop that judgement. Stop giving those unscientific solutions to somebody’s problems.”