Psychological Well-Being of an Employee

Symptoms of mental illness negatively affect quality of life and inter-personal relationships in the workplace.

Factors such as unattainable workloads, lack of control, poor leadership, incompetent management and hostile interpersonal interactions at work, all serve to contribute to poor psychological health.

Employers have a responsibility to create conditions at work that are conducive to good psychological health, but unfortunately this is not always a responsibility they are willing to assume.

There is much that we can do to promote our own mental health such as eating a balanced diet, getting adequate sleep, exercising regularly, and learning to manage our thoughts, emotions, behaviours and interactions with others.

Regulating our levels of stress and maintaining a support system and good interpersonal relationships goes a long way to inoculating us against mental illness.

Honing our problem-solving time management and communication skills are also important for building psychological resilience.

As individuals, we clearly have a role to play in doing what we can to look after our psychological health. This requires self-care, self-awareness and knowledge about mental health.

Employers have a crucial responsibility to actively create conditions which promote people’s psychological well-being. Employers need to become more educated and well versed in attending to the psychological well-being of its employees.

For any further Labour Law related queries, please contact Bernard on:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za