Some Points of Concern On The World Mental Health Day(10th October)

One thing is certain that people die not always out of poverty or accidents or physical diseases. They die out of choice also; called suicide. This suicide is nothing but sheer inability to handle the moment when the stress that an individual undergoes for sometimes from the past reaches its maximum. Maximum in terms of the perception of the individual when he is led to think that dying is better than living.

Had it been not so, the professionals whose package happens to be beyond millions of rupees per month would not have taken recourse to finish their lives in the ways that become the headlines of the news every now and then.

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The employers and managers have made the workplace a virtual slaughterhouse where personal freedom and workers' control over their work schedule are slaughtered ruthlessly by the less than competent supervisors and middle level management called Boss/seniors. 

Every worker is put under the artificial stress of the worst description in a number of ways that includes rejection of their leave applications, making them work even on holidays,urgent calls from offices to come back at once to work even on days granted as leave by way of application given in advance. They do all this nonsense in the name of jargon called ‘urgency’,‘growth’,‘productivity’, 'profit maximization' etc. which are born out of 'myopic and poorly devised inflated targets and objectives.

 Cost-cutting has become the buzz word which is discussed in five star ambience.

 Those who fail to reach the target stand demoralized only to return home as a stressed father or wife with no one at home other than the two to share the grief of the workplace caused by the high handed behavior of their bosses. 

This brutal work culture is eroding the human values within the individual surrounded by a fully unsupportive work environment. The prolonged screen-time on the computer makes them slow when being off-screen.

The system thus is producing a set of slow responding individuals who are passive or neutral to the social needs and expectations of his or the society.

The social and societal needs of an individual are being callously set aside. 

Time to regenerate by way of living a community life for sometime has given way to club life which is totally artificial and generative of other familial complications. 

         The talk-time ratio of family & socially oriented talk to office-business-and job related discussion on phone/mobile is abysmally low.

 This self-centered isolation is the price of salary and package in millions.

All this goes a long way to create mental health disorder. 

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On this mental health day of 10 October more awareness to this problem which is shortly to become an epidemic of alarming proportions is the need of the day.

Some points of suggestions could be—--

       1. In every organization and offices mental health audits should be conducted by devising a set of associated parameters having bearing on mental health and issue of employees and workers. 

        2. The well being of an organization is essentially related to the well being of its employees. 

         In that sense it is necessary to ascertain how much organization heeds to the employees needs and expectations. To that end the personal policy of any organization should be vetted on mental health requirements of its employees.The implementation of the policy should also be closely monitored. 

        3. If possible leave should be granted liberally not to be rejected by the whims of the controlling officers. 

       4.Ample scope for personal development hitherto grossly neglected be given importance.

     Employee’s achievement is organization achievement.

       5. Work should be planned in advance in order that last moment confusion and chaos oriented work disposal is not warranted.

       6.The workplace should not be made a venue of mental ordeal but it should be collectively made a site where one and all remains happy throughout the working hours and returns home as such. 

       7.Ways and means should be explored to achieve this target rather than the profit maximization target to be reached through soul destroying overwork and employee burnout. 

All should agree that the productivity of an individual who is happy is definitely more than one who is stressed and depressed.

     

R.R.Prabhakar.

10.10.2024.