How Mental Health Affects Professional Performance

This LinkedIn user reported to a a British CEO with a plummy accent... who made our friend so anxious that favorite British TV shows and movies were off the menu for a couple years (no Harry Potter!) Sounds funny... but it highlights something really important. Work means a lot to us. It’s the biggest driver of our personal mental health. It’s where many of us find self worth, mastery, recognition, and friends. According to the latest Headspace Workforce State of Mind Report, 53% of employees say work helps them find a community of people with similar lived experiences, and 48% say work improves their confidence or sense of self. All generations of workers report that the number one positive impact from work is community. Nearly 60% of employees report that their manager positively impacted them by being flexible with work to accommodate personal issues, and more than half say their manager positively impacted them by providing mentorship for a professional issue. And when we do work well, mental health is better. A new study in the JAMA found greater job flexibility was associated with decreased odds of serious psychological distress and lower odds of weekly or daily anxiety. Greater job security was associated with decreased odds of serious psychological distress and lower odds of weekly anxiety. And yet, work hurts, too. Headspace for Organizations data also finds almost half (47%) of employees and two-thirds (66%) of CEOs say the majority of their stress or all of their stress comes from work, rather than from their personal lives. 77% of employees say that work stress has negatively impacted their physical health, and 75% say it caused them to gain weight. Work stress is also driving a high rate of breakups and divorces: 71% of employees say work stress has caused a personal relationship to end. Further, 39% of employees report that work has negatively impacted their ability to care for their family or children’s mental health, and 37% say it has contributed to serious mental health challenges, such as substance use or suicidal ideation. Yikes. I do believe positive change is happening, but not soon enough. Most companies I see profess great strides in workplace wellness but their employees tell me a different story. I can't judge whether someone is "toxic" or not- it always takes two to tango, as the saying goes. Too often we call people toxic when really, it's the system that's toxic. But these data show the emotional leverage work has over us. We need to take that seriously as leaders. #workplacementalhealth #anxiousachiever #toxicbosses #futureofwork #mentalhealth Marie-Rachelle Narcisse, PhD, MSc, FABQAURP, CHCQM Monica L. Wang, ScD, MS Katherine Togher, MPH, RD JAMA Study: https://lnkd.in/eji-wvNV Headspace study:n https://lnkd.in/enTCkxWc

The World Health Organization defines mental health as “a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community.” Our research in Sapien Labs, drawn from over 1.3 million people who have taken the Mental Health Quotient (MHQ) diagnostic, shows three concerning findings: 1. The state of mental well-being as described by WHO, i.e. the ability to function, is declining globally 2. This crisis is profoundly affecting younger generations. Young adults (18 - 24) are 3-5 times worse off than the oldest working generation. They will become the largest workforce demographic within the next 5-7 years 3. Mental well-being directly correlates with performance. People with lower MHQ have 3-5 times lower productivity, and 10-12 times lesser ability to show up for work, than people who are thriving Organizations will increasingly contend with this phenomenon as a greater proportion of people have lower mental well-being than at any time before. So what can they do? We believe that a fundamental mindset shift is needed from viewing this as an individual phenomenon to an environmental one. Fostering a healthy environment within organizations leads to enhanced well-being, and thus better individual and collective performance. From our research, we have identified four factors that organizations can directly influence towards sustaining high performance. Watch on to learn more. Do these resonate? Are you actively taking steps towards these and seeing results? Your views and comments are very welcome. Tara Thiagarajan Rob M. Carter Martin Hinton D. Randall Winn Owen Eastwood Hitendra Wadhwa Amy Elizabeth Fox Kapil Viswanathan Callyn Giese Joseph Taylor Calina Mircea #performancemanagement #workplacetrends #careerreflections #employeeengagement #futureofwork #hrinsights #talentdevelopment #employeeexperience #workplaceculture #peoplestrategy #work #culture #society #humanexpansion

Some organizations find themselves debating the merits of #WellBeing, including the type and amount of investment that should be made. However, leading organizations, especially those that care deeply about their employees’ performance, never have these questions, as they know that high employee performance leads to increased productivity, efficiency, and quality of work, ultimately contributing to higher revenue and profits. Performance and #WellBeing are intricately connected. If you are not feeling your best, your performance in life and work is directly impacted. And if you are impacted, everyone is impacted: your spouse, family, friends, community, and employer. A little over 18 months ago, after supporting individuals on their #WellBeing journey, the team at WebMD Health Services introduced a specialty coaching program focused exclusively on #MentalHealth. While #MentalHealth has been an area of focus for years, it took a pandemic for every organization to awaken to its importance. Take a moment. Think about how “normal” it is to discuss your mental health, where only a few years ago it was a taboo topic. This is tremendous progress. And yet, we still have work to do… Did you know that... * 51% of employees say they've experienced a mental health issue. * 43% of employees don’t feel that their employer talks about the importance of mental health. * 41% of employees don’t feel motivated at work. * 80% of employees are confident that they can find a new, more empathetic employer. Leading organizations are providing holistic #WellBeing solutions that don’t just engage (think empty calories), but transform lives, delivering measurable health gains, and setting a new standard for supporting peak employee performance. Now, how about some measurable health gains? Through a holistic approach, WebMD Health Services coaches provide cognitive behavior coaching, leveraging behavior change theory, identifying patterns, utilizing teaching techniques, and driving goals with support and guidance. The results speak for themselves: * 24% Improvement in Generalized Anxiety Disorder * 62% Improvement in Alcohol Use * 32% Improvement in Depression * 21% Improvement in Stress * 20% Improvement in Social Connectedness * 10% Improvement in Life Satisfaction Investing in holistic #WellBeing directly leads to improved performance – individual performance and overall company performance. Leading organizations get it. There should be no debate. #WellBeingMatters