Unhealthy working environments “put employees’ psychological well being in danger”, the Cyprus Psychologists’ Affiliation mentioned on Thursday.
In an announcement launched to coincide with World Psychological Well being Day, which takes place on October 10 yearly, they cited earlier statements made by the World Well being Organisation (WHO) concerning the impression of unhealthy working environments on employees’ psychological well being.
“Unhealthy working environments, together with these the place discrimination, inequality, extreme workload, low autonomy at work, and job insecurity, places employees’ psychological well being in danger,” they mentioned.
They added that the content material of the work being performed, the work schedule, different “particular traits” of any given working surroundings, strained relationships with colleagues, and poor management in workplaces could contribute to deteriorating psychological well being amongst employees.
In addition they cited a WHO report which estimated that round 12 billion working days are “misplaced” annually globally as a consequence of melancholy and nervousness, with a complete price to the worldwide economic system of $1 trillion in productiveness.
With this in thoughts, they mentioned they wished to “draw the eye of these involved each to the issues which come up and concern psychological well being within the office, in addition to to the actions which should be taken to enhance employees’ high quality of life.”
“Investing in insurance policies and practices to advertise psychological well being within the office can result in optimistic outcomes, resembling greater job satisfaction and wellbeing, higher efficiency, and decreased prices as a consequence of decreased absenteeism,” they mentioned.
They then known as on Cyprus’ political authorities and employers “to take this chance to replicate on these points and to create insurance policies aimed toward stopping the chance elements concerning psychological well being, constructing supportive workplaces the place psychological well being is a precedence.”
The newest Eurobarometer report on psychological well being, launched on the finish of final 12 months, confirmed Cypriots reporting on the joint third-greatest frequency within the European Union that they’d skilled emotional or psychosocial issues within the 12 months earlier than the survey was carried out.
A complete of 63 per cent of Cypriots surveyed mentioned they’d skilled emotional or psychosocial issues, together with signs of melancholy and nervousness – a determine which is 17 per cent greater than the EU common, and better than each different nation within the bloc apart from Lithuania and Malta.
Of these throughout the EU who mentioned they’d skilled emotional or psychosocial issues, 69 per cent mentioned they’d felt unhappy or “down”, 50 per cent mentioned they’d “extreme fears or worries”, and 42 per cent mentioned they suffered from low shallowness.