The Mental Health Awareness Month at MITCO
The World Health Organization defined mental health as having a proper state of mind, physical and social well-being. It mainly describes on how well an individual is capable in maintaining his professional and personal life accordingly and cope with life’s unpredictable situations in different context. Since 1949, the month of May is dedicated to raising awareness around Mental Health. Each year a different theme is set and the theme for World Mental Health 2022 is ‘'Together for Mental Health’’ where people support each other’s emotional and mental well-being collectively, more so after the last two years of pandemic living, many people are realizing that stress, isolation, and uncertainty have taken a toll on their well-being.
Over the past years, mental health has grown to become a topic of significant concern globally. People are now more vocal about mental health; however, the consequences of mental illness are often still underestimated in comparison to physical diseases.
Why is raising mental health awareness in the workplace important?
It is worth noting that although mental illnesses are not contagious like the flu, they do influence society and workplaces altogether. By raising awareness around the subject, it can help us shape a better and healthier workplace.
A recent survey found that most employees are living a hectic working lifestyle nowadays such as dealing with tight deadlines, bombarded by work and home duties at the same time thus leading to complete drained energy. It has been highlighted that 83% employees of mainly the age group of 20 to 40 years are experiencing a negative mental health such as lack of quality sleep, peaceful mindset and paralyzed by stress due to work related stress.
At MITCO we believe in a more proactive measure and to this end, last March we have introduced the “Me Care” Leave. The “Me Care” Leave is all about taking time for oneself. All our employees are allowed to take a half day leave each month to spend quality time with their own self. By so doing our employees felt honoured and grateful for being part of MITCO since it has recognized that the ‘me time’ of its employees is an essential part of their lives.
One of our employees has shared her views regarding this initiative where she felt stressed and her energy almost drained on these last working days due to deadlines of her assigned projects. Therefore, she made use of her “Me Care” Leave by going on a spa day to feel refreshed and to positively boost her mental health balance.
Additionally, at MICTO we believe that the employees’ work responsibilities should not be shirked when taking their ‘me time’ once a month as the mindset and physique need to feel refreshed and restored since this break feeds you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually leading to a well work-life integration. As a result, employees would be more likely to add positive value to MITCO’s contribution by knowing that they are being treated as valued human beings rather than robots.