After FinMin highlights the need for mental health in Union Budget, time for India Inc. to ‘proactively’ adopt and promote employee health & mental wellness

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I cannot comment on whether the Union Budget was good or bad for private sector employees, but I am glad that FinMin has today recognized in its budget that Indians suffer from serious mental illness and that a National Tele Mental Health program for ensure better access to quality mental health care and counseling services. The mental health component of the budget is to be applauded as the pandemic has resulted in a silent global mental health epidemic, India is no exception.

Taking as an example FinMin’s acknowledgment of the situation and the multiple studies and surveys that have established that Indians are in desperate need of work-life balance and stress management solutions, I really hope that companies and their Leaders, from line supervisors to floor managers, will adopt more personalized HR practices that promote the overall health and performance of employees.

Let’s take a look at some of the most disturbing findings:

1. 36% of Indian workers suffer from deteriorating mental health (28% globally)
2. 32% of Indian workers lack professional motivation (25% globally)
3. 31% feel disconnected from their own life (23%).
(Source: Oracle & Workplace Intelligence report)
4. 7 out of 10 Indians are stressed at work on a weekly basis.
5. Half of Indian workers (about 46%) do 6-10 hours of #unpaid work each week.
6. About 55% of employed professionals in India report feeling stressed.

As someone who has been through the ups and downs of work stress, I believe that work-life balance is a strong predictor of mental health in the workplace and vice versa. I think companies should start focusing on promoting employee resilience instead of just evaluating employee efficiency. What if managers rate the general health of their associates and how much of their mental health, good or bad, is tied to the manager’s actions and associates’ expectations? What about companies that provide resiliency training and promote employees’ personal hobbies by providing financial assistance and some time off from work to help employees who are stressed, burnt out, or under mental stress?

Perhaps then, instead of being performance and profit oriented, we will be able to create an organizational culture driven by purpose. Perhaps then, instead of becoming a country with stressed workers, we can build a country with successful companies and happy workers.

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