Mental Health Metrics: How Companies Can Measure and Manage Employee Wellness
By Sakshi Shah
An undertone of silent suffering—mental health issues—remains in India’s busy corporate environments, where workers are frequently praised as the foundation of economic progress. According to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences’ (NIMHANS) National Mental Health Survey of India, approximately 10% of Indians suffer from mental health problems at some time in their lives. Furthermore, according to a 2022 Deloitte analysis, 47% of Indian workers express significant levels of occupational stress, making them some of Asia’s most stressed workers.
Even though businesses have made progress in advancing sustainability, diversity, and innovation, many still do not consider employee wellness to be a crucial performance indicator. Due to the stigma associated with mental health and the dearth of reliable frameworks for measuring it, the subject has frequently been marginalized. The price of this oversight is high. According to WHO estimates, poor mental health causes a startling 14.3% annual loss of India’s total output, which translates into economic losses of over $1 trillion worldwide.Addressing mental health is now a must for Indian businesses dealing with a rapidly shifting workplace culture, which is heightened by the hybrid work revolution and changing employee expectations. Rather, it is now a crucial component of maintaining company expansion, promoting worker contentment, and keeping top personnel. In light of this, it is not only morally required but also strategically necessary to measure and manage mental health.
Why Measuring Mental Health Metrics?
Metrics related to mental health give businesses concrete information to assess and enhance worker well-being. Leaders can use metrics to pinpoint pressures, carry out focused interventions, and promote an open and encouraging culture. Crucially, they provide responsibility, guaranteeing that wellness programs are practical tactics that produce quantifiable results rather than merely being box-ticking exercises.
Knowing workplace mental health data can also highlight particular stressors in India, where workers frequently deal with long hours, strict deadlines, and sociocultural constraints. For instance, a study conducted during the pandemic by the Indian Psychiatric Society revealed a 20% increase in mental health cases, with a major contributing factor being employment instability. Therefore, when assessing mental health, employers need to consider both local quirks and worldwide trends.
Key Metrics to Evaluate and Strategies to Improve Employee Wellness
Businesses must monitor mental health in the workplace using particular indicators and implement specialized tactics in order to successfully manage it. Poor mental health is frequently indicated by high absenteeism brought on by burnout or presenteeism, in which workers work while ill. According to a 2021 LinkedIn study, 40% of Indian professionals said that their mental health was the main reason they missed work. Monitoring these patterns aids in determining the underlying reasons and areas that require attention. Frequent employee engagement surveys that evaluate stress levels, job satisfaction, and work-life balance can yield insightful information. For a thorough understanding, it is essential for Indian businesses to include inquiries on sociocultural stresses like family responsibilities. In a similar vein, employees’ readiness to ask for assistance may be indicated by their participation rate in wellness programs or Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs).
Indian organizations need to mainstream discussions about mental health in order to manage and enhance it. By being transparent and discussing their own struggles, leaders can set an example for others to follow. Stress can also be reduced by customized wellness initiatives that suit particular workforce requirements, such flexible scheduling during ethnic festivals. Employees can access private support choices by collaborating with mental health specialists or online resources like GoodLives, YourDOST, and Wysa. Effectively addressing early indicators of mental health issues is ensured by training managers to serve as first responders. Burnout can also be considerably decreased by providing hybrid work patterns, required time off, and manageable workloads. The advantages of incorporating flexibility into organizational policy are best demonstrated by well-known firms like TCS and Infosys.
A call to action
Companies need to take a proactive approach to wellbeing in a nation like India, where mental health problems are predicted to increase by 20% over the next ten years. Businesses can achieve sustainable growth and better workplaces by including mental health measures into their organizational plans. Mental health is a business necessity, not just an HR endeavor. It’s time for Indian businesses to realize that spending money on mental health is an investment in their most valuable resource: their workforce.
(The author is Sakshi Shah, Founder of GoodLives, and the views expressed in this article are her own)
