Are Employers Responsible for the Mental Health of their Employees?

“Every human experience from birth to death either improves or impairs a person’s mental well-being, and in turn their human potential.” ~ Mike Pascoe

The reality is that by the time people begin to work each of us is dealing with a varying level of trauma that we have accumulated since birth. Combining this trauma with what each of us is dealing with 24 hours a day, 365 days a year every person on this planet is walking into organizations with an accumulation of ‘baggage,’ and a varying level of mental health based on how ‘life happens’ each day. This is the part that organizations cannot control but need to understand they have to deal with or they will be impacted by it. Gone are the days when organizations can say that what happens at home stays at home, and what happens at work stays at work. This never worked anyways, each of us has one brain, one body and we carry that around no matter where we go.

What is an organization responsible for? An organization is legally responsible for the Psychological Health and Safety of their employees for what they can control at the workplace. But an organization needs to understand that being concerned about the mental health of their employees is no different than being concerned if an employee shows up under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The state of a person’s mental well-being impacts their emotions, moods, character, judgement, response time and a thousand other things no different than drugs and alcohol. Should an employer be responsible for the mental health of their employees? Maybe there needs to be a different question asked, ‘Why would an organization not want to do whatever it takes to ensure that their employees have optimum mental health, and in turn, optimum performance for when they show up at work everyday?’

The NASA space program has one focus, ‘Human Research,’ and in the pursuit of this, put 14 people into space in 2022. This endeavor would have involved the collected efforts of hundreds of employees and would have cost NASA billions of dollars to ultimately support the safety of these Astronauts and of course the priceless machinery they are flying around in. There can be no ‘weak link’ in this process.

NASA expects a lot from everyone of these people, each of them shows up with what is required, and in turn, NASA gives these people the best that can be provided. NASA knows that for their Astronauts to be 'top performers' every individual and the people that support them needs to be at their absolute best... so they invest in them. NASA knows that everything in the lives of their Astronauts will impact their work in some way, and if one of them has a 'bad day' that this will negatively impact their mental well-being, and in turn this could impact their human potential and therefore could cost lives, billions of dollars, and have a huge impact on the reputation of the NASA program. There is a complete understanding that everything that happens at work, or away from work with impact the mental well-being and performance of their people, their Astronauts, and the reputation of their space program. Therefore, there is no disconnection between what NASA and their employees are responsible for. NASA takes full responsibility for the mental health of their employees.

Millions of organizations around the globe are solely relying on their employees to come to work as high performers. Many of these employees, like Astronauts are responsible for decisions that impact lives, millions of dollars, and of course the reputation of their organization. Most organizations have big banners and slogans saying that the safety of their people is their top priority. Organizations know that the use of drugs and alcohol impacts the safety, performance, and mental health of their people so therefore ensure there are policies and checks in place to ensure this risk is avoided. There is an understanding of how drugs and alcohol negatively impacts the mental well-being of their employees but there is not an understanding of how creating a psychologically healthy and safe workplace makes a positive impact on the mental well-being of their employees. There are entire programs that police the impact of drugs and alcohol in the workplace, now there just needs to be a similar effort made that actively works to prevent harm to workers’ psychological health, including in negligent, reckless, or intentional ways.

Should an employer be responsible for the mental health of their employees? It depends, do they want their employees showing up to work 'under the influence' of reduced mental health or do they want their employees operating at optimum performance while at work everyday?’ Does an organization want to invest in their ‘astronauts?’ or do they want to just continue recruiting new ones?