Mental health initiatives are a waste of time and money as long as people don’t want to admit to themselves that they need help

Description

According to Forbes, poor mental health is sky-rocketing with 70% of the C-suite reportedly considering quitting their job to search for a job that better supports their mental health and well-being.

A recent survey from Slack found that burnout is on the rise globally, especially in the US, with 43% of managers said they were burned out, more than any other worker group.

Organizations have increasingly invested in mental health initiatives for their employees. People can take ‘a mental health day’, speak to an online – or offline mental health professional, take time during their day to breathe or meditate, and there are many other valuable mental health efforts being made.

None of these initiatives have any use, however, if people don’t want to admit that they are having a mental health issue. In the case of burnout, for example, it is well-known that especially men, don’t want to admit that they are burned out due to ‘the rules of manhood’ and shame, for example.

Other reasons that people don’t want to talk about their mental health at work are fear of losing their job or damaging relationships or risking that future employers learn about their illness and judge them.

This brings us to statement for this debate:

Mental health initiatives are a waste of time and money as long as people don’t want to admit to themselves that they need help.

The statement that will be debated in this video is: “Employee benefits should be customisable. Period.”