New Survey Finds Link Between Mental Health and Work Place Productivity

The results of a new survey are indicating that there is a connection between a person's mental health status and their productivity at work, according to Meritain Health. The phone survey, which was completed between July 18-July 26, 2007, also states that employers are not promoting the mental health benefits that employees are entitled to and many employees do not even understand the mental health benefits.

The survey which included 411 full-time employees indicated that employees know how stress can affect work performance and 94% of respondents agreed that their personal stress levels do indeed affect their productivity. However, 52% of respondents said that their boss does not address stress levels, work/home life-balance, and/or mental behaviors. Of the respondents, 40% were not aware that they were entitled to mental health benefits and 35.7% of the respondents would take advantage of these benefits if their employer were to promote them more.

According to Meritain Health, the results of the survey offer evidence that employers should begin to take into consideration the mental health needs of their employees. Furthermore, Meritain emphasized that employers should begin not only promoting their mental health benefits, but also begin offering more comprehensive mental health benefits and helping companies do this is part of Meritain Health's goal through its innovative Healthy Merits Program.