◆Stress Management Survey
According to the results of an “organizational stress management implementation survey” carried out by Nippon Omni-Management Association, countermeasures by companies are out of synch with the causes of mental health problems.
This survey was conducted from December 2016 to January 2017, directly after the first implementation deadline of the newly instituted stress check system,
Regarding the progress of the stress check system, the overall stress management situation and other future tasks, the survey has summarized the “current status of the workplace”, “status of initiatives relating to mental health”, “implementation status of the stress check system” and “improvements to the working environment”.
◆Discrepancy Between Causes and Countermeasures
During the survey, when employees were asked about possible countermeasures by the company to improve the working environment in order to prevent mental health problems, the results were: 1st: Reducing long working hours (overtime) (69.4%), 2nd Improving awareness and knowledge of employee harassment, (44.2%) and 3rd: Strengthening harassment prevention / countermeasures (35.5%).
On the other hand, when asked about the causes of mental health issues, the results were: 1st: Human relationships in the workplace (64.3%), 2nd: An individual’s personality, and 3rd: Compatibility with supervisor (40.0%). “Long working hours”, which came up as the No. 1 countermeasure, was only ranked 6th as a cause of mental health issues.
In order words, the causes and countermeasures are out of synch.
◆Skill Shortage and Staff Shortage
An additional problem with regard to implementing stress management is that there are no employees with specialized knowledge or skills, and supervisors, who play a central role in the management, are often too busy to get around to it.
There’s no point if a supervisor who is supposed to be helping his subordinates manage their stress develops his own mental disorder. Additionally, if the measures aren’t performed well, then even if there are no mental disorders, there might be an outflow of manpower via transfers to other companies etc. which leads to increased stress for the remaining employees and lower moral.
◆Mental Health Management as a Corporate Management Strategy
If we accept that the main causes of mental health problems are workplace communication and personnel organization, then besides individual personnel management relating to overtime, there is also a need for a company-wide effort from an HR management perspective linked with corporate management strategy to “foster an atmosphere / mindset for stress-free healthy work”.
