Occupational Concerns and Life Stressors

OCCUPATIONAL CONCERNS AND LIFE STRESSORS

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Occupational Concerns and Life Stressors

Mental health refers to the psychological wellbeing of a person. A person who is of good mental state is one who is functioning at a satisfactory level of behavioral and emotional adjustment. Its effects are detectable in the capability of human beings to perform different tasks. It is a key factor in determining individuals’ performance meaning that it should always be enhanced and kept at its best to ensure that a person is functioning as good as it is possible. At the workplace, managers are tasked with dealing with their staff’s mental health especially because of its massive effect on their performance. This is done through various methods such as implementation of mental health policies. However, a manager can only serve effectively to maintain mental health, which makes him/her able to address the same issues among their staff.

For a manager, safeguarding productivity at the workplace is important. Occupational concerns are factors that affect the productivity of workers in a given profession. Life stressors are those experiences or events that cause strain on an individual hence affecting functionality. One factor can negatively affect one’s mental health, and therefore, it is part of occupational concerns. These concerns are not only reserved for the subordinates, but also for those in management. This implies that those in administrative positions are also subjected to the stresses of life, and their ability to execute managerial tasks becomes derailed. Managers should be aware that it is imperative to evaluate their mental health and how it affects their and employees’ they are in charge of productive skills (Kahn et al. 2003, 37).

From the readings, I was able to learn more about occupational concerns that affect both employees and managers. They include distress caused by their workload, job politics, and employment uncertainty. As part of the executive team at an organization, managers are responsible for many things. Many tasks are dependent on them, and this causes workload stress as they may become fearful of the implications of their decisions. This is accompanied by employment uncertainty, a sure way of giving any person stress. Any improper decisions made may cost them their jobs at any given time. Office politics are centered on personal struggles to advance one’s career and can be a part of the stress inflicted on office workers and administrators. Their inability to deal with the stress that comes with office politics is what ultimately leads to decline in their mental health. This therefore leads to the question of how it can be managed to promote good mental health and maintain or increase productivity among workers.

Mental health policies are measures or guidelines set by an organization or government to offer direction on mental health issues including the actions taken to achieve these objectives. These guidelines are also present in work places and are used to advance the mental health status of employees. With this regard, psychiatric evaluation and treatment is a part of the plans in these policies after which recommendations are made. Through implementation of this policy, managers are able to ensure that their staff remains in good mental shape and are able to work productively.

The authors offer the above solution to enhance executive development and productivity among employees including psychiatric assessment as an implementation of mental health policies. Psychiatric assessment in this case is done as a form of recognition to psychological issues among workers. It is one of the numerous strategic moves by an organization as a part of their intervention on the mental health of their employees. The other measures include handling the issues that cause stress among workers such as workload and office politics. For instance, jobs should be accorded to employees within the limits of their capacity to enhance their productivity. In order to uphold the objectives of its mental health policy, the management of any organization has to work on the recommendations of psychiatric evaluations conducted on the employees. However, treatment for mental health should be done in a manner that safeguards the wellbeing of the employee to avoid further stress. For instance, a piece of advice given by a psychologist to a worker asking to take time off may cause stress. Therefore, there should be caution in the manner of treatment for it to be effective (Friedman 2013, 3). I have learnt that it is the duty of those in management to look out for any possible cases of decreasing productivity of an employee, as it may be the reason of poor mental health.

As a manager, it is imperative to promote organizational awareness of mental health problems among employees and other administrators. This is because they form an integral part of occupational concerns due to life stressors. This is regardless of whether this stress is caused by internal factors in the organization or externally. Organizational intervention in mental health issues should be impartial aiming only on improving wellbeing of its employees. Mental wellbeing is heavily influential on an employee’s productivity. This implies that it should always be maintained for work to be conducted smoothly.

The authors have articulated the importance of dealing with occupational concerns by showing the effects of contrasting actions. They have outlined the issues that lead to stress among employees and offered the solution of implementing mental health policies. The book serves as an ideal handbook for managers who wish to increase productivity among their staff. As a part of management, I am now aware of the implications of disregarding the capability of mental health policies in solving occupational concerns and general life stressors, which result in the same (Schmidt 2010, 54).