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Emotion Vs Emotion

By the time Kumar reached office, he was late by 30 minutes and Ezaz was waiting for him. Kumar leads HRD of the organization while Ezaz heads Finance. “One more of my team members has resigned this morning. How am I going to handle the audit now? You could not even fill the vacancy created by the exit of David four months ago.” Angrily asked Ezaz as he entered Kumar’s cabin which is just next to his.

“That’s for you to figure out. That’s precisely what you are being paid for” retorted Kumar, still trying to switch his laptop on. This response really got into the nerves of Ezaz and he yelled “this arrogance of HR department is exactly the root cause of most of the problems here…I am not going to tolerate this anymore” This ensued into a bitter argument between Ezaz and Kumar, including blaming each other’s subordinates and it was audible to their team members sitting outside the cabins.

While they reconciled later and took damage control measures, this incident disturbed the harmony between the two teams. Little did Ezaz know that Kumar had narrowly missed an accident while driving to office. Kumar’s nerves have not yet settled by the time he reached office. Kumar being in fury, in spite of knowing fully well regarding an upcoming audit, could not understand Ezaz’s worries and anger. Handling the audit with one team member completely gone and another half-gone was an uphill task.

Had at least one of them shown awareness of the rising impulses and handled the discussion without anger or had a scheduled and well-prepared discussion at a later time, this could have been avoided. In some similar cases though, the spats are not verbal but transform into silent battles of ego and are not mended for great lengths of time. Quite often, they lead to ‘office politics’. If colleagues can be empathetic to one another, work places would be much better and consequentially more successful. This is just one example depicting the need for a higher state of emotional intelligence at workplace. Emotional intelligence, as the name suggests, is about being intelligent with Emotions. What is intelligence and what is emotion?

Thoughts about Feelings

Intelligence simply put, is the ability to absorb relevant information from various sources, process it and derive meaningful output. Emotion is relatively hard to define and is explained as a feeling or a cluster of feelings and the related psychological and biological states. It relates to instinctive or intuitive feelings as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge. There are two processes our brain hosts – thinking and feeling. While thinking dwells on intelligence, feelings relate to emotional triggers in the mind and are derived more from instincts.

Thinking and Feeling are strongly intertwined and the richness of each depends on the strength of the other. If you can really think (or analyse) about the feelings of yours and the others around you, you would be able to understand them well and make appropriate choices. Emotional Intelligence simply is the ability to spot and understand information related to the emotions of self as well as others, think (process the information) and act appropriately for the best possible outcome.

Following are some interesting facts regarding thoughts and emotions:

• Emotions precede thoughts. Our emotional reactions occur first in response to an event, much faster than our thoughts. It almost is like lightning that precedes thunder. In many cases we first develop feeling of like/ dislike towards things or individuals and then think to justify.
• Thoughts seek to reason whereas Emotions stem from instincts or a blend of instincts and are seldom logical.
• Emotions in raw state are far more overpowering and can push us into action even before we consciously understand the event and draw a reasoned conclusion.
• Emotions have physiological repercussions whereas thoughts necessarily need not lead to physiological responses.

Life minus Emotions = Void

Imagine a life without emotions. Throughout our life, we crave for giving and receiving love, affection, admiration and other such emotions that can culminate into happiness. As Humans, we constantly strive to build and sustain happiness in life. We are, but emotional beings. Without emotions, life would be empty…how much ever intelligence one may possess it becomes irrelevant if the ability to feel /experience emotions is missing. Developing intelligence in handling emotions well enriches the fabric of life.

Emotional Intelligence Recipe – Five Ingredients

The five building blocks of emotional intelligence are:

Self-Awareness is knowing what’s happening within oneself. It is about the ability to recognize the feelings within self as they originate and put a name to the feeling. Words are powerful in shaping our thoughts and feelings. Putting a name helps us develop right feeling/thought about the feeling. Self-awareness is the very first step in the path of self-development.

Self-Regulation is the ability to handle feelings so that they are appropriate and not becoming a slave of feelings. It is about the ability to not live in denial.

Internal Motivation is the ability to cultivate the right mindset and emotional state in the journey towards a goal. Being overwhelmed by initial success or getting bogged down by hurdles can derail the journey itself.

Empathy is the ability to identify with or understand the perspectives and motivations of others and to comprehend their emotional state. Individuals, who are good at empathy quickly spot opportunities to make others feel good, understand their motivation hotspots and can use them effectively.

Social Skills/Relationship Management: Skill in managing emotions in others. Not manipulation. These are social stars. They are generally good communicators, interactive and are good at building and managing relationships.

Emotions @ work

Emotions can energize or de-energize thoughts. Say, you believe that doing a particular task would fetch you recognition and reward. The belief results in a feeling of motivation and helps in completing the task better and faster. If you believe (even if it is a wrong notion) that the credit of your achievement would not be given to you or would be stolen by someone else, it would result in a feeling of demotivation and thereby lack of interest in performing the task. In both the cases, the task and ability of the individual is the same. It’s just the feeling of motivation or demotivation which influences the result, irrespective of whether the feeling originated from the right perception or not. An emotionally intelligent manager would be able to identify the feelings and the undercurrents involved and manage people and work in an effective manner and can build happier & highly effective teams.

HRM @ Emotional Intelligence – Cultivating EI

HR Department would expectedly be the custodian of cultivating EI in organizations, in partnership with other business leaders. Some of the ways that can be adopted are:

• Awareness sessions on EI. EI has only gained partial awareness among general public. The very awareness of EI and consciousness of the concept would lead to a certain degree of improvement. It would help if awareness sessions are conducted as a series of interventions rather than as onetime event.
• Building self-awareness – Various tools are available online and with EI experts to measure the EI in each individual. Providing access to such tools is an effective way of building self-awareness. Among other options available are 360 degree feedback exercises regarding EI.
• Visual Displays and Literature can help EI constantly exist in the realm of consciousness of associates and thereby result in improvement. Individual journals may be provided where employees can write their observations regarding their own EI during each day. This helps individuals study themselves, draw patterns in their own behavior, make corrective action plan and implement.
• Recognition to employees who are role models of EI can also be an effective approach. Idolize them so that others emulate them.

Cultivating EI would bring calm to associates’ thinking and can enrich quality of their thoughts. They can be more objective in thinking without being influenced by individual biases. The benefits to both, the individuals and the organization are many and obvious.

History of Human Evolution and History of Change – a closer look would reveal that the two have been strongly interwoven for all known time. Change has picked pace and thrived after Human Beings started to dominate. It would be very pertinent to say that Human beings started to dominate and thrive on Planet Earth once the human race learnt to initiate and adapt to change — The Art of Change.

Medieval and Modern History witnessed the relationship between change and Human Race getting thicker and better. Incremental change gave way to disruptive change. Ever since Industrial Revolution took place, Countries and societies that have pioneered and embraced change dominated the rest of the world. The remaining Countries and societies across the world were ruled by these pioneering countries and eventually adopted the same change.

For the current and last few generations, change has been a part of everyday life. Did we resist? No. We embraced change. We changed the way we buy, we communicate, we travel, we entertain ourselves and what not? Have we as a species undergone any mass change management programs and courses to traverse through all these changes? No. We have been welcoming of all these changes.

Why as employees we are unwilling to accept change while as Human Beings we have been welcoming of change? Is Change Management the best way to navigate through change in an organization? Can we find a better approach?

The answers to these questions lie in adopting Change Embracement as an approach with Change Management as a sub-process. Let’s see what this means.

Change Management Conventional Change Management in corporate world has majorly been as follows:

• Top Management identifies a particular change initiative as a solution to a specific organizational problem
• Top Management expects that stakeholders (mostly employees) would be resistant to change and tackles the resistance by convincing stakeholders about the necessity/advantages of the change initiative — typically called Change Management.
• People assigned with the task would organize and implement the initiative in a coordinated and organized manner.

The brighter side of change management is the way change is organized as a process, coordinated with stake holders and followed through until successful conclusion. The flipside is it takes a top-down approach with Management first zeroing up on a change initiative followed by trying to sell the idea to employees to ensure they do not resist and then going through the next steps of implementing the change initiative. Firstly, this does nothing about pioneering change. This approach is more like a person trying to woo another into a short term romantic relationship. In the current age where information is as pervasive as air, the stake holders can easily see through these wooing efforts. The result is that evidence indicates only 30% success in all of change management initiatives in corporate world.

What we propose here is a shift in going about change. All of history suggests that initiators of change thrive, those who adapt to change survive and the rest perish. Hence it would be a smarter idea to become an organization that is exploring and initiating change rather than being someone who goes about change reluctantly or even worse, do not change. In order to be among those who thrive, we need to build organizations that constantly invent or explore opportunities to change and then embrace it at an organizational level and not just at Top Management level. History of Human Evolution and History of Change – a closer look would reveal that the two have been strongly interwoven for all known time. Change has picked pace and thrived after Human Beings started to dominate. It would be very pertinent to say that Human beings started to dominate and thrive on Planet Earth once the human race learnt to initiate and adapt to change — The Art of Change.

Medieval and Modern History witnessed the relationship between change and Human Race getting thicker and better. Incremental change gave way to disruptive change. Ever since Industrial Revolution took place, Countries and societies that have pioneered and embraced change dominated the rest of the world. The remaining Countries and societies across the world were ruled by these pioneering countries and eventually adopted the same change.

For the current and last few generations, change has been a part of everyday life. Did we resist? No. We embraced change. We changed the way we buy, we communicate, we travel, we entertain ourselves and what not? Have we as a species undergone any mass change management programs and courses to traverse through all these changes? No. We have been welcoming of all these changes.

Why as employees we are unwilling to accept change while as Human Beings we have been welcoming of change? Is Change Management the best way to navigate through change in an organization? Can we find a better approach?

The answers to these questions lie in adopting Change Embracement as an approach with Change Management as a sub-process. Let’s see what this means.

Change Management Conventional Change Management in corporate world has majorly been as follows:

• Top Management identifies a particular change initiative as a solution to a specific organizational problem
• Top Management expects that stakeholders (mostly employees) would be resistant to change and tackles the resistance by convincing stakeholders about the necessity/advantages of the change initiative — typically called Change Management.
• People assigned with the task would organize and implement the initiative in a coordinated and organized manner.

The brighter side of change management is the way change is organized as a process, coordinated with stake holders and followed through until successful conclusion. The flipside is it takes a top-down approach with Management first zeroing up on a change initiative followed by trying to sell the idea to employees to ensure they do not resist and then going through the next steps of implementing the change initiative. Firstly, this does nothing about pioneering change. This approach is more like a person trying to woo another into a short term romantic relationship. In the current age where information is as pervasive as air, the stake holders can easily see through these wooing efforts. The result is that evidence indicates only 30% success in all of change management initiatives in corporate world.

What we propose here is a shift in going about change. All of history suggests that initiators of change thrive, those who adapt to change survive and the rest perish. Hence it would be a smarter idea to become an organization that is exploring and initiating change rather than being someone who goes about change reluctantly or even worse, do not change. In order to be among those who thrive, we need to build organizations that constantly invent or explore opportunities to change and then embrace it at an organizational level and not just at Top Management level. Components of Change Embracement:

Change-ready Culture: Build an organization where stakeholders are proactive with respect to change or rather create change for the better. Following are some of the steps to keep in mind while trying to build a Change Embracement Culture.

• Change-readiness should be built-in as one of the core values as that’s the cornerstone to progress in the current times. In order for this to be accepted, the organization should build a safety-net wherein members of the organization who get adversely affected by Change are not just seen as collateral damage.
• The organization should build an environment of trust where people are confident that though they may lose turf sometimes as a result of a new way of doing things or doing new things, they would be adequately taken care of. This dispels any doubts and kills reluctance to change thereby eliminating the need to woo or trick employees into accepting change.
• The organization needs to create and publicize success stories of people who have embraced change and made progress.
• This should be built to an extent where Change is looked at as an opportunity rather than as a threat.

Associates vs with Management: In organizations where Change Embracement is built as a cultural aspect, initiation of change or identification of opportunities for progressive change can come from anyone and any corner. Unlike a traditional organization where change is Top driven and Management views employees as set of people who need to be tackled with, organizations with a change embracement approach create more opportunities for progressive change. Progressive Change is allowed to be conceived at any level and associates themselves have an opportunity to initiate and propose change. Progressive change becomes a way of approaching work rather than a transactional affair between management and associates. This kills any possibility of associates vs management situation and rather facilitates associates with management situations. This makes such organizations more likely to be pioneers of change than followers of change. In such organizations, change is a way of day-to-day life…. be it frequent but minor incremental changes which improve a process one step at a time or a break-through change that creates a plunge into the future for the whole organization, they kill stagnancy and cause progression. All such initiatives are welcomed.

Change-agility Competency: While the cultural aspect is being built, it is also important to build change-agility as a competence at individual levels. While change-ready culture builds enthusiasm around change embracement and an environment of trust at organizational level, building the required competencies to ensure success at individual levels builds platform for Success. This is similar to Macro-Economic Management & Micro-Economic Management. Change agility is all about the ability to think through the impact of Change till a granular level, adapt self and help the surroundings adapt to change in an astute manner.

Change- Management Skill: Having made the field ready for deploying change, now we go back to our good old concepts related to Change Management of Organizing, coordinating, informing and implementing change. Change Management now takes the form of a skill which is less complex and can be drawn into a set of sequential steps which can be walked through with higher ease. The difference is that this is now purely administrative in nature and requires very less work around convincing reluctant employees to change. The organization is change-ready at a cultural level, people are competent at implementing change and hence change management is very likely to be a walk in the park with enhanced chances of success. History of Human Evolution and History of Change – a closer look would reveal that the two have been strongly interwoven for all known time. Change has picked pace and thrived after Human Beings started to dominate. It would be very pertinent to say that Human beings started to dominate and thrive on Planet Earth once the human race learnt to initiate and adapt to change — The Art of Change.

Medieval and Modern History witnessed the relationship between change and Human Race getting thicker and better. Incremental change gave way to disruptive change. Ever since Industrial Revolution took place, Countries and societies that have pioneered and embraced change dominated the rest of the world. The remaining Countries and societies across the world were ruled by these pioneering countries and eventually adopted the same change.

For the current and last few generations, change has been a part of everyday life. Did we resist? No. We embraced change. We changed the way we buy, we communicate, we travel, we entertain ourselves and what not? Have we as a species undergone any mass change management programs and courses to traverse through all these changes? No. We have been welcoming of all these changes.

Why as employees we are unwilling to accept change while as Human Beings we have been welcoming of change? Is Change Management the best way to navigate through change in an organization? Can we find a better approach?

The answers to these questions lie in adopting Change Embracement as an approach with Change Management as a sub-process. Let’s see what this means.

Change Management Conventional Change Management in corporate world has majorly been as follows:

• Top Management identifies a particular change initiative as a solution to a specific organizational problem
• Top Management expects that stakeholders (mostly employees) would be resistant to change and tackles the resistance by convincing stakeholders about the necessity/advantages of the change initiative — typically called Change Management.
• People assigned with the task would organize and implement the initiative in a coordinated and organized manner.

The brighter side of change management is the way change is organized as a process, coordinated with stake holders and followed through until successful conclusion. The flipside is it takes a top-down approach with Management first zeroing up on a change initiative followed by trying to sell the idea to employees to ensure they do not resist and then going through the next steps of implementing the change initiative. Firstly, this does nothing about pioneering change. This approach is more like a person trying to woo another into a short term romantic relationship. In the current age where information is as pervasive as air, the stake holders can easily see through these wooing efforts. The result is that evidence indicates only 30% success in all of change management initiatives in corporate world.

What we propose here is a shift in going about change. All of history suggests that initiators of change thrive, those who adapt to change survive and the rest perish. Hence it would be a smarter idea to become an organization that is exploring and initiating change rather than being someone who goes about change reluctantly or even worse, do not change. In order to be among those who thrive, we need to build organizations that constantly invent or explore opportunities to change and then embrace it at an organizational level and not just at Top Management level.

Components of Change Embracement:

Change-ready Culture: Build an organization where stakeholders are proactive with respect to change or rather create change for the better. Following are some of the steps to keep in mind while trying to build a Change Embracement Culture.

• Change-readiness should be built-in as one of the core values as that’s the cornerstone to progress in the current times. In order for this to be accepted, the organization should build a safety-net wherein members of the organization who get adversely affected by Change are not just seen as collateral damage.
• The organization should build an environment of trust where people are confident that though they may lose turf sometimes as a result of a new way of doing things or doing new things, they would be adequately taken care of. This dispels any doubts and kills reluctance to change thereby eliminating the need to woo or trick employees into accepting change.
• The organization needs to create and publicize success stories of people who have embraced change and made progress.
• This should be built to an extent where Change is looked at as an opportunity rather than as a threat.

Associates vs with Management: In organizations where Change Embracement is built as a cultural aspect, initiation of change or identification of opportunities for progressive change can come from anyone and any corner. Unlike a traditional organization where change is Top driven and Management views employees as set of people who need to be tackled with, organizations with a change embracement approach create more opportunities for progressive change. Progressive Change is allowed to be conceived at any level and associates themselves have an opportunity to initiate and propose change. Progressive change becomes a way of approaching work rather than a transactional affair between management and associates. This kills any possibility of associates vs management situation and rather facilitates associates with management situations. This makes such organizations more likely to be pioneers of change than followers of change. In such organizations, change is a way of day-to-day life…. be it frequent but minor incremental changes which improve a process one step at a time or a break-through change that creates a plunge into the future for the whole organization, they kill stagnancy and cause progression. All such initiatives are welcomed.

Change-agility Competency: While the cultural aspect is being built, it is also important to build change-agility as a competence at individual levels. While change-ready culture builds enthusiasm around change embracement and an environment of trust at organizational level, building the required competencies to ensure success at individual levels builds platform for Success. This is similar to Macro-Economic Management & Micro-Economic Management. Change agility is all about the ability to think through the impact of Change till a granular level, adapt self and help the surroundings adapt to change in an astute manner.

Change- Management Skill: Having made the field ready for deploying change, now we go back to our good old concepts related to Change Management of Organizing, coordinating, informing and implementing change. Change Management now takes the form of a skill which is less complex and can be drawn into a set of sequential steps which can be walked through with higher ease. The difference is that this is now purely administrative in nature and requires very less work around convincing reluctant employees to change. The organization is change-ready at a cultural level, people are competent at implementing change and hence change management is very likely to be a walk in the park with enhanced chances of success.

Components of Change Embracement:

Change-ready Culture: Build an organization where stakeholders are proactive with respect to change or rather create change for the better. Following are some of the steps to keep in mind while trying to build a Change Embracement Culture.

• Change-readiness should be built-in as one of the core values as that’s the cornerstone to progress in the current times. In order for this to be accepted, the organization should build a safety-net wherein members of the organization who get adversely affected by Change are not just seen as collateral damage.
• The organization should build an environment of trust where people are confident that though they may lose turf sometimes as a result of a new way of doing things or doing new things, they would be adequately taken care of. This dispels any doubts and kills reluctance to change thereby eliminating the need to woo or trick employees into accepting change.
• The organization needs to create and publicize success stories of people who have embraced change and made progress.
• This should be built to an extent where Change is looked at as an opportunity rather than as a threat.

Associates vs with Management: In organizations where Change Embracement is built as a cultural aspect, initiation of change or identification of opportunities for progressive change can come from anyone and any corner. Unlike a traditional organization where change is Top driven and Management views employees as set of people who need to be tackled with, organizations with a change embracement approach create more opportunities for progressive change. Progressive Change is allowed to be conceived at any level and associates themselves have an opportunity to initiate and propose change. Progressive change becomes a way of approaching work rather than a transactional affair between management and associates. This kills any possibility of associates vs management situation and rather facilitates associates with management situations. This makes such organizations more likely to be pioneers of change than followers of change. In such organizations, change is a way of day-to-day life…. be it frequent but minor incremental changes which improve a process one step at a time or a break-through change that creates a plunge into the future for the whole organization, they kill stagnancy and cause progression. All such initiatives are welcomed.

Change-agility Competency: While the cultural aspect is being built, it is also important to build change-agility as a competence at individual levels. While change-ready culture builds enthusiasm around change embracement and an environment of trust at organizational level, building the required competencies to ensure success at individual levels builds platform for Success. This is similar to Macro-Economic Management & Micro-Economic Management. Change agility is all about the ability to think through the impact of Change till a granular level, adapt self and help the surroundings adapt to change in an astute manner.

Change- Management Skill: Having made the field ready for deploying change, now we go back to our good old concepts related to Change Management of Organizing, coordinating, informing and implementing change. Change Management now takes the form of a skill which is less complex and can be drawn into a set of sequential steps which can be walked through with higher ease. The difference is that this is now purely administrative in nature and requires very less work around convincing reluctant employees to change. The organization is change-ready at a cultural level, people are competent at implementing change and hence change management is very likely to be a walk in the park with enhanced chances of success.

Lakshmi’s transition from ‘dependable’ to ‘unpredictable’ has been a puzzle to Rajeev, her immediate supervisor. Lakshmi was a ‘dependable’ Junior Manager at DBC Real Estate Company, taking care of client relations, reporting to Rajeev. She is a single mother taking care of two young kids and her ageing parents who live in the next town. As the pandemic struck, she had to start working from home, managing the kids who also were staying home and also had to tend to her parents who were at high risk of getting infected. She struggled to meet all the challenges in face of uncertainty at the work as the company’s business was struggling. In April, Rajeev wrote to Lakshmi along with all his team members regarding the 25% pay-cut the company decided to impose on all employees to keep business viable. All he got as a reply from Lakshmi was an impulsive resignation letter by email. Two months down the line, the company had lost majority of the clients Lakshmi was taking care of. Lakshmi at her end, is jobless, became temperamental and difficult to keep up with for her kids as well as parents, summarily ‘unpredictable’. When Rajeev bumped into Lakshmi at a supermarket the previous day, she seemed to be a very different person from the one he knew, a miserable version of her previous self.

According to a study conducted by the Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation, 10.7 % of the world’s population suffers from one form of mental illness or the other, like Lakshmi. However less than half of them ever receive any form of treatment. The result is unhappy lives and agony undergone by such population. The financial loss is US $ 1 Trillion to the world economy, as estimated by the World Health Organization

Mental Health issues are real and more common than what we think. Fortunately these issues can be addressed by seeking help. Unfortunately, these issues are left unaddressed both by individuals as well as organizations. Less than half of the affected people receive treatment as revealed by studies. A WHO study has revealed that for every US $ 1 spent on mental well-being, the return is US $ 4 in the form of improved health & productivity. The actual spending on mental health is estimated by WHO to be US $ 2 per person per annum in low-medium income countries and US $ 50 in high income countries.

All the above-mentioned statistics are based on studies conducted well before the pandemic broke out. Now, add the mammoth impact of the Pandemic on Mental Health of people across the globe, as being predicted by experts. The following reasons have contributed immensely to an overall decline in mental well-being in the background of the pandemic:

• Psychological trauma as this is the first challenge of its kind in last 100 years to human race in tackling with a pandemic of such scale. High amount of information regarding the rapid increase in number of infected persons & deaths keeps getting posted very frequently, affecting psyche negatively.
• The lockdown has had a profound impact on the way of living leading to increased number of cases of domestic violence, divorces, depression etc.
• The current as well as the last few generations had never had to deal with uncertainty of this intensity and magnitude. The uncertainty extends to very basic functions of life such as health of self/health of loved ones/ job loss/ business loss/ salary cut etc.
• Work from Home has imposed itself upon people rather than being embraced. Extended & forced stay indoors with very limited options to venture out causes stress of its own kind.

Individuals, Organizations and Governments are the three key stakeholders of this issue and they can no longer afford to neglect mental health issues. At an individual level, we should understand that it is in the mind that we live. Our body is but a vehicle that hosts the mind, which is the driver. However great the vehicle is, if the driver is not in good condition, the ride cannot be enjoyed and the desired destinations also may not be reached. A bad driver can very quickly damage the vehicle as well. Fear of stigma which has been a major deterrent from seeking help, should be overcome.

The governments should ensure that the society as a whole does not transition from the current pandemic into another pandemic of mental health issues. In order to achieve this objective, Governments should increase the spending on mental health, raise awareness regarding mental health issues and help create a culture where social stigma does not exist regarding people who obtain treatment for mental health issues.

The role of Organizations, which is the primary focus point of this essay, is equally important in ensuring mental well-being of their associates. Organizations should bear in mind that the estimated US $ 1 Trillion adverse impact that Mental Health issues cause, is in reality borne by them. Organizations, albeit inadvertently are the both contributors as well as victims of the issue. The stress that is caused due to work and operational environment, even toxic Organizational Culture in certain cases contribute to the issue. Additionally, the business uncertainties, pressure to work from home which is an invasion of the private lives of the associates, etc enhance the probability of mental health issues arising.

Mental Health issues of associates could have an intangible, but significant impact on businesses. The competence, skill and intelligence of an organization is the sum total of the competence, skill and intelligence of its associates. While data related to the business of the organization lies in its computers, the intelligence to use the data for best business outcomes lies in the minds of employees. If the minds of some of the employees are corrupted by sickness, the overall intelligence diminishes leading to poor business outcomes. Business owners would be well aware of the fact that not all minds are immediately replaceable. If an associate quits because of mental health issues, the short and long term effects of the absence of that person and the impact on the morale of his/her colleagues are bound to be profound. Following are some of the findings that reveal how mental health issues have a direct impact on businesses:

• Depression affects individual’s ability to work physically by about 20% of the time and cognitive performance 35% of the time (CDC). However, only 40% of employees who have severe depression receive treatment and only 57% of employees who have mild depression receive treatment.
• In developed countries, an average of 35-45% of absenteeism is due to mental health problems (WHO).
• Mental health issues at workplace increase likelihood of workplace accidents. The damage to the reputation of the company or the employer branding adds salt to injury.
• Emotions are contagious. Mental Health issues of one associate have an impact on the morale and productivity of people working with the associate. It is a downward spiral until addressed in a positive manner.

Following are some of the preventive and corrective measures that Business Managers can put in place to tackle with the issue.

Preventive:

• The very fundamental requirement for mental well-being at workplace is a safe and healthy workplace and environment. Organizations and Regulatory authorities need to ensure that the workplace is free from Hazards, the job is designed not to induce stress and the environment is healthy and hygienic. Enforcing short breaks at regular intervals helps reduce the impact of stress caused due to repetition.
• Organizational Culture plays a major role in how employees fare at work from a mental health perspective. It is imperative for organizations to design and build positive and progressive cultures and not leave culture to chance.
• Communication: Organizational communication is a major source of assurance to employees and provides clarity. Lack of relevant know-how and information leads to speculation, rumors and anxiety. Frequent communication in the form of online Town hall Meetings is a good idea and does not cost money.
• Emotional Intelligence (EI) : Various studies have established the positive correlation between Emotional Intelligence and Happiness. EI and happiness build psychological resilience and improve interpersonal relationships enabling associates to cope up with the setbacks and challenges associated with the job and business. Organizations can choose to help associates enhance EI through awareness programs and practical exercises.
• Breaking the taboo related to mental health issues to enable associates to seek help. Creating a sense of security enables associates to come out in the open and seek medical care and resolve the issue rather than live with the issue. This could improve the reporting of this hugely under-reported problem.
• Several Organizations could do a lot better in the area of feedback receiving practices from associates. Employees should be encouraged to share their feedback and concerns without fear so that issues can be addressed quickly before they aggravate.
• Progressive Organizations work on improving the Happiness index among their associates. Happiness is the ingredient that provides the necessary resilience to tackle with day to day difficulties. Happy minds do not slip into depression and anxiety very quickly.

Corrective:

• Employee Assistance Programs: Across the world several organizations which provide Professional services at very reasonable costs, exist. Organizations can subscribe to such services so that employees could access these services while maintaining anonymity on phone and could proceed to seek personal counseling if required.
• Empanelment of Psychologists: Some progressive organizations have been empaneling psychologist’s services for visits and consultations by associates.
• Two of the dearest aspects of life for almost all human beings are work and family. There used to be a certain demarcation between family life and work life which kept getting blurred progressively with time. Currently we are at a juncture where work has penetrated into the living rooms practically eliminating the demarcation between family and work life. This provides a need as well as opportunity to involve Family Members while celebrating successes and more importantly while communicating about future of work, future plans of the organization etc. This helps associates to obtain better involvement and emotional companionship from family members in professional journey.
• In the current times, rather Corona Times, most businesses are reassessing their revenues and costs to preserve or enhance bottom-line to keep organizations thrive or at-least alive. The most common measures are to reduce costs. However, organizations should first explore opportunities to enhance existing streams of revenue as well as finding new streams of revenue. In situations where cutting costs is unavoidable, reducing spend on employees earnings and their well-being should be considered as the last option.

The action items proposed above are not all-exhaustive. There are several other avenues to address issues related to mental well-being. Individuals, Organizations and Governments are required to realize that Mental Health issues are real, acknowledge, destigmatize and work on solutions in order to surmount the issue before the situation of each victim becomes insurmountable.