World Mental Health Day’s Theme Is ‘Workplace Stress.’ Wowww, What’s That?

It’s World Mental Health Day, and the World Health Organization (WHO) wants employers to ease the fuck up.

We all know workplace stress plays a major role in poor mental health. In fact, in the U.S. specifically, workplace stress has been reported to cause 120,000 deaths every year. In the wise words of Michael Scott: “Nobody should have to go to work thinking, ‘Oh, this is the place that I might die today.’ That’s what a hospital is for.”

These numbers are truly staggering—and the level of stress experienced by so many employees across the country is undoubtedly contributing to the current mental health crisis.

So, for World Mental Health Day the WHO is highlighting the connection between mental health and work, shedding light on the importance of healthy working environments and support from governments, employers, organizations, and other stakeholders. 

According to WHO, “Unhealthy conditions including stigma, discrimination, and exposure to risks like harassment and other poor working conditions, can pose significant risks, affecting mental health, overall quality of life and consequently participation or productivity at work.”

If you’ve ever worked for an ungrateful, demanding company, you probably know just how deeply it can affect your day-to-day life. There’s your average everyday work stressors, like presentations and deadlines—and then there’s the outright toxic and dehumanizing conditions so many of us have faced in our day jobs, all for a laughable salary.

It’s enough just struggling to make ends meet, but being treated like garbage or worked to the bone in the process is a whole other tragedy—one many Americans know all too well.

Realistically, you can try all you want to self-regulate and set boundaries in the workplace—but you can’t really help the fact that your boss is a prick. Newsflash: mindfulness just ain’t gonna cut it.

As stated by WHO, “Action to address mental health at work should be done with the meaningful involvement of workers and their representatives, and persons with lived experience of mental health conditions. By investing efforts and resources in evidence-based approaches and interventions at work, we can ensure that everyone has the opportunity to thrive at work and in life.”

All the responsibility can’t fall, yet again, onto the employees. They have enough shit on their plates as is. Tackling the ever-present dilemma of workplace stress takes consideration, patience, and empathy—three things upper management famously lacks. It’s hard to deep-breathe your way through an insufficient salary and shitty benefits with the never-ending threat of a recession on the horizon.

Anyway, I digress. Perhaps I should spread some more positive vibes on World Mental Health Day. At least the WHO is calling for government action.