Diversity and Inclusion!, "Mental Health".

Diversity and Inclusion!


In 2014, Bersin by Deloitte conducted one research about “diversity and inclusion”; Those concepts were defined in this report as "the variety of diverse people and ideas within a company, and the creation of an environment in which people feel involved, respected, valued, connected, and able to bring their “authentic” selves (e.g., their ideas, backgrounds, values and perspectives) to the team and to the business”.

According to this report, 34% of organizations in Canada invest in enhancing employee engagement as a part of their strategy for being more inclusive and diverse.

But why are companies investing and thinking more about those important aspects of the workplace? An answer to this is that after many years, leaders realized that being more inclusive and diverse can make companies successful regarding innovation and accomplishments of customer’s need along with other goals of the company.

"Mental Health"

When we talk about diversity and inclusion, one important condition to think about is Mental health in workplaces. Mental health could have serious repercussions in peoples’ performances as well as the company’s accomplishment. It is a common situation in workplaces that many employees do not feel concerned enough to talk about their mental help and this could increase stress. Workplaces should be open to dialogue about this. Supporting personnel to overcome this situation can lead to accomplishing success and innovative thinking, and decrease the rates of absenteeism and turnover. By doing that, every single worker will feel valued, respected, part of the working environment and important for the company as well as for its colleagues.

According to Mental Health Commission of Canada, “70 percent of Canadian employees are concert about phycological health and safety of their workplace”; it also mentions that “the total cost from mental health problems to the Canadian economy exceeds $50 billion annually”.

Mental health is a condition that needs to be considerate in all workplaces. Promoting empathy can make a big difference. As Sharon Kuhn says in her post “Empathizing with diversity builds inclusion in the workplace”; just having empathy for others and those internal process that people can be going through can make a difference in the way that teamwork. Kuhn also mentions that “A whole, stable employee, regardless of race or gender, is healthier and more positively influential at work that one who is struggling to emotional stabilize”. It is crucial for both parts (employees and company|) to contribute to generating alternatives, social support and solutions to create more inclusion in diverse working environments; however, all organizations should have at its disposal tools that can help employees to recognize when someone is having mental health issues and acting fast to provide all possible support effectively.

Interactive media professionals need to plead for making workplaces more inclusive: promoting empathy and being more willing to help their colleagues. Leadership is an important role in this situation; to obtain better results with everybody’s effort, it is important that managers and leaders encourage support and recognition between employees. In this way, employees would be more engaged and with a positive attitude for being proactive in their job positions.