[Music]
In the last decade, mental illnesses have become an
immense challenge for health, social and
economic systems. And the trend is still rising.
“Mental illnesses can in principle affect anyone. When we think
about it, we all know someone in our circle of acquaintances or our family who
has been affected, or is currently affected, by a mental
illness. And of course the situation is also
similar in companies.”
Mental illnesses are often associated with incapacity to work and
frequently with early retirement.
“Around 40 per cent of newly retired people that we speak to, we speak to as a result
of mental illnesses. Then it is important for us, together with partners,
to find ways for these people to keep their jobs.”
The CDI of the University of St.Gallen undertook a multi-year research
project along with other partners on behalf of the SVA. Funded by the
Swiss National Science Foundation, the team developed concrete solutions
under the leadership of Professor Stephan Böhm. “For one thing we know that
more and more people are affected by mental illnesses today, and
many are also at risk of losing their jobs.
On the other hand we also know that managers would actually like to do
something, that they want to help, but that they themselves feel
overwhelmed. That they really don't know what they can do. The
idea of this project is to generate knowledge
and to support managers.”
To identify professional and personal success factors of
job retention, the CDI team conducted surveys of 238 employees
suffering from mental illness. Medical data, as well as written surveys
of their social environment and of their line managers were also included.
At the same time a training programme for managers
was developed and carried out in a wide range of different businesses.
“It’s not enough simply to coach the person affected, or even to give them
medical treatment; something also has to be changed at the workplace.
And the manager is the person who is in closest proximity, so that’s
where a start must be made.” “So then we developed this training
programme together, the aim of which was to give employers
a healthy understanding of management, taking particular account of mental
health. The demand was huge and the response was similarly positive.”
[Music] Markus Mötz, the head of a music school, was
one of several hundred participants in the training course.
“As a music school, we gained a lot of positive stimulus from this training.
We have since placed great emphasis on prevention, on a strong feedback
culture and on the opportunity for teachers to be able to collaborate in
shaping the school. One result of this has been that the
absences due to illness of teachers who were mentally unstable have been
reduced to almost zero.”
“The key impact is surely that employees whose managers
were coached and trained had twice the chance of
keeping their jobs, compared with employees whose
managers were not trained. And of course that’s a major impact
when you consider that we are talking about lifelong pensions which can be
saved as a result.” Several hundred managers from
companies in a variety of industries have now been trained.
Professor Böhm is also incorporating the new management concept into the
teaching at the University of St.Gallen - with the aim of raising the awareness of
students to this challenge. [Music]
“The results confirmed that many line managers actually want to act but
don’t know how. The crucial factor for us was to develop a guideline
on the basis of the study, providing very practical tips.
This was highly valued by our employers. We have also
developed training courses which are very specifically tailored to companies, in
order to be able support them in this role.”
[Music]
“I now often ask in lectures or training sessions if anyone
has someone in their close circle of friends or family who is affected by a
mental illness. And at that point around 90 per cent of the hands go up.
Of course knowing that this is something of such great social relevance
and making an evidence-based contribution to meeting this
challenge is something that makes us proud and very
satisfied as researchers.” [Music]
[Applause]
[Music]