“Emotional health is not at its best. And organizations have a great challenge, which is to measure the effectiveness of emotional well-being plans” indicated Maite Sáenz, director of ORH and moderator of webinar which took place yesterday.
Under the title “The physical and emotional health of your employees: KPIS monitoring”, and in collaboration with Aegon, we have talked about mental health in the company and how well-being policies can be measured in order to continue improving them.
For this, we have had Mª Victoria Oñate, director of Aegon Collectiveswhich has provided us with the keys to measure the achievement of results, as well as the tools that allow us to take care of the mental, physical and emotional health of the workforce, analyzing the monitoring KPIs.
Some brushstrokes on mental health today
According to Aegon’s own data collected in his V Health and Lifestyle Study:
- Stress, anxiety, sadness and depression are positioned as the main reasons for Spaniards to negatively assess their health.
- Almost 90% sure they have had any symptoms of depression or anxiety in the last year.
- 30% of Spaniards consider that their mental health has worsened this year.
- Almost a quarter of the Spanish population (22.9% presented symptoms compatible with a possible case of depression).
- 28.8% of the women surveyed and 26.8% of the men met the criteria for a probable case of depression.
According to data from the latest European Health Survey, In our country there are 2.1 million people who present a depressive picture. Despite this context, 7 out of 10 affected have not taken any action to resolve this discomfort.
In addition, the percentage of Spaniards who have stopped going to the doctor in person decreases compared to 2021, when it was 54%, going to 40% in 2022, which is still very high.
The main reason indicated for stopping going to the doctor in person has been the saturation of public health, pointed out by almost half of those surveyed (49.1%). Another reason being the growing preference for telemedicine (26,6%).
Mental health is not the same as emotional health
Alvar Ocano, Aegon’s medical managerhas assured in his speech that “the pandemic has brought out the importance of mental health in our country. Traditionally it has been almost hidden and as a result of this fact it has become fashionable, it has surfaced and we are beginning to be aware that it exists. That is why it is important that we clarify some concepts and be clear about what we are talking about when we talk about mental health.”.
As the medical manager has pointed out, it is necessary to differentiate between mental health and emotional health. The first is a state that allows people to cope with life’s stressful moments, develop all their abilities, be able to learn and work properly, and contribute to the betterment of their community. It is also a fundamental human right and an essential element for personal, community and socioeconomic development.
Mental health is related to the ability of our mind to capture our external world. In addition, mental health includes emotional health and is responsible for creating relationships with other people.
Emotional health, on the other hand, is the ability of a person to deal with emotions during extraordinary, adverse or stressful situations. (including how we respond to something very good, for example, an excellent result). It enables us to cope with the normal stresses of life without feeling overwhelmed, interact satisfactorily with others, or meet our obligations adequately.
Emotional health, for its part, involves how we react to the world around us. She is in charge of handling feelings. And it doesn’t always include mental health.
Good mental and emotional health entails some education in this area and some self-care guidelines. When this is not the case, emotional discomfort can be generated, which is a mild and reversible process. However, in some cases, when this discomfort is not well managed, it can lead to an emotional or mental disorder that requires evaluation and treatment by a professional.
Tools to take care of the well-being of the workforce
You have to take care of the well-being of the workforce in a holistic sense. To do this, it is necessary to create a value proposition for the employee, which must include a collective health policy, which is something imperative today.
other tools that invest in caring for employees are the following:
- Hybrid model (facilitates reconciliation)
- Wellbeing physical and financial
- Telemedicine (technological agility)
- Efficiency and time management courses
- Psychological Support
- Model of feedback
- Continuous listening and actions
KPI: The best indicators to measure the well-being of employees
To measure KPIS you need data. And we can achieve these through employee satisfaction surveys, with blocks of questions that identify the starting point.
To measure and be able to analyze the impact of the measures adopted year-on-year, the following indices can be taken into account:
- % of rotation.
- % work absenteeism.
- Resulting workload and level of job stress.
- Number of people who use mental health care services on a continuous basis.
- Number of people who make use of telemedicine.
- % of accident rate of the collective policy.
8 out of 10 companies have contracted health insurance. And this continues to be the most valued social benefit by employees. Companies are aware of this and their recruitment continues to grow. 78% of the companies that offer it have less than 250 employees, a percentage that increases to 84% in the largest ones.
“Having a health policy covers a need and takes the headache out of the employee, who does not have to look for private health insurance for himself and his family,” said Mª Victoria Oñate.