Every third person in the world is facing a mental health disability these days. The primary cause behind these issues has been reported as workplace stress. With these alarming demographics, it has become mandatory for employers and HR departments to take specific measures in this regard. Employees need support from the workplaces, including  leave to cope with mental illness.

For instance, the employees are permitted up to a three-day unpaid break in Ontario as per Employment Standards Act, 2000. The stress-related symptoms are being monitored by the managers of a company or the co-workers of the suffering employees. Here is what you need to know about mental health disabilities and the leave policy practiced in Ontario.

Workplace Stress and Mental Health Problems

With the rising mental health concerns across the world, the demographics of the Mental Health Commission of Canada reveal that workplaces are causing trouble to employees. They have to struggle a lot as adults with their mental health issues. These issues include stress, anxiety, and depression following workload.

Usually, employees tend to hide their mental health problems with the fear of losing a job. However, when it goes out of control, they need to have a proper break to recover from that state. Let’s find out a bit about the possible mental health problems:

Anxiety

Too much workload, and you are failing to focus? You may be suffering from anxiety. Sometimes, it happens that an unexpected work situation makes one over-concerned regarding meeting the deadlines. Instead of making one focus on the work and pace up, it makes one anxious while resulting in a lack of proper attention to the work.

Stress

If your employer is the one who prefers to keep an eye on the employees all the time, it is going to make it a stressful work environment. According to research, the state of fear makes one lose productivity. If employees face pressure and unwanted fear in the workplace, it will make them stay in a constant state of stress.

Depression

Fulfilling the duties with precision and no appreciation from the employer? It will make one go into a depressive state. Encouraging behavior works as a booster and improves an employee’s performance. However, if the feedback will always be that of discouraging, the workers will ultimately lose their interest in work and begin to underestimate their capabilities. This state of being a useless individual will turn on the mode of depression.

Mental Health Disability – Leave Benefits for Employees in Ontario

In Ontario, Canada, employees can claim both a short-term as well as long-term leave for the mental health disability. This leave is granted under the unpaid sick leaves policy as per Employment Standards Act, 2000. The condition of an employee is being analyzed by the managers and the co-workers before granting the leave.

They consider it associated with the physical disability to make one have time to recover from mental health problems. However, it becomes difficult at the management’s end to confirm whether the leave must be granted or not. This is because mental health problems are not visible as physical health disorders.

The Bottom Line

All employees have the right to benefit from leave permits following mental health issues. If an individual’s mind is not in a condition to focus and produce efficiently, the company will suffer consequently. Every workplace should set up a leave policy as practiced in Ontario to deal effectively with the rising mental health problems across the globe.