Employees uncomfortable with sharing mental health issues with employers

MALAYSIA Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardan, said employers find it hard to help employees who are facing mental health issues, as they are mostly reluctant to talk about their issues due to the social stigma attached to ill mental health.
He was responding to a Malaysia's Healthiest Workplace survey by AIA Vitality, which showed that 53% of employees are at risk of developing mental health problems, and that 44% of employers are not providing any assistance on the matter.
Shamsuddin told China Press on Wednesday that Malaysian society's negative attitudes to people with mental health problems make it hard for employees to confide in their bosses or colleagues on such personal issues.
He noted that even if employees are willing to seek medical help, employers will not know the state of their mental health if they do not reveal their problems.
"The employers won't know their employees' problems, and they won't be able to offer any help," he said.
When told that employees are reluctant to disclose their mental health problems for fear of losing their job, Shamsuddin said most employers are willing to help, pointing out that these employees are covered by Social Security Organisation's (Socso) protection scheme.
On the survey's indication that 64% of employees lack exercise and that employers do not provide sports facilities, Shamsuddin urged the government to provide tax breaks for employers to provide sports facilities, such as gyms, to employees.
On the survey report that 56% of employees sleep less than seven hours and more than half of them do not have quality sleep, Shamsuddin said that he did not discount the possibility that some employees take up a second job outside office hours, such as driving for Grab or Uber, thus sacrificing part of their sleep.