The Spanish Mental Health Confederation denounced this Monday that job insecurity is a risk factor for psychological distress in workers and called to end this situation, focusing on prioritizing mental health in the workplace under the motto ‘ Work and mental health, a fundamental link’.
The entity made this complaint during a commemorative event for the Mental Health World Cup, which will be held next Thursday, which took place at the HUB Por Talento Digital of the ONCE Foundation in Madrid and which brought together around 70 people.
The event, financed by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 and the ONCE Foundation, followed the theme proposed by the World Federation of Mental Health (WFMH): the importance of decent work for mental health and how salaries Low wages, temporary employment, lack of conciliation, high work rates or the wage gap can impact the well-being of the worker.
The discrimination that affects people with mental health problems in the workplace was also made visible, and the entity demanded a social and structural change that leaves the stigma behind.
According to the Report ‘Job insecurity and mental health’, prepared by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy in 2023, job insecurity is a social determinant that is harmful to health, which can generate “very diverse mental health problems” such as anxiety and depression, among others. These generate “great psychological suffering and whose effects extend to all areas of life,” according to the analysis.
This same document indicates that more than half of the jobs in Spain are “precarious.” Low salaries, temporary work, lack of conciliation, high work rates or overload, workplace harassment, or the wage gap, are some of the forms that this precariousness can take.
Furthermore, the Active Population Survey (EPA) in Spain indicates that 47% of employed people report being exposed to risk factors for their mental health in their workplace.
Regarding people with mental health problems, low labor insertion is one of the main barriers to their social inclusion. This is due, to a large extent, to the social prejudices that many companies and public administrations still maintain, as highlighted by Salud Mental España.
PROTAGONISTS
The event, moderated by journalist Beatriz Nogal, included interventions by the president of Mental Health Spain, Nel González Zapico, and the general director of Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030, Jesús Martín Blanco .
González Zapico explained that employment is a “very useful” tool for recovery from a mental disorder, because “it gives the ability to choose,” have autonomy and draw up a life plan. Thus, he stated that this is “something that has historically been and continues to be denied” to people with mental health problems, “thus violating their rights.”
Martín Blanco, during his speech, asserted that human rights are “uncomfortable and generate resistance” because they change the “axis of power and return it to ordinary people.” In addition, he stated that it is “necessary” for workplaces to be healthy places “where people go to work and not get sick.”
Likewise, the president of the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (Cermi), Luis Cayo Pérez Bueno, and the general director of the ONCE Foundation, José Luis Martínez Donoso, participated in the event.
Pérez Bueno stated that work is a “basic personal and social good” that is “systematically” denied to people with mental health problems. Many of these people had “such sad experiences” that they do not even consider accessing employment. For this reason, he assured that the work environment can be “harmful” and be a “generator of mental health problems” and it is necessary to create “safe places that preserve and promote active mental health.”
For his part, Martínez Donoso stressed that ILUNION is the country’s largest employer of people with mental health problems, a total of 1,200. “For us there is no stigma,” he said, adding that precariousness leads to mental health problems. “We have to have an emotional balance within the company that is then transferred to the rest of society,” he concluded.
At the event, the World Mental Health Day Manifesto was read by the representative of the Spanish State Network of Women’s Mental Health, Elisabet Lemos, and the representative of the First Person Mental Health Pro-Committee, Gonzalo Nielfa.
The framework presentation prepared by Professor Edgar Cabanas also took place, on the importance of taking care of the well-being of working people.
Finally, there was a table on good business practices in which the head of Safety, Health and Wellbeing of ILUNION, Ricardo González Guerra, and the Corporate Labor Relations Specialist of Palladium Hotel Group, Celia Martín Camarero, participated.