Mental health challenges continue to undermine workplace productivity and well-being in Namibia, where outdated laws and limited services hinder access to proper psychological care.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has found that 15% of working adults had a mental disorder in 2019.
Globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$1 trillion per year in lost productivity.
Almost 60% of the world’s working-age population is employed.
It is, therefore, imperative to know that mental health has a tremendous impact on workplace productivity and profitability.
Mental health has historically been a taboo subject in the workplace, despite the role it plays when it comes to both worker wellness and organisational performance.
Employers spend more money to address physical health conditions rather than mental health-related illnesses.
When you compare the impact that mental health has on organisational effectiveness, the cost implications of mental disorders are more than that of chronic illnesses such as cancer and diabetes.
Research by Atelma Thanises and Jacquelyn Meshelemiah (2024) found that laws and policies around mental healthcare in Namibia are inherited from apartheid.
This translates to many Namibians not gaining access to mental health-related services.
Over the years, people with mental health-related symptoms have been stigmatised, have faced social isolation, and are often discriminated against by society.
In Namibia, approximately 70% of the population resides in rural areas (Chipare et al., 2021), yet the country has only two hospitals equipped with mental health units.
Of these, only one facility has a comprehensive multidisciplinary team to provide specialised mental healthcare.
As a result, patients requiring advanced mental health services are often faced with the challenge of travelling long distances to access treatment, frequently finding themselves in overcrowded hospitals and clinics.
Fortunately, there are standards such as the International Standard for Psychological Health and Safety at Work (ISO 45003) that provides a framework for organisations which aim to incorporate mental healthcare in their overall corporate strategy and culture.
Ballard, Lodge and Pike (2025) created an index called ‘The Mental Health at Work Index™’, which provides a standardised assessment to address workforce mental health and identify areas of improvement.
The Index applies three ‘Ps’ across 10 organisational practices: protection, promotion and provision.
Under the protection category, the index has assessments that can eliminate psychosocial hazards, minimise risks that can negatively affect workers and develop policies for preventing bullying, harassment, and discrimination.
Under the promotion category are positive initiatives that seek to build psychological safety, strengthen relationships, ensure healthy work environments, and initiate mindful wellness programmes.
The provision category “includes facilitating access to high-quality mental health treatment, short-term counselling for issues affecting work performance, training to help managers identify signs that an employee may be struggling and direct them to available resources, and return-to-work plans to support people following a mental health leave of absence”.
To integrate mental health into the organisation’s strategy and culture, several senior leaders should act as ambassadors for mental health, allowing them to gain direct knowledge and experience while offering insights to the rest of the management team.
Additionally, this role could be extended to board members by including a psychologist or mental health specialist among them to ensure that mental health concerns are consistently and appropriately managed.
Cultivating a diverse and inclusive social environment in which employees feel safe physically and mentally is important.
Organisations should therefore develop mental health strategies that are aligned to their organisational policies and procedures to ensure that mental health is not treated as a stand-alone, once-off, or annual activity.
The mental health approach should impact the way the organisation recruits, educates, and assesses employee performance and rewards. Some organisations even incorporate mental health into their environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustainable reporting frameworks.
MENTAL HEALTH CHAMPIONS
Ballard, Lodge and Pike (2025) recommend that orgnisations create a mental health committee with employees from various departments as mental health champions.
This diverse group will ensure different perspectives are represented and facilitate information sharing across the organisation.
The executive team should encourage volunteering by rewarding actively participating employees and providing champions with time to implement their initiatives.
Lastly, organisations should invest in employee assistance programmes (EAPs).
These programmes are funded by the employer and provide access to short-term counselling designed to promote mental health.
Organisations that have implemented EAP saw significant changes in areas such as absenteeism.
– Morna Ikosa is a columnist with a passion for wellness, sustainable development and communication issues. She can be reached at morna@micommnam.com
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