Mental health-related issues account for 15 percent of sick days. This is one of the key findings of the study “Mental Health Problems as Workplace Accidents” conducted by UGT and the University of Valencia. The report also shows that between 17 and 27 percent of employees suffer anxiety at work, and between 30 and 38 percent experience stress almost all the time. The phenomenon highlights the need to develop alert systems to prevent these situations and to investigate their causes, enabling work toward eradicating them.
The study, released this Friday, is the work of a multidisciplinary team led by Adrián Todolí, a professor of labor law at the University of Valencia, with Ángela Martín-Pozuelo and Ana Belén Muñoz also taking part from the same department and the Carlos III University of Madrid. The report notes that beyond the high incidence of mental health disorders in the workplace, these problems affect women more than men. While the overall share of sick leave for this reason is 15 percent, it rises to 17.09 percent among women and 12.42 percent among men.
According to the survey, the national study also highlights that 60 percent of respondents believe that performing their duties has worsened or triggered depression, and only 61.1 percent of workers diagnosed with a depressive disorder have received treatment for it.
In addition, the report indicates that the prevalence of workplace harassment in Spain is 14 percent. The most common forms include assigning tasks with little to no value, reducing a worker’s responsibilities below their professional capacity, applying undue or arbitrary pressure, systematically undervaluing effort or success, evaluating work unfairly or biasedly, exaggerating minor or trivial errors, and diminishing a worker personally or professionally.
In this regard, the study emphasizes that existing research suggests three broad actions could cut cases of poor mental health by 60 to 80 percent. One action focuses on regulating work rhythms, workloads, and demands; another aims to reduce precarity linked to insufficient wages, fear of requesting better conditions, or shorter weekly hours; and the last centers on improving social relations, prioritizing conflict resolution.
The secretary-general of UGT-PV, Ismael Sáez, underscored the need to address this issue in the world of work and the importance of safe and healthy work environments, noting that “work is one of the areas that most affect people’s physical and mental health.”
Inclusión de los riesgos psicosociales en los convenios
The report prepared by UGT and the University of Valencia includes several recommendations for preventing psychosocial risks in workplaces, highlighting the push for sector-specific collective agreements to address this matter.
It proposes creating new specialized roles in occupational risk prevention better suited to current needs, such as prevention delegates focused on mental health. It also suggests including in the agreements specific training content on mental health for delegates and other members of safety and health committees.
For employers, the call is to implement zero-harassment policies, allocate dedicated prevention funds to address these disorders, and choose risk assessment methods that consider gender perspectives when appropriate.
The administration is urged to update the total health tool, which dates from 1995, taking into account technological, economic, and social changes since then.