Behavioural Health and its Effects on Profits

While the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) environment is changing the consumers’ buying behaviours, it is time to recognise the employees’ behavioural patterns for delivery to the consumers as well. The effects of mental health and changing behavioral patterns in the pandemic affected times impacts the businesses not just from the outside but the inside as much.

Gurrit K Sethi, Founder, Miindmymiind

It is about time for us all to wake up. Wake up to the problems that our mental states present. Given the statistics of the number of people suffering from depression, this is bound to have an impact on the businesses that we run, given the productivity levels of the employees.

As per a recent study by GOQii, 43 per cent Indians suffer from depression because of the changing scenarios owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. What’s more alarming for the businesses is that 59 per cent of the under-study population said they had no pleasure in doing things these days, and, 12 per cent felt this way every day. Furthermore, 57 per cent complained of tiredness or low energy regularly. Another study done in 2020 using the DASS (Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale), published in the NIH, showed similar results. 25 per cent, 28 per cent and 11.6 per cent of the participants were moderate to extremely severely depressed, anxious and stressed respectively. 36 per cent of workers in India concurred that their mental health worsened with work from home – a critical outcome of the pandemic. On a more severe note, on December 7 2021, the Indian government said in Rajya Sabha that 10.6 per cent of adults in India face some kind of mental disorder. This sure is a tall acceptance.

In October 2021 the UNICEF, as per a survey done across 21 countries, reiterated about India that only 41 per cent of young people in India said that it is good to seek support for mental health problems, compared to an average of 83 per cent for the other 21 countries. This points to the suppressive nature of the society. A question to all of us is, does the corporate world reflect a similar trajectory?

A study by Assocham showed that nearly 42.5 per cent of employees in the private sector in India suffer from mental health issues at work. A study by Oracle in 2020 stated that 84 per cent employees reported increased stress and or anxiety at work than any other year.

These are alarming numbers. Data from the various studies above point to a simple fact – these trends are bound to impact our output. The loss of productivity at the individual level is bound to add up to the business level and finally aggregate to economic losses.

On a different note, another study reflected that out of the country’s approximately 1.1 million active registered companies, barely a 1000 are estimated to have a structured employee assistance programme (EAP) for mental health. A Deloitte 2020 survey also reported that while 80 per cent organisations recognised the importance of employee well-being, only 12 per cent were ready to address the issue.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the economic losses due to mental health conditions between 2012-2030 is estimated to be US$1.03 trillion in India. WHO also points out that for every US$1 invested in treating common mental disorders, there is a return of US$4 in improved health and productivity.

The 7th Fold survey also concluded that for every rupee spent on employee wellness, employers get a saving of Rs.132.33 as savings on absenteeism costs, and Rs.6.62 back as reduced healthcare costs. Approximately US$20 Billion is the estimated loss to Indian companies due to the lack of employee wellness programmes.

Despite all these surveys, mental health remains the most underplayed and underestimated problem in the country today. We either refuse to recognise it or refuse to accept it. A redressal can come only after admittance.

From the perspective of Organisationnel Behaviour (OB), productivity of the organisation is directly linked to the employee wellness factor. This needs organisations to be proactive about wellness—and this means not just physical wellness but also mental well-being of the workforce. They need to knead in the socio emotional factors as well because these are critical factors to the employees’ overall well-being. Thus, the importance of the Culture at the work place as this defines the environment for the workforce, which impacts their emotional selves and subsequently the psychological expressions. There are various studies today that also point to the link between a person’s psychological well-being and the physical health. A conducive and supportive environment can help better the productivity of the employees which impacts the financial health of the company in multifarious ways.

The Human Resource department’s responsibility does not simply end at hiring, record keeping, complying with labour laws of the land and getting the right insurances. Rather it only begins from there. Creating a conducive environment and then maintaining it is not just a string of activities any more, rather this needs to be a well thought through strategy in sync with the overall direction of the business and the annual goals to be achieved.

Today, it is critical to choose which OB model an organization needs to adopt and why. This may change along the trajectory of growth. And when the change needs to happen, a professional and well thought through intervention is required.

The changing scenarios and dynamism in the business world needs to be matched with a similar dynamism and adoption in the OB (organisational behaviours) strategy to ensure that the organization remains relevant and in the game. This is defined not just by the revenue numbers and the marketing strategy. We need to understand that the OB will finally define the employee behaviours that will drive these numbers. Organisations that have focused on ‘internal branding’ and taken care of what the employees think of their employer and have invested in people’s development and growth have shown a good growth trajectory. Of course, this needs to be in sync and alongside the product innovation and development, the sales and marketing strategies and other important elements of business.

So, it’s time to invest in Organisational Behaviour – this is a slightly long and tedious process – to understand the challenges through the right kind of diagnostics, which can help in the choice of models to be adopted and then structure a series of change actionables.

However, an immediate call to action can be to start to invest in the physical and mental well-being of employees. A happy and healthy employee is a productive employee, it’s that simple.

AUTHOR BIO

Gurrit K Sethi, Founder, MIINDMYMIIND, contributes to healthcare by bringing to life new concepts which enhance accessibility, helps providers re-engineer businesses, works with Global Challenges Forum (a Swiss Foundation) on sustainable health initiatives. An avid traveller and voracious reader, these attributes provide her with incisive insights about people and systems and what drives them.

MEDICAL FAIR ASIA Gears up for ‘Business as usual’ but Better with a Phygital Edition

In-person trade fair and extended online engagement

The 14th edition of MEDICAL FAIR ASIA will see its return to Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, from 31 August – 2 September 2022, with a 3-day physical trade fair, followed by a week-long digital extension.

After the successful full-digital edition in 2020 which saw participation from 345 companies and over 8,500 online visitors, this year will see MEDICAL FAIR ASIA presenting a hybrid model - a winning approach that brings the best of the in-person experience and essential digital tools so participants can continue to connect and engage. The digital extension will offer value-added opportunities for networking, smart business matching, and access to on-demand content from anywhere in the world.

“Adding the hybrid component to the in-person trade fair expands MEDICAL FAIR ASIA’s reach to a wider international audience, both because of potential capacity limits on-site and travel limitations. The digital extension also offers additional benefits for exhibitors in terms of branding exposure and a more seamless approach to follow up on sales leads, and more importantly for both exhibitors and visitors – a robust environment in which to continue connecting and to do business effectively,” said Ms Daphne Yeo,

Senior Project Manager, MEDICAL FAIR ASIA, Messe Düsseldorf Asia.

Reflecting the well-established credentials of the region’s hallmark medical and healthcare event, MEDICAL FAIR ASIA 2022 Phygital Edition draws reference from the many lessons learnt over the last edition and will present special highlights such as Pandemic Management Solutions, as well as a focus on Mental Health – together with the Community Care Pavilion and Start-Up Park; two regular features over the last three editions which have seen growing relevance and interest from trade visitors.

With 650 exhibitors and key national and country pavilions expected to participate in 2022 representing a diverse range of medical and healthcare products, solutions, equipment and new technology, the internationality of the trade fair is also expected to be well-reflected in visitor participation. As a must-visit sourcing platform, MEDICAL FAIR ASIA is anticipated to draw 10,000 in-person and online visitors with 40 percent coming from overseas.

Mr Gernot Ringling, Managing Director, Messe

Düsseldorf Asia, said, “We are very much looking forward to reconnecting in-person with our exhibitors, visitors, and industry partners, which is essential to developing and maintaining relationships. A trade fair is a full sensory experience and is about both planned and spontaneous encounters on the show floor. With the challenges brought on by the pandemic, it has presented opportunities for us to re-think how we deliver our events; so reconnecting, rebuilding and recovering will be a main focus for us – thus, with MEDICAL FAIR ASIA 2022 we will provide the best offerings of a physical trade fair enhanced with the power of digital so the medical and healthcare industry can continue to do business, share best practices, innovate, and learn.”

Beyond a networking, sourcing and procurement platform, MEDICAL FAIR ASIA Phygital Edition will also feature a comprehensive line-up of concurrent events, including: 2nd edition of Paradigm Shifts in Healthcare Symposium - Prehabilitation and Pandemic Management in Community Health • Medicine+Sports Conference Asia • Medical Festival Asia

MEDICAL FAIR ASIA will once again co-locate with MEDICAL MANUFACTURING ASIA, a trade fair focusing on the medical technology and medical manufacturing sector, jointly organised by Messe Düsseldorf Asia and the Singapore Precision Engineering & Technology Association (SPETA). Together, the two trade fairs will present a synergistic one-stop event representing the medical and healthcare.