The festive season of cheer for one is a season of loneliness for another. Occupational health and safety jobs span a vast range of responsibilities, however one of the main issues faced by occupational health professionals lies in the identification of emotionally compromised employees. Symptoms can often be furtive, secreted-away as to the best of an employee’s capabilities to avoid embarrassment or shame. The foundation of relevant health and safety jobs lies in swift identification and sensitive treatment of such employees.
Emotional distress in the workplace can present itself under the guise of a number of ugly faces. Stress, anxiety, depression – they’re the big three when it comes to seasonal emotional strain.
Certainly stress is a contender for top workplace emotional issue. The ever present threat of stress requires constant vigilance, making occupational health and safety jobs invaluable facets of a company.
Stress can be brought on seasonally within conditions such as an unpleasant working environment (too cold, too hot, bad lighting etc), travelling to and from work in twilight or darkness (e.g. feeling unsafe) or pressures incepted outside of work (family pressure, trauma etc)
Anxiety can affect the most resolutely sensible of employees. Whilst continuing studies have shown links between anxiety and depression, a single cause simply cannot be identified. The esteemed position of those within health and safety jobs calls for the same level of vigilant dedication afforded to other medical professionals when it comes to identification of illness.
As with seasonal stress, seasonal anxiety can be brought on seemingly from nowhere – travelling home alone in the dark, the mounting Christmas “To Do” list, and the financial burdens of the season of good will amongst them.
The symptoms of seasonal emotional strain include fatigue, significantly altered emotional responses (e.g. sudden lack of humour, poor judgement etc), lateness, lack of concentration and pronounced irritability. Taking care of the emotional wellbeing of a workforce is a year-round commitment.
