MHA Webinar Episode 37: Taking a break from work to reignite performance Your mental health matter!

0:17 Uh good afternoon everyone. Um yeah, welcome to today's edition of our monthly virtual seminar. Dr. Din, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you clearly. Good. Good. Yes. So, a warm good afternoon to everyone of us. Uh I was enjoying the music. So I did not look at the time not knowing the time was gone. I was taking a break which is uh entirely today topic that we we are having an interesting topic as that taking a break from work to reignite performance. Uh so all my laughter and everything my performance hopefully from the music I'm excited. So

1:04 I'm sure I'm going to do better. M and uh your mental health matters. Uh it's an interesting topic. Um we need to take a break from work and that will help our performance. There is no argument about that. So we are not going to argue about that. But when we talk about break in this context, what what do we mean in this context? What do we mean? How does it affect our performance? How does it impact on our mental health in general? The good side, the bad side. We are going to look at all that. And so um let me quickly run through our usual housekeeping rules then uh we get it

1:51 going. Um today my participants have done very well. Nobody's microphone is on. So please uh do well to keep it as that. Again, we are dealing with mental health and so u if you have the opportunity to make a comment, make a suggestion, ask a question, I plead with you to be as sensitive as you can be. Feel free to share your comments. I'll read them as we go along. So feel free. Um then again a mental health authority has a call center that we can call in uh for psychological first aid and that number is 0800678678. I repeat 0800 678678.

2:41 So um yes an interesting topic that we are going to have today and as usual I have two well-learned in practice and in academia facilitators to to assist us to dissect the matter at hand break is it related to performance has it got an impact positively negatively on our mental health it is a mental health platform so that will be our interest and we would intertwin it with performance and I have with me Dr. Erica Danfrequa Dist and a consultant clinical psychologist. Uh you'll find her at the

3:28 37 military hospital. She is in charge of uh wellness and therapy. Correct. Therapy and wellness. Oh my goodness. Therapy and Wellness. It's a fantastic center. You need to visit that place. I'm telling you, you need to visit that place. And uh you'll be glad you did. You'll be glad you did. Dr. Dixon, you are welcome. Thank you, Dr. Evan. Good. And with her is Dr. Richmond Aqua. He is also a consultant industrial and organizational psychologist as well as a lecturer at the University of

4:17 Uganda. Kman, you're welcome. Thank you my brother. How are you? Ah, I was enjoying the music. You see me laughing all over because I didn't want to stop the music. But that's true. We we have we have we have an agenda to deal with. We have an agenda to deal with. So we needed to get that off the way. So back to business. So yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's for introduction. We'll delve straight into the matter at hand. And uh let me start with you Dr. D. Um even though I give the context about uh the break I know uh please do a a

5:03 more detailed work on that for us. In addition to that then you can add why some people refuse to go for breaks why some managers say wait next year I'll let you go next month I'll let you go. uh on one of my platforms uh somebody gave a reason that some people are sitting on some good chairs and for that matter if they get up they lose all the sole so they refuse to get up and go on on breaks in another sense h they would not go and at the end of the day they will sell their break time to the organization for money

5:53 and they sometimes today I know you tell them that the money that they get or they take it to the hospital I know you tell them that without without getting the connection but today we'll let them know the connection so please throw more light on that for us please all right thank you very much good afternoon to you all uh participants and uh good afternoon Dr. Coleman. Good afternoon. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Aat. So the matter we are talking about today taking a break um when we talk about taking a break as far as work is concerned on the day today um we spend quite a lot of time at the

6:39 workplace possibly about onethird of our day is spent at the workplace and uh the labor regulations require that you don't sit throughout eight hours sometimes and um in fact for most workplaces there's a period there's a period regarded as a break period for you during the period that you are working in your eight hours of work then also at the end of the day you are giving a break so you can go home uh rest, recharge and come back the next

7:27 day. um these are not enough and so we are all required to take an annual leave and the annual leave I believe per the labor laws is either 21 or 25 days working days or something of the sort and depending on the organization that you are working with some get more some get just about that um number of days off that you are required to go away, recharge and come back to work rejuvenated to be able to be even more productive. That aside, there are certain situations that you may be in

8:14 that may you may require some time off. Let's say you had a loss of somebody close to you. You have spent your leave. You are still entitled for most organizations some compassionate leave. Um and different organizations have uh different regulations on how many days you are required to or you entitled to compassionate leave. There is even sick leave where where you are unwell. A certified medical person would inform your organization that Mr. X or Madame Y is doing poorly. She's not is not going to be useful at the workplace or needs to recover and so give her x number of days

9:02 for her to recover. So when we talk about breaks, all of these form part of the breaks. Breaks within the day, breaks at the end of the day, break um in between work, break because you're sick, break because something horrible happened to you and your annual break where you are uh given some restbite from the work that you do. And so it all sounds good. Why is it that some people refuse to take the breaks? Um I think that uh Dr. alluded to some in some organizations you'll be told that leave is a privilege and not a right but I totally beg to differ

9:50 because the labor regulations indicate that we all need that leave and if you think you are doing good to anyone by insisting that they stay on even though they are grinding to a halt you're not helping your organization But people may decide not to take their leave because there may be some daily bala or galam whichever terms are used in your workplace that they get that when they go away it means that income that they are getting that unofficial income is not coming in. There may be others who like to see the work go a particular way and they are frightened that when I leave and I come back, these people I

10:36 leave behind may have thrown things upside down and things will become more difficult. Um and even in the medical field uh some of my colleagues are not taking their leave. I encourage them to take their leave and they said well what would happen to my patients and I asked well what will happen to your patients if you die you know so there are very varied reasons people give those who are subordinates it's just that their boss may refuse them the leave or break because deadlines and targets must be met but as we go on discussing let's see whether um it's really profitable in

11:22 keeping on grinding and hoping that your targets and uh deadlines are met. Thank you very much Dr. Atam. Thank you very much uh I think I should call you that so that my father would love you for that. Thanks Richmond. You are the industrial psychologist and uh it is when the power is higher then we say by force proceed on leave but for the subordinate you cannot say by force I have to go you have to beg and if you are lucky you get it that is when organization think that it's a privilege for you to go and in fact in most

12:08 organization in the banking industry in the mining industry and all all most of the industries it's a privilege for for you as an industrial psychologist. Is there any way the employee can enforce this right that look I'm breaking down I need to go I need to take a break I need to take a break please I need to take a break is there is there what what is the way is there is there a leeway for the employee even though I mean it is stated in our laws that u we need to have that breaks at a point in time but here the subordinate would have to the employee staff would have to beg for it it's only we hear a proceed or leave when there's a matter and then that one you lie you have to go. But

12:55 when I'm I'm I'm I'm burnt out and I'm breaking and I say I want to go. No, that is a different matter. Is there a leeway? Is there way we can enforce that? Yeah. So I I would want to look at this from the individual's pH perspective. Of course there are instances where we've had managers or bosses leave for their Okay. So, I want to think this from an individual perspective because of course we've heard stories where people claim that their bosses or managers do not allow them. In other words, they don't have control over the situation. that

13:41 the law grants everybody that that right to enjoy a break from work or take leave and all that. But you see, we want to discuss this within a certain perspective given our economic situation where people feel like well and so we do that at expense of our breaks and even interrupting their breaks. It is something that I can tell you that it's it's it's quite serious. In fact, a recent study that was

14:26 conducted even in Germany for it was a representative national study about 6,000 employees for example, they realized that majority of the people are not taking breaks or having interrupted breaks for example. And one of really jumped out me was that the four work break arrangements. People with high education are also at risk of doing same perhaps because of where they are placed in leadership. People engage in shift work are also doing same. And then also you have people who for example um another group that that that came up

15:12 apart from women and people with high education all these people are skipping their their break just because they just want to get something done and this is in Germany and I'm just thinking about this if we bring this to Ghana because there their systems are well developed and they are even identify all these things in our case where people are supposed to show their dedication and work very hard. You can imagine the pressure that or the to it will have on people just to accept their right and say that I have to go I have to go and leave. Now another incident in Ghana for example is the fear of being left behind or being tagged as unserious, lazy, uncommitted. For example, within the

15:59 banking sector where it is a very fast-paced environment, you do not want to be seen as someone who is uncommitted or uneducated. So you see banking staff, they just working around the clock and making sure that they are doing whatever they are supposed to do. And so once you go in and you start asking for your leave days and all that and your manager says Imagine

16:45 that has not been committed. and perhaps you may not enjoy being there. Another part demanding is the media industry and there the manager seems to reward some of these behaviors because in the media industry if you are not visible, if you're not available, you're not get the kind of opportunities that you want. So nobody may be directly asking you not to take your leave or take a break. But the working environment, the working conditions, the the economics, all these things are likely to indirectly pressure you to keep on working. And that is very dangerous. So we want to take our health into our own hands. We can sacrifice for work but when we are down we realize that all the efforts are just not worth it. So it's important that people look

17:32 beyond their bosses their supervisors and make a very good argument why they need to uh take a break and then come back and break should not be seen as a luxury. You see the challenge to maybe perhaps as the discussion continues we'll talk about it. Do people actually even go on break at all? Because people will come okay sir give me when I used to be the director of HR in in in an organiz in one organization people come they take leaves annual leave and you are thinking that they going to rest with it that is when they are going to school they are writing exams they are going to school some of them are on project they are building so they actually do not rest they come back even more tired so the concept of even leave days people do not even understand that it is for you to go and recover to go

18:18 and rejuvenate yourself, refresh, reset and come back. People actually using it for other businesses, for other kind of work. And so in Ghana, in our part of the world, people basically do to not even those who are given the privilege to take leave, a lot of them are not even taking rest from it. It's it's interesting. You know, people don't like to take their lives for for many other reasons. Uh there's one boss here. Until God got made him hurt his leg, he wouldn't have gone on leave. I always that one go because

19:04 every day you look tired, you need to go and leave, take a break. Oh, okay. Next week. Okay, next week. Then in some way, somehow he got injured. So he was forced to uh stay at home and take a break. So I was always teasing him about it that God in his own way take you give you leave by force. Uh so people take these things for granted but I think for the sake of our health and our mental health we need to take it seriously. So Dr. L um let's start with let's start with the the the psychological and emotional benefits before we come to the physical. Are there some benefits for for taking such breaks? All right. Most definitely.

19:49 And uh if it wasn't so, it wouldn't be in our policies and regulations. Um taking breaks is extremely beneficial in that psychologically when you just keep on and on and on and you are stressed and stretched. It affects your mind. It affects your emotions. How does that happen? You realize that because you are so stressed under pressure under such tension, your cognitive functioning is not as great or is not tiptock. Your focus may not be as good. Your focus,

20:37 your concentration get very poor. You are tired. You are worn out. um your memory or recall becomes problematic sometimes even your reaction time. So imagine somebody who is working in um uh production in industry you know factory work and you you are so tensed, pressured, stressed out your reaction time changes as if um like just like somebody who would be drunk or on some sub substance. So you get very slow. You believe you are doing your very best but your best is not good in terms of your reaction time. Your memory is affected. So you

21:26 are unable to recall things. Um and you may say, "Oh, this is old age." Nothing to do with old age. You are stressed. You are pushed. There's too much going on with you. Your um you get forgetful about things. So your mind itself is worn out. Decision making becomes very very problematic. Um if you are not taking a rest or if you are extremely stressed over stretched periods of time and you find yourself making some really poor decisions, your judgment is all wrong. It is for all these reasons that we say that break that rest is important

22:14 because when you are rejuvenated your creative juices are heightened you know you are thinking sharp everything is on point. Uh you are clear you have clarity in your mind and your focus and concentration is also on point. Emotionally when you are so stretched, you are so stressed, you get irritable. Your mood is not nice. People don't want to be around you. Your interpersonal relationship surface. Somebody is asking you something small, some small explanation. You're biting people's heads off. If you were not in that state, you probably would be able to even make fun about what the person is asking and then go ahead and explain.

23:01 But because you are feeling so taught, you are you are just stretched out thin, your mood suffers. You may get very anxious about things. What if I don't meet this target? What the targets are coming, the deadlines are coming. You're all over the place. Um and so even in just these two areas of your psychological well-being, your emotional well-being, definitely rest becomes beneficial. Similarly, it has a negative impact on your physical well-being if you don't take rest. Prolonged stress and human beings are not wired to go on and on. After all, even our machines, our laptops, our

23:47 phones that we use so much, even they get to have rest. You will sleep and you put it down and they have some respite. So why would we not do the same for ourselves and rest is not a sign of weakness. It is you being a human being. God himself rested, right? that on on he spent six days working and on the seventh day he rested. Um this is for those who are Christians and believe so much in a religious uh book. Similarly, Christ when he walked on earth and was a human being, there were times that he took some retreats, took himself out of all the craziness, the multitudes chasing after

24:34 him to have some quiet time to himself. So let us not perceive it as a sign of weakness but rather as a necessity something that is part of us as humans something that when we do helps us to be more functional so that even in the workplace then your productivity gets better. So we've talked about psychologically how it affects you. We've talked about emotionally how it fouls your mood. We've talked about in terms of your doing your your productivity. People are so stressed they are unable to come to work.

25:20 Sometimes they are not sick physically but they don't feel good and they are not able to come to work. That's absentism. Some would come but they are just warming their chest. you know, they are present at work, but they are not really functional, which we call presentism. That's not the sort of thing that you would want to be um doing because it cost in terms of productivity. It also would cost an organization when all this is happening when we are not as productive as we should be when we are having a lot of presentism and absentism it is financial loss to the organization whereas if they are taking their rest

26:06 and come back they will do fantastic and that's not to talk about the benefits that come where people are working well they feel satisfied with their work that they are doing physical health. They are in tiptop or better shape. So they don't have all kinds of um health complications, chronic uh health conditions that come with prolonged stress. So if we decide to go on as far as the problems it comes with and the benefits there of of taking these breaks it's one tall list and these are just some of it Dr. Thank you very much. So for me

26:52 psychologically your brain becomes sharp and you have that clarity of mind to do what you have to do emotionally you are not in that space for you to uh have good quality interpersonal relationship with your colleagues and your subordinates and all that. Uh Dr. Coleman I want to ask you the physical aspect of not taking breaks. Um I remember very well um some time ago I think when I was in class in class this man was teaching us and he was sitting down actually he was sitting down giving his lecture before we could say Jack the man had collapsed on the floor before we could say Jack the man had collapsed on the floor and we've heard of stories uh family members

27:39 collapsing in the bathroom and all That could it be related? Could it be related to the inability of them them not taking breaks or we could attribute that to so much chronic stress or to the point of burnout and for that matter it has this physical impact on them. In fact, we realize that most of most managers most managers have gotten to that point because they they don't want to leave their desks. If they leave, what is going to happen to the work? They are so much immersed in their work. They can they don't want to get up and so what's what are the implications of that physically?

28:26 Yeah, of course. There are a lot of um studies and evidence that shows that not taking enough rest has implication for our physical health. We have people that tend to experience headache. It's even impact your uh immunity. You become um exposed to all kinds of diseases and all that because of course once you are not taking stress, you're also increasing your stress level. is taking rest you're also increasing your stress level. You know the explanation is from what we call the um effort recovery uh principle or model hypothesis which suggests that the body has been designed such a way that it always have to maintain a certain level

29:11 of balance. But work requires a lot of effort. When we are taxed to do a particular work, we are taxing either our physical resources or our mental resources. Now once we are in that state of work, we are expending a lot of resources. And it's expected that all the expenditure we are making, we recover them. Now that recovery may take place normally during times of breaks either in a passive rest. In fact for some of them we may even have to engage in some active rest. either you are stretching or taking a walk or exercising all these things are part of the of the of the recovery. So these loads that um are put on our mental

30:00 resource our physical resource we need to get them back and we need sometime sufficient time to be able to recover. So where people do not have even sufficient time to recover, it means that the individual will have to invest additional compensatory effort to get the work done. So these acute loads are going to pile up over time. They are going to accumulate and then over time they then manifest in the form of prolonged physical or mental um disorder, musc muscularkeeletal disorders. We've also heard about exhaustion, burnout and all that. So when it comes to the effect of not taking breaks or rest, it is not only on our mental health. You know the the uh

30:47 the physical body has a way of showing that yes there's something wrong. So that of course if there's an infection it has a way of coming. But when it comes to our brain, some of these things, in fact, it uses the same mechanism that the body uses to hint us or indicate to us that some of these things are happening. But normally these things will often occur at a point where it has getting to a chronic level or has gotten to a certain heightened level. So it is very very important that we do not allow the the our brain our mind itself to just pile up all these things. We just have to take a break. and taking a break. Again, it can be micro break, it can be short break, can be annual leave, can be

31:34 sabbatical and all that. But even micro breaks, they are very important that having work for about 1 hour, you take some 5 minutes or 10 minutes, walk, stretch, come back and continue. Walk, stretch, come back and continue. These things allow the body to actually recover. But it's unfortunate that many people either are not aware of this or they are so overwhelmed with work activities that they do not pay attention to this and that certainly is going to affect your physical health whether it is cardiovascular diseases, muske skeletal diseases or what have you. You are just opening yourself once your immunity is is impaired or any of these things can occur to you. So in short, you need to have that

32:19 balance. The as much energy you expend psychologically, physically, you need to have that rest to get in balance. If there's an imbalance, you have a problem. That is basically it. Okay. So for for some of us, we have we have that guilt. Uh Dr. Koma, you mentioned it briefly, but uh I will let Drequa do justice to it. There are some that have that guilt that have that workplace stigma and they are going they want they want to take it but they feel guilty that sort of stigma you are lazy you are not being helpful if I'm that kind of person how do I overcome that so that I can comfortably ask for my leave I can comfortably take that break that I

33:07 so much deserve all right I look at it from two points I think that as organiz From an organizational point, all organizations must make it their business to ensure that their staff take their leave. Um, so for example, at the beginning of every year, you ask the people who when they want to take their leave. It's not who wants to go on leave. Everybody must go on leave. So when is it they want to go? and then you kind of have a schedule such that it does not interfere with the progression of work. Um this is something that in my department we do at

33:53 the beginning of every year sometimes there may be some slight changes but it is so that if everybody decides I'm going on leave June then how would work go on so it's finding that fine balance but somebody must be there to coordinate this and ensure that work is going and people are also taking the break on the part of the individual I've said already it's not a weakness and uh definitely it it isn't something that you should feel guilt about or blame yourself. The work will continue to be there. Sometimes you must ask yourself that god forbid but if you

34:38 dropped dead today there are people waiting in line to come to do the job you know. So, what you want to do is to make sure that your battery doesn't die. See how we treat our our gadgets lately. If you have your phone, by the time it's 10%, you are looking for the next point to go and recharge. So, think of yourself as that. Don't wait till the battery dies. And uh if you are not lucky and there's doom, then it means you can't even charge your your your gadget at all. So if we can think of ourselves that way, knowing that when you are taking that break, you're taking it for a good

35:24 purpose. You take that break and you rejuvenate and you come back to be able to do even more. Um I don't know about other people but for me every year except the co year since I started working and I'm talking 30 plus years every year I take my leave it is only the co year I did it because obviously everything was crazy and all hands were needed on deck but the following year I took my full stretched leave and there is something different about when I come back when I come back I am so recharged. I am full of them. I'm coming with all kinds of ideas and I'm sure my team sometimes think mommy we all had you.

36:10 She has come where did she go dream about this one too. But it it brings your creativity up and therefore it will shift the work in the right direction. So know that about yourself and always remember that self-care comes first. Um, if we are going to love our neighbor as ourselves, we should be all right to be able to love the other person. So work won't crumble when you're not there and when it's been well planned out, it goes well. If you feel that you are the only one who is good at the job and therefore things would go a skew when you're not there, then start training other people. Delegate some of the duties.

36:57 train other people, mentor, coach so that people are as effective as you are. In fact, when you do these, I don't think it's because somebody's going to take the job away from you, but it leaves you room to be able to take even the small small breaks, the micro breaks, the break between work and so on because when you step out to go and eat lunch, somebody is there to cover and when you come back, they can also go and h have their lunch. So please for those who feel guilty, work would not do anything fantastic for you. Should you break or die, it will still

37:43 be there waiting for you. Just put the right steps or measures in place that would smoothing out whatever your concerns are as you are gone. And remember that you come first before anything. Thank you. Thank you. So selfcare and self-preservation, let that be on your number one because I mean the work the work the work will still go on if you drop dead. So self-preservation and self-care and like you train others to take over from you making them effective as you want them to be in that. So Dr. Coleman, let me ask you. So as a professional uh how how should I be able to manage my

38:30 breaks as well as managing the workload? Are there ways that I could easily do that? Certainly there are ways that you can you can you can manage your breaks and then your your workload depending on the kind of work that you do. The most important thing is that in fact these days um human resource professionals, organizational psychologist and um wellness consultants are always asking people to apart from scheduling your work schedule your breaks to as well. It should be you should be intentional about it. So I know that I have A B C D

39:16 to do throughout the day in between. I'm going to take break at this point. I'm taking break at this point. It should be part of your schedule but we should not only schedule work and there's no part in it where we can say that at this point I'm taking a break and that is how come some of us even forget ourselves that hey I'm even supposed to go on break cuz sometimes we have alarm we have set alarm for okay at 9:45 I'll do this at 9:22 I'll do this we have alarm for all these things we do not have any alarm anything reminding us that at this point I have to take some 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes break and all that. So that is very very very important that if we are taking self-care seriously

40:03 then we need to be intentional about our break. Some of us of course we we we all advocate for some of these things but sometimes you are so overwhelmed that you may forget yourself and so if we have things that remind us we to make sure that those reminders would include breaks so that if it's 10:45 is there 10 minutes just take a sometime you are typing you're writing and then you you just you just want to finish and by the time you realize this sedentary lifestyle of sitting and all that is just impacting on on us So but but me and you and Dr. as academics sometimes you plan to go on your break at a certain time but you sit behind the computer and realize that the brain is

40:48 hot the moment you get up before you realize you miss your break time. It happens. It It really happens. And I used to experience that a lot. Especially where I'm going to teach and I have to go through my slides or sometimes you have a new course and you are now developing slides. By the time you realize you'll be sitting behind your computer and you're just entering the and so one of the things like I said doing I realized that in fact I was using it for something else and then I said ah I've been using this reminders this alarm to prompt me to do something to check some news and all that why can't I integrate some 5 minutes break

41:36 along the way so that I know that any time that I'm reminded to do this I may have to now stand up, take some stretch, walk and then until we we we are intentional about some of these things, we realize that no, we will just be because nobody is going to do that for us. Our employers or our managers, everybody wants to see you working. So nobody will come and say do this, do that, do that until perhaps it is mandatory that you have to take your leave, you have to go on 1 hour or 30 minutes break or whatever. But among ourselves we should always have a rule 1 hour of work 5 minutes or 10 minutes of straight and then have some reminders around that if you're able to do that regularly because in the past we used to

42:22 preach time management and I think this idea of time management is one of the reasons why many people are not taking break because the idea is that once you lose what some one minute 2 minutes or 30 minutes one hour you're not going to get it back. to make good use of the time. But these days studies are showing that we should rather focus our attention on mind management rather than time management because sometimes you are even sitting by your computer and your your mind your emotion your body is not even being productive. You are not able to even think. You are just sitting there. You're waiting for the next is not even coming. And because you have to make good use of the time you are sitting by the computer, you are just wasting the time. Meanwhile, your mind

43:07 at that point you are not in your sweet spot to be productive. So just move away and always come to work or make sure that you are in your sweet spot. You manage your mind in such a way that you are more productive. So these are some of the things that we need to pay attention that it is better to manage our mind rather than managing our time. If we are managing our mind well, we'll be productive irrespective of the time that we are using. Dr. If I may add on, please do. So um Richmond has said that has virtually said that we need to be intentional about doing this and so working one hour and taking a 5 minutes

43:53 break if even you are time managing. It should be part of your time and how you are going to manage it and it's not going to do anything big. Sometimes you just need some little activity or some little shift in the gear. All right, you're you are in fourth gear. Something that will shift it down a bit to a third gear. So something that is not as intense as the work you are doing um brings you a notch down and then you get back to what you are doing. So taking short walks maybe just on your corridor or veranda um going to stand in your to look at nature. Indeed there's a lot of studies

44:41 that have shown please mute for us. All right. Thank you. So, stepping in your window and looking at the greens around you, there are some studies that says even having 40 seconds engagement with such nature things has a way of bringing the tensions down. Um we we we just keep going on and on and when we want to do time management

45:27 um many people are not able to set boundaries you know you setting boundaries for when people are butting in going out and so on and it totally disrupts us but setting boundaries are essential if we are going to be able to manage ourselves well and therefore be able to have enough time to take the necessary breaks that we have. We can also do short periods of relaxation things. Thankfully, there are lots of apps now that teach or give you guide you how to do some mindfulness. Mindfulness basically that at some point in time you decide to be still. Cut out all the noises and everything that is

46:13 going on around you. We'll do we'll do we'll do a detailed work on the mindfulness. Hold on. The strategies this are this are those are we'll do a detailed one. I'll give you enough time to All right. to do that. Okay. A little social thing. Go to the next room and say, "Hi, I haven't seen you this morning. When I came in, you weren't in." A little laughter and back to your room. You know that quick button in and out. not enough to go disrupt somebody's work or disrupt yours. Some people can even take a power nap. 10 minutes, 5 minutes sleep, feeling refreshed and back at work. And you need to take a break away from the

46:58 gadgets, the lights, from these things too much. So as professionals we need to look at all these areas and trying to give ourselves the rest that we need intermittently. Thank you Dr. Thank you very much Dr. But for me you know this power naps I mean I have issu because the moment I have it in the evening case close I not get my sleep so I avoid it. All right and I I've heard one or two who also have similar issues. So for the partner maybe the advice could be different. All right. I mean we have to recognize that we are all different. For somebody that works effectively. So at the end of today all

47:44 the different approaches that you hear of see what works for you and make it for yourself. If a power love doesn't work for you leave that alone. If looking in the greens is what works for you stand in your window. whatever approach works for you that is yours. So you embrace that and you go with it. Thank you very much. Now um I want to look at another angle of the whole conversation before we come to uh the strategies that we really need to get this going. I want to look at look at organizational activities of building that culture. Roda

48:35 um Rich, I am here on on this seminar as a member of my organization. What message can I take along to my colleagues to management so that we can begin building an a mental health culture in our organization that would really support these breaks. Okay. So if if we want to create um a mental health friendly organization or work environment or culture, one of the things is to ensure what we call psychological safety. Now by psychological safety basically what we are saying is that we are talking about an environment

49:23 that embraces or supports or care for vulnerabilities. So a a place where vulnerability is accepted, people then become more open to talk about their weaknesses, their struggles, why they want to take a break, why they want to take their leave and all that because sometime people find it difficult to that oh I I I think I'm tired and that's why I want to take my my my my annual leave and go and take some some rest and then come back because once you say you are tired people might think that you are crazy and all that. But in a culture where such weaknesses and vulnerabilities are accepted, it becomes easier for people to appreciate that

50:09 yes, they have to take a break. Another thing too, of course, we'll come to the bigger picture of the stigmatizing mental health where mental health issues are discussed openly knowing that it impacts our emotions, it impacts our productivity, it impacts our physical health. If people are allowed to discuss, for example, you you are you are troubled and it's affecting your work, you certainly need a break. So why can't you go to your HR or your boss and say that well I've been going through some I've been struggling or going through some challenges maybe at home or what have you because of some incident in my life and because of that I want to take a day or two off just to go and deal with that issue and then come back. But

50:56 many people will not do that. They will still want to man up, come to the workplace and pretend as if those things are not there. The reasons why people are not open to talk about these things is because there's that stigma about issues of mental health and somebody struggling and all that. So organizations if we have organizational leaders here one way they can ensure that people take self-care seriously and take regular breaks is to also try and distatize uh mental health issues also environmental designs. There should be proper physical spaces that provide some kind of support or h can ensure that people can take for

51:43 example within the workplace last time I was at a place and I heard this kind of advice and it really makes a lot of sense because I remember Dr. Dix even just mentioned that that sometimes observing nature one way or the other can also be a way of taking a can be refreshing. So within the physical space within organization, how many of us have let's say flowers or something trees somehow that you can more or less observe and maybe meditate. Some places what they have done is to provide places of relaxation. Sometimes when you sit in a chair like this it suggests that you are in a working mode and so once you sit in this you just

52:29 have to work and work and work. But there should be other facilities that are provided that once I sit in there it suggests that no this one is not about work. I have to just relax. I get these kinds of physical facilities or designs can also help and support people to occasionally take break. But even the office there's nowhere to sit to relax. It's only this kind of chair which is meant for work. Then you may sit on it for a very long time. We also need to develop some if you like recognition systems where organizations begin to reward quality and innovation and not just about time work because it is about time work then people are just always trying to do so much work working many hours and all that but if the focus is

53:16 more on innovation quality of work then it's not about time in fact it has actually become evident that groundbreaking ideas they came at a time when people were relaxed not when they were actually working. Because at a time when you are relaxed, that is when you activate the incubation process of your brain to start trying new ideas, ideas that you have thought about to try and find solutions and practical solutions to them and then they pop up as insights and then or discoveries and then people go and then perfect or validate them. So it is always important that we reward innovation and innovation often comes when people take enough a lot of rest

54:02 and then in some organizations for example they don't allow people moving around maybe you move to the next office and have one or two minutes chat and then you just came back to you know once you are seen then it becomes an issue but it is also important that some of these regular check is we try to normalize some of these brief conversations up building ones with our colleagues. You just have a just stand up. You stand there for about two five minutes have a small conversation and then you come back. Once some of these things are allowed, these informal conversations are also allowed. It it becomes automatic for people to take breaks from what they are doing for about five minutes, come back and then

54:47 continue working. So organizations can can can look at some of these interventions, some of these um activities or processes and try and streamline work, allow a bit of uh informal activities and also encourage people to take their their work seriously. All right. Thank you very much. If I can add on to this. Um so before before you come in, my dear participants, feel free to share your comments. I'll read them as we go along. Feel free to share your comments. If you have any question, you can write them down. When it's time for questions, you can you can let's have it. Please go on. All right. So, in trying to shape an organization's culture, we know that some of these

55:34 organizations are pretty rigid and formal and policies becomes one of the way. you know, if the organization embraces within their policies mental health friendly um concepts. For example, you read my mind. You read my mind actually because I was going to ask that what do you think that policy could do to support all that Richmond has said because they need something to back all that. So it's good that you've picked it up. Yes. So fire fire away. I'll give you enough time. Yes, I hear you. So policies become important and

56:21 the international labor organization and the World Health Organization together have come out with a communicate that says that workplaces should become more mental health friendly. So policies are drawn and within these policies you are looking at activities um uh structures both environmental and uh soft structures as uh Richmond said that promote mental health you know policies that protect people they protect people's mental health and also activities um to prevent so mental health prevention Especially in the area of

57:07 stigmatization. A lot of mental health literacy needs to you know be given because people don't understand what mental health is. They are thinking only about mental illness. But for example in a work space if there's bullying there's sexual harassment is a toxic and far from the psychological um friendly environment or safe environment that Coleman is talking about. So these are embedded in policy and not just living it there but that the systems are supportive of those who are suffering you know so employee assistant programs um where either at the work space or

57:53 sometimes people don't want anyone to see them going to see a counselor in the workplace. So um somebody in a remote place or virtual support but that these things are picked up early you know that you can reach out to a professional to give you assistance is not going to go against you in any way in the workplace. Sometimes even the systems or the policies are drawn such that nobody knows that you are seeing this person. Of course they are usually uh auditing things but only those who need to know. Um when I say only those who need to know for example if Coleman has been employed by an organization to give

58:40 service he needs to be paid. So maybe the HR director or if it is in some organization the finance person may be the only person that knows that oh there's an invoice for X Y Z but these are embedded in the policy such that there's a lot of anonymity with the care and support that you have to receive so you don't even feel bad about it or it doesn't become workplace gossip. So there's a lot of work to be done and these ideas that we have brought up all become more solid when it is consolidated in policy. So nobody feels like a victim. Everybody's comfortable

59:27 that this is what our regulations say. And so when I go and seek support or when I go and talk to HR, it's not going to become um like it was announced on the public address system. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. That's that's quite in fact policy I mean at the end of the day we we need that policy in the organization because it is the policy like we're saying that to promote mental health that to promote uh that will protect the mental health of others and that will prevent the incursions of mental health issues. In as far as there is psychological safety, everybody is free to to to say what they want to say, express it

1:00:12 freely. In terms when it comes to mental health issues, the environment should be designed in such a way that people can really take that break and all this all this are quite are quite helpful to ensure that there is this an organization that embraces that embraces mental health. I I think that I've left one important uh piece which is that managers, supervisors need training. They need to be trained in people management. They need to be trained to be able to recognize changes that they are subordinates or supervises exhibit. So for example, you

1:00:58 have this person who is extremely hardworking, always at work, on time and so on and lately you see a change in the opposite direction. It's not the time to start yelling h writing queries and so on and so forth. It is time to draw that person close and find out that listen, I admire your work so much. you you are on time all the every every day and so on and so but I have noticed this what is the problem and if it is a um a mental health friendly a psychologically safe environment they'll tell you what their issues are and then you will help them manage this so without the appropriate training for these managers or

1:01:46 supervisors it could be very difficult the policy is there but they are doing their own thing you know so the work culture would change with these changes with the managers and uh let us be frank in our general Ghanaian culture where hierarchy plays significant role everything is a top-down approach so when the head understands it ripples down you know so we really can't do without it the top or the hierarchy must get it and once they get it. Definitely the culture of the organization changes. Without that it would be a talk shop. Thank you. Of course. Of course.

1:02:32 If management buys into it and they are committed to changing the culture, it will change in that sense. The development of the policy should should take a holistic approach that every member of the the the organization has an input is provided with an input to make an input into the development of the policy and everybody should know what the policy entails what resources has been provided when it comes to mental health of the organization. Okay, we going on. A few comments have come in. Let me uh get them. Uh, one from Francis. Well,

1:03:17 I think he didn't hear you mention Dr. Dixon, he didn't hear you mention maternity leave. So, he's asking is maternity part of these breaks? Most definitely. Most definitely. Um, I even mentioned sickness. So sickness and getting sick leave and definitely maternity leave. Indeed now we are championing for the men to also get some paternity leave because uh if we it takes two people to make the baby h mommy's home looking after and bonding with the child. Why not? Daddy must also have some time to be present and feel like a daddy and contribute to work that h is involved in

1:04:04 taking care of baby. So yes, maternity leave and hopefully paternity leave should it happen are all part of the breaks because something special happened in your life. you got a new baby, you need to be around to to take care of that and it does not kick you out of work. Um, this just comes to mind. There are some organizations that will complain when the women have their children in rapid succession and they'll say, "Hey, you just came back from leave and you are pregnant again and so on and so forth." And sometimes they are ridiculed for things like that. I mean these are personal choices, individual choices and

1:04:50 so on. It shouldn't become the talk of the entire organization. So Francis, yes, maternity leaves are important. They are part of the breaks we are talking about. All right. Thank you. Um admin, Dr. Please, I would like you to repeat the call center numbers. Um admin the call center numbers are 0800678 I repeat 0800678 I think that is clear enough uh Roda very important managers need to be trained on people management that's very true Roda uh Jess and

1:05:35 Kumar about policies would Ghana ever begin to have conversations about the weekend starting from Friday and is that a good idea? Let me ask the industrial psychologist KA what do you think about policies? Would Ghana ever begin to have conversations about the weekend starting from Friday and is that a good policy? I don't know whether she she wants us to break work on Thursday then Friday, Saturday, Sunday we come back to Yeah. Because all these things there should be a balancing act. We are asking that we now have like three days Friday, Saturday, Saturday and all that. The impact on the on the larger economic societ economy is is is something that

1:06:23 they will look at. So maybe it may not happen. But the most important thing for me whether it is paternity leave, maternity leave or in fact sometimes I even I even ask when women who are on maternity leave whether they are actually resting when people get maternity leave are they really resting? Is is it even seen as because it's a lot of work. It's a lot of some of them they come back and the child is with this. So the the the the the what the focus is about having breaks rest away from our regular routine. Sometimes of course once you engage with child care there's

1:07:10 some kind of joy satisfaction that comes with it and all these things can lead to the recovery we are talking about but a lot of them too can be very very taxing people don't even a lot of them are not even able to sleep and all that. So as for the weekdays, I'm not sure we would have another Friday because the point is that on Fridays for example and and this is also another culture we need to look at again where people close from work and it's like we have to go and and and enjoy and people engage in all kinds of things and even become even more tired. So I'm not sure it is a conversation that will say okay let's have a three days or weekend starting from this but I think that what we rather need to do

1:07:56 like we mentioned have a policy that you really encourages or promotes people taking break seeing the need to rest rejuvenate reset and be more productive I think that when we do it will even be enough if we are really everybody is taking their rest very seriously without even an additional day that that will be that will be that will be fine But I think given our economic situation having an additional Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I think it will be too much for government to to to go with that. So let's see what we have and what we can take have control over and manage it well. All right. Thank you. Uh so I would even say then we then we should be getting close to the point whereby we we are we

1:08:43 are being paid for the hours that we work hourly rated. So you choose the number of hours that you work then that that would have been great. Have your break. So if you you decide that during the week you are working 20 hours that's your own matter. If I decide to work 40 hours, that's my matter. But we all decide how many hours. That that would be great. And I'm happy you brought this up because for example, I talk about flexible work um schedules as one of the ways to help mitigate the effect of long hours of work and especially as a country perhaps we need to rethink our office hours or office timings again. One of the things that stresses us the most is the

1:09:28 commuter stress to the extent that people spend so many hours in traffic just to get to work. Sometimes 2 hours, others do 3 hours, 1 hour. So you get to the work and you're already tired. There's a lot of work to do and so you have to get it done before you leave again. But if we are able to develop a flexible work policy where it is not a strict 8 to 5 hours everybody must go to work at 8 and you are supposed to close at 5 and especially in a situation where Ghana our means of transportation is mainly by road we don't have train we don't have so from 5 6 7 everybody's on the road we are all going to work so

1:10:16 traffic but can you imagine a situation where it is it is in a range of let's say work start from six close maybe at at late at let's say 10 people then can plot their off okay today I feel tired I can rest more I can start work at even 10 and when people can decide when to start work and when to end because you are in control it even reduces the stress level but where all of us have been forced to follow this that is also a challenge and so when you're talking about we paid hourly then people okay today I want to work for only 5 hours I'm going to work only 6 hours 7 hours and then get paid for that and then move on of course the other argument is that sometimes that

1:11:02 kind of um compensation approach once people are able to do the multiplication that if I work more I'm getting more it rather becomes an incentive to work more rather than saying that okay I'm going to work less and even and even even take take some rest. So and we also need to discuss this within our own economic context as well. But it is something we have to discuss uh thoroughly and find the best solution to it. Okay. Thank you. Uh Roland Roland says that could break incentives like security of job allowances help since some are afraid to go on such

1:11:50 breaks which one these questions are coming within break incentives security of job I don't know and allowances so that encouraging to go on break with an allowance or not? I don't know. You're afraid to go on break. So, you are given some allowance to go on break other than wait and you are being asked to proceed on leave. What's your take on that? Erica. All right. Um, I don't think that per the labor laws as they currently exist that when you're going on leave, you should feel like your job would not be there for you any longer

1:12:36 because it's a leave is not you are not retired or sent off. You come back to the work. H getting allowance to go on leave. Well, in some organizations, they may give you uh you can take a salary advance. For example, you're going on leave, you feel you need a little money, you take a salary advance. I do not know of too many organizations in Ghana where you get a leave allowance. Um already already have been paid for. Exactly. You you're gone on leave and you get your salary whilst you are gone on leave. So you don't get any extra allowance for going on the leave.

1:13:23 Um but what I think that Roland is talking about is that oh once you agree to go on leave maybe you are giving some reward for going on the leave that will be very difficult but it depends on the organization how much productivity they have and how they would choose to disperse their their finances. Yes, I I I agree with you. Admin is also asking you a question. Dria. Yes. He please. In a situation where a manager noticed that an employee is mentally worn out and he approached him or her but the employee fails to open up. What should the manager do? This is a question that we face all the time.

1:14:10 Sure. Um this is why employee assistance programs become very useful. Uh sometimes people are hesitant because whatever is going on with them is a little deep and if their boss knows such intimate information about them, how did they go on working with them and feel free? So that first step could be the boss or the manager trying to engage with them. But if they are not comfortable to talk to the job uh to the manager then it goes to the next level. The next level being you know what please go and see so so and so to get the necessary help I and if their

1:14:55 policies are in place you don't get feedback the manager doesn't get feedback that oh this is what was happening to Amma or Mansa and that's why this was happening. No none of that you just go and you get the help that you need. So that that's how to go around that and and in that case if if the manager appreciates mental health, he could he could support you to get that help exactly that you need. And in that case the information doesn't come back to you. He'll only support you to get that help. It is the training that makes it makes all the difference because it makes it Exactly. For example, you have a boss who is not sensitive in any way

1:15:43 and then comes to stand in the midst of a big hall where they are all that says, "Hey, what is wrong with you? Why is your face like these days you and talks blah blah blah blah." How easy is it going to be for you to talk to that person? But if they are sensitive to mental health issues, they won't even behave like that. They'll call you in the privacy and address this. And if you are still not comfortable, they are not going to hold it against you. Listen, I understand this is not something that you would want to discuss with with me, but go this place or I give you today off to go and see the employee assistance counselor or whatever and they just express to you

1:16:28 that I'm here to mine is to support not take over your life. All right. Thank you. Um, do we have a body in Ghana here that ensures or is mandated by law to regulate leave days at workplaces be it private or government and also how many leave days is advisable or permissible for an individual in a calendar year. All right. He he miss he missed the introduction of the show. Yes. So the

1:17:14 labor um the labor laws of Ghana requires whether it's private sector or it is public sector. I I forget a bit whether it's 21 days or 25 days. I think it's 21 days minimum um of leave. And some organizations go slightly above that. some go just about the 21 days. Um, so those are the differences. So it doesn't matter whether you are in public sector or private sector, you are entitled to leave when you are working with an organization. And I believe that if your organization is not giving you that leave, making a report to the Ministry

1:18:00 of Labor, right, is then the ministries keep changing. So I'm not sure what it's called. Yes. And then they can be able to Can I respond to Hello. I think somebody wants to make an intervention. Uh she can please please wait. Uh ring your hand just like admin. I'll get to you shortly. Dr. Please go ahead. Yes, that's fine. Uh you can go on asking the questions. I I I think admin's hand was on up first. That's right. That's right. That's right. Uh comment by Oh, okay. May Wolf Caesar, she's a fantastic facilitator

1:18:48 all the time here. She says, "Periodic breaks for all in capital letters are all beneficial." That's very true. So so true. Come on, you're back. Okay. um admit unmute yourself and let's hear what you have to say. Hello Dr. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Yeah, thanks for the wonderful job. Uh my concern has to do with the EAP as employee assistant program. uh during the week my deputy director of health service briefed us on it and he outlined the composition of those who form the team to help such uh people in

1:19:37 the district or the hospital. May I know the plans there that uh to train more of the mental health officers and nurses around to fill in the gap in a situation where we don't have a clinical psychologist and and the other compliments of the team. Yeah. May I know if there are plans to maybe orient the existing mental health officers and nurses around to fill in the gaps in areas where we don't have the clinical psychologist and the psychiatrist. Thank you. Your woman thank you Dr. Would you like to take that? Right.

1:20:23 Um I unfortunately I am not within Ghana Health Service so I'm not able to directly speak to that but I believe that there are enough clinical psychologists to be employed clinical and counseling psychologists. They are enough to be employed in every district facil uh health facility and even more spilling over into private sector. So it would be a good idea to have them and yes um if the team is coming to do this job training the team so that they are all on the same platform uh or the same level following the same protocols would become extremely necessary because you

1:21:08 can't have people doing different things people who don't have adequate training

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