Mental health and young employees

Young professionals are often told to show courage, be strong and hold on through the suffering until they grow older, gain experience and become resilient. But is it fair to put onus of someone's professional success entirely on their resilience while failing to address the systematic stressors that pose a threat to their mental wellbeing? Today's generation is facing a set of challenges that previous generations rarely faced all at once – jobs with low wages compounded by the rising cost of living; job insecurity leading to temporary employment and frequent workplace changes; and cultural and societal pressure to settle down, start a family, own a home and support parents financially, all while excelling in their academic and professional journeys. These stressors translate into physical and psychological symptoms including disturbed sleep, reduced concentration, forgetfulness, anxiety, easy fatigue, burnout and impaired family and social relationships. This further adds to their existing stress by causing work performance to decline, trapping them in a vicious cycle. These issues not only affect young people at an individual level, but also hamper progress of organisations through absenteeism, high turnover of employees and reduced creativity and productivity. The stigma surrounding mental health makes it more difficult to discuss individual struggles due to fear of being judged, treated differently or having current and future job prospects negatively affected. When these struggles are endured silently at an individual level, efforts fail to achieve the full impact that could otherwise be realised because environmental stressors remain unchanged. Individual stress-management skills help, but only alongside structural changes. The WHO recommends that organisations first target working conditions themselves through flexible arrangements and fair workload distribution between employees. Managers can be trained to recognise and respond to distress, and all staff should be offered mental health literacy to reduce stigma. For young employees specifically, fair wages that reflect real living costs, long-term contracts after probation, transparent communication about job security, mentorship and peer-support programmes, and accessible, confidential counselling can restore the stability they lack. Muhammad Saifuddin Nalwala AKUH, Karachi