A considerable share of permanent disability pensions is due to mental health issues.
Most of those displaced from working life due to mental health issues are relatively young and could still contribute to working life a great deal. For this reason, such disability pensions are the largest financial burden on both employers and society.
Mental health issues often emphasise problems with organising work, managerial work and the atmosphere at the workplace. Because of this, disability threatens to be prolonged even in situations where the best rehabilitation would be to return to work as long as the workplace would know how to deal with the rehabilitating individual.
In order to reduce loss of productivity, sickness-related absences and disability pensions related to mental health issues, we need
- prevention in order to develop organisations and individual employees
- corrective measures to treat new symptoms and disorders
- support for people with chronic disorders so that they can continue working
Why does the Mieli kuntoon model work?
Mehiläinen’s Mieli kuntoon model is based on the Työ kuntoon model agreed upon at the workplace and ensures that all the parties know their obligations and rights when operating under the model. Proactive activities cover the entire personnel, improving opportunities of avoiding mental health issues both at work and in their private lives. If the work ability is threatened, timely health care can be used to launch effective treatment and rehabilitation in order to adjust the work. If the symptoms become chronic, means of professional rehabilitation can be used at the workplace or opportunities can be sought for utilising the remaining work ability in other work tasks.
Mehiläinen’s multiprofessional occupational health care team (occupational health physician, occupational health nurse, occupational physiotherapist and occupational psychologist) can utilise extensive customer data and information received from workplace surveys and other contacts in order to tackle the issues as early as possible, thus creating savings.
Benefits of the model
The Mieli kuntoon model can be used to decrease the sick-leave percentage, particularly at workplaces where these percentages in terms of mental health issues are higher than average. The benefits for the individual worker include faster rehabilitation, prevention of displacement from work, and development of the work to improve performance. Supervisors, in turn, are prepared and equipped to handle difficult situations in a constructive manner and in a way that improves the atmosphere of the work community.
Absences due to mental health issues and cognitive problems, the loss of productivity and premature pensions are a considerable cost to the employer and cause huge distress to the person suffering from them. Mehiläinen’s occupational health care services aim to cooperate with the customer to predict such situations by helping create a functional psychosocial environment, addressing work ability-related risks and individually supporting customers at risk of falling ill.
If the customer has already fallen ill, the Mieli kuntoon model can be used to reduce the number of sickness-related absences and make it easier to return to work. The model includes active communications with the customer, individual meetings and assessment of work ability and functional capability. The assessment of functional capability includes occupational health negotiations, tripartite negotiations or network meetings as well as a rehabilitation plan, support for returning to work and long-term monitoring. If necessary, we will organise rehabilitation (e.g. psychotherapy). In addition, we support the supervisor throughout the process, helping them adjust the work, if possible, or develop the working environment.
Article: Experiences from the Mieli kuntoon model
Crises at the workplace
Mehiläinen’s crisis support provides assistance for employees or work communities facing crisis situations at the workplace.