Not much attention is given to mental health as compared to physical health in the workplace. When you’re depressed, stressed, or overly fatigued, you are most likely just to shrug it off rather than talk to your boss or human resource manager about it, because the odds are that you cannot catch a break anyway due to company policies. For engineers, this can be really damaging
Even as students, engineers already experience different kinds of mental health problems. With the overwhelming academic requirements, this is a common phenomenon. It becomes a more pressing problem when it carries over to work. The job of an engineer is still so mentally draining, and some could not handle it.
So what should you do? Here are four steps:
Find a therapist
Or perhaps a friend or a counselor that could help you go through the process of releasing that tensions. Because the workplace of engineers might not be the best place to seek for this kind of assistance, go find a therapist or a mental health professional outside of work. Someone that could suggest you what’s the best thing for you to do.
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Check if the workplace is mental-health friendly
One can only assume that engineering workplaces aren’t mental-health friendly. But what if yours is? Ask around and do your homework of finding out if your colleagues and boss are willing to discuss mental health. This is still taboo for many, but at least try.
Take time away from work
You have vacation leaves at work, use that to take a break and get an escape from work. Perhaps what keeps you in that mental health state for a long time is that you have been feeling burdened due to the workload, and you have been thinking about them a lot. So it’s a good suggestion to take time away from work – this is something that your therapist would say.
Find another job if necessary
Upon coming back from that break and that didn’t work, perhaps it’s not you – it’s the engineering job itself or it’s your boss. This is a big step to take but you also have to take care of your mental health in the long run. Make the change.
Source: Glassdoor
