On October 4th, VOLKSBANK WIEN AG, together with the ganznormal.at association and SPARDA-BANK, invited people to a business breakfast in the airport tower in Schwechat. A top-class panel discussed the challenge of mental illness and possible solutions.
5.8 million days of sick leave were counted in Austria in 2023 with the diagnosis of “mental illness”. Reason for VOLKSBANK WIEN AG to organize a business breakfast together with the ganznormal.at association and SPARDA-BANK in order to discuss possible solutions with experts. Press spokesman Peter Kleemann welcomed on behalf of Airport board member Julian Jäger the invited guests from business, Markus Buckwheat (Austro Control and former ORF presenter) moderated the discussion. The event took place directly in the tower, the highest airport tower in Europe.
Alexander Biach, General Director of the Social Insurance Agency for the Self-employedis normally active in the association to raise public awareness of this issue: “Caring for mental illnesses must become a matter of course. The path to treatment should be made easier by all organizations.”
Psychological stress leads to long periods of sick leave
The diagnosis of “mental illness” accounted for 10.23 percent of all sick leave days last year. The average duration of such sick leave is 37.2 days. What is particularly alarming is the fact that the percentage of mental illnesses has risen massively since 1994. 30 years ago it was only 2.6 percent. “Of course, the increase in mental illnesses is also due to the fact that we deal with them differently today. For example, burnout was not yet an issue in the 1990s. But that doesn’t mean that these diseases didn’t exist back then. Fortunately, there is increasing awareness of how unhealthy working conditions have a physical and psychological impact. In many cases, the workplace is the patient, which shows the importance of prevention,” said Johanna KLösch, work and organizational psychologist at AK Vienna.
It also confirmed that the first step is awareness Eva Pinkelnig, ski jumper, athlete of the year and trained educator. She pointed out that people who are in the public eye have a special role model effect and can therefore contribute a lot: “When young people see that their idols deal openly with psychological stress, they also have the courage to do so. It also helps to see that even professional athletes and stars who supposedly lead carefree lives are not immune to mental illness. Every car needs a service sometimes, just as every person needs mental help at times. Many people expect perfectionism from themselves that simply cannot exist,” emphasized the professional athlete. Self-esteem, exercise and personal contact with other people are much more valuable than social media.
The pandemic and its consequences
The absolute peak in the proportion of sick days was recorded during the pandemic in 2020/2021. Young people in particular were increasingly struggling with depression at the time. According to the OECD study “Health at a Glance – Europe 2022”, 41.3 percent of young people were affected by depression during the pandemic years. In comparison, the proportion of the total population at that time was 23.7 percent. However, the issue of mental illness affects all age groups. This is shown by the numbers of early retirements: In 2023, around 32 percent of all early retirements were due to the diagnosis of “mental illnesses and behavioral disorders”. For women it was almost 43 percent. “These figures are worrying, especially the mental health problems faced by many young people just entering the workforce. Then a wave comes towards us. The pandemic has presented us with major challenges and at the same time changed our everyday work. Remote work or home office are completely normal today,” said Christian Horak, Partner EY Parthenon. The strategy consultant recommends that companies address the issue at an early stage, not just when employees are at work. This includes thinking for the “community”; every company must credibly do something for society. Once the employees are in the company, the responsibility of managers should not be underestimated. He received confirmation from Johanna KLösch, who, however, pointed out that working from home not only offers advantages: “Working from home in particular also poses risks of psychological stress. Work and leisure time can become blurred more easily, direct contact with work colleagues is missing and the feedback culture has not yet fully arrived in remote mode,” warned the expert. According to her, it is not enough to offer new working time models. “We are still at the very beginning of the topic of New Work and have to learn together how to deal with opportunities and risks and create the necessary framework conditions,” said KLösch.
Alexander Biach, General Director of the Social Insurance Agency for the Self-employed, emphasized that the self-employed are often forgotten in all the measures discussed. “For self-employed entrepreneurs, working alone is often completely normal. We do not reach them through internal mentoring programs or campaigns. Mental illnesses must therefore finally be given the necessary importance in health and preventive examinations in order to be able to act preventively,” says Biach. Empathy will be a central task for entrepreneurs and managers in the future. “In order to be able to do this, you first have to value yourself,” concludes Biach.
Economic costs and possible solutions
The OECD tried to document the impact of mental illnesses on the economy in its 2018 study “Health at a Glance”. According to the study, the total costs of mental illnesses for all 28 EU countries amounted to 607 billion euros – or 4.10 percent of GDP. At that time, total costs of 14.93 billion euros (4.33 percent of 2015 GDP) were determined for Austria. These consist of direct costs for the health and social systems as well as indirect costs for the labor market.
In order to reduce the impact on those affected and the economy, the experts on the panel recommended, above all, raising awareness. Companies should deal openly with the issue and take preventative measures together with their employees. Consulting formats such as supervision or coaching are an important step in specifically improving stress management and work-life balance. But internal programs alone are not enough. The legislature is called upon to equate psychological stress with physical illnesses. Above all, however, the focus for the discussion participants was on open interaction and destigmatization. Only if we as a society deal openly with the topic of “mental illnesses” can we consciously notice the first signs and act more quickly and effectively in the interests and well-being of those affected.
VOLKSBANK WIEN AG
With 1,282 employees (group full-time equivalents) and 54 sales offices in the regions of Vienna, Burgenland, Weinviertel, Waldviertel and Industrieviertel as well as the Austria-wide SPARDA-BANK brand, VOLKSBANK WIEN AG is the largest of the Austrian Volksbanks. In addition to its own retail business, VOLKSBANK WIEN AG has also been fulfilling higher-level tasks for the Volksbanken Association as a central organization since July 2015 (as of June 30, 2024). Further information can be found at www.volksbankwien.at or www.volksbank.at/nachhaltigkeit.
Note: The Volksbanken Association attaches great importance to diversity and equality for all genders. For reasons of better readability, male, female and various language forms are not used at the same time. All personal names apply equally to all genders.