In commemoration of the World Mental Health Day celebrated every October 10, Dentsu has introduced Dentsu International Wellness Day where employees can either take Friday 8th or Monday 11th October as work- free days.
According to statement released on its website, the agency said, “Part of our wellbeing commitments is the introduction of Wellness Days. These are additional days off work for our people to focus on themselves. Employees will be taking their day their way to switch off and properly disconnect.
“Our first Wellness Day takes place in October this year to mark World Mental Health Day. Employees can take either Friday 8th or Monday 11th October as a dentsu international Wellness Day. This is just one of our commitments to support employee wellbeing and normalise mental health in the workplace.”
Noteworthy, this year’s theme set by the World Federation for Mental Health is ‘Mental Health in an Unequal World’.
According to data published on Dentsu website, 75% to 95% of people with mental disorders in low and middle-income countries are unable to access mental health services. Even access in high income countries is not much better.
Also, lack of investment in mental health disproportionate to the overall health budget contributes to the mental health treatment gap.
2020 highlighted inequalities due to race and ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity and the lack of respect for human rights in many countries, including for people living with mental health conditions.
In addition, inequality causes poor mental stability, which in turn can often perpetuate poor mental health.
The agency disclosed that it wants to make mental health a priority, “We want to be part of the change by making mental health a priority and addressing mental health in an unequal world.”
Dentsu is also partnering with Microsoft and other partners to bring a series of free webinars to address the challenges and opportunities in this year’s world mental health day theme.
Renowned speakers are billed to speak on Monday 18 October on the topic “A world of two halves – addressing mental health in an unequal world” while on Wednesday 20 October they will be speaking on “Prioritising our mental health – enabled through technology & tools”