The Chief Executive Officer of Databank Group, Kojo Addae-Mensah, has charged business leaders to conduct periodic tests among employees to reduce work-related risk factors.

He said all business have people working for their prosperity, therefore, there is the need to ensure that workers are in the right frame of mind at any point in time.

Speaking to JOYBUSINESS after a ceremony to mark the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Databank Foundation, he said it is high time businesses give mental health the attention it deserves.

The Foundation was inspired by a small outreach for children at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital let by Dr Angela Ofori-Atta, which prompted Databank to start something permanent and sustainable. 

The Child Mental Health Programme is the longest running initiative of the Foundation. The primary objective of this program is to improve the lives of children admitted at the Children's Ward of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. 

Some of their activities include Support for staff and the well-being of children.

Mental health is one issue many would not want to be associated with even in social settings much less in the world of work.

However, according to a report on mental health at the workplace released by the World Health Organization, depression and anxiety negatively affect productivity in the global economy by about 1 trillion dollars per year.

Mr Addae-Mensah bemoaned how companies let new recruits go through medical screening but ignore to check their mental status.

“But I will screen first for mental health stability before anything else,” he disclosed.

According to him, it is important to know the status of workers than to think of the cost to the company. 

He said it makes it easy to understand people and work better with them once this is established.