Jack and Jill are 44-year-old health professionals with 20 years’ service. These two individuals have a long history, having grown up in the same neighborhood and raised in stable and healthy home environments.

They played together as children, went to the same high school and graduated together with similar marks. They then went on to study nursing at the same university, again with similar success.

As fate would have it, Jack and Jill ended up working at the same hospital, on the same floor, with the same manager. Working in the same workplace, they experience similar pressures and demands, and have the same support systems.

Dr. Bill Howatt

On the surface, it would seem that these two childhood friends’ lives are identical. However, their perceptions of their jobs are quite different.

Jack is stressed and blames his job for much of his current life situation. His job performance has slipped, and he and his manager are having conversations about his performance and his temper. Jack is becoming short with patients and staff.

After work, Jack is spending less time with his family and more time alone. His mental health has been slipping, he’s sleeping more, is less active, and is taking poor care of health. His wife has mentioned to Jill that Jack seems depressed.

Jill has been supportive of Jack and is encouraging him to see an employee and family assistance representative to explore what he can do and learn to improve his coping skills.

Jill is at the opposite end of the scale from Jack. She’s productive, and healthy at work and home. She’s thriving and enjoying her work in the exact same conditions and situation as Jack.

Their roles are identical, but the difference appears to be coping skills. The Globe and Mail’s Your Life at Work study found that employees’ coping skills can help predict health, engagement, and productivity.

Many employers today are using the 13 Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) Factors to explore what they can do better to support employee psychological safety and health in the workplace to curb mental health risk. The 13 PHS factors outline key areas where organizations can improve their workplace environment and their policies in order to reduce stress on workers and keep them healthier. An employer can develop a psychologically safe workplace by creating mental health policies.

The stakes are getting high. By 2030, the world is expected to lose 12-billion workdays a year due to anxiety and depression.

Jack and Jill provide an example of why employees’ coping skills and capabilities need to be a part of the conversation. Ultimately, building a psychologically healthy workplace will depend on a two-way accountability model. Both employers and employees have a role in promoting and creating psychologically safe workplaces.

Employees must own their physical and mental health, personal relationships, and financial health. Employers can train managers, provide employee and family assistance programs, trauma management, coping skills, and health and wellness programming.

The biggest difference between Jack and Jill is not what their employer is doing; it’s their perceptions of what is within their control. Jack is blaming his environment and is not taking responsibility for his actions and choices.

The Globe and Mail and Morneau Shepell have created the Employee Recommended Workplace Award. It’s designed to facilitate health, engagement, and productivity through creating a two-way accountability model.

In the end, an employer can’t offer or do enough to ensure that every employee is mentally healthy. At best, they can facilitate support for employees and remove barriers and risks (e.g., bullying, and unsafe workplaces) that can jeopardize employees’ mental health. Employers play an important role but they can’t make employees take care of their mental health.

Every employee’s mental health depends on what they do for themselves, such as getting professional support or developing an action plan to learn to cope better. An employer can provide support policies, procedures, and programs, but, in the end, mental health of employees like Jack comes down to taking responsibility for their choices and actions.

Bill Howatt is the Chief Research and Development Officer for Workforce Productivity, Morneau Shepell. Bill will be speaking about Building Psychologically Safe Workplaces on November 8 at HealthAchieve in Toronto. Learn more at www.healthachieve.com.