{ "id": 1040, "date": "2023-04-19T09:59:00", "date_gmt": "2023-04-19T09:59:00", "guid": { "rendered": "https:\/\/muratafinland.com\/?p=1040" }, "modified": "2025-08-06T10:48:47", "modified_gmt": "2025-08-06T10:48:47", "slug": "murata-finland-able-to-halve-sick-leaves-caused-by-mental-health-reasons", "status": "publish", "type": "post", "link": "https:\/\/muratafinland.com\/en\/murata-finland-able-to-halve-sick-leaves-caused-by-mental-health-reasons\/", "title": { "rendered": "Murata Finland able to halve sick leaves caused by mental health reasons" }, "content": { "rendered": "

The rate of sick leaves due to mental health reasons was on the rise and in 2020 accounted for more than a quarter of all absences. This rising risk to work ability was tackled together with the occupational health care provider, and in summer 2021 Murata launched low-threshold mental health services and brief psychotherapy through occupational health at Terveystalo. Since the implementation of these services, the number of sick leaves caused by mental health reasons has decreased by 40 per cent. Moreover, savings of a similar magnitude have also been achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMental health reasons were the biggest single contributor to sick leaves at Murata. In 2020, about one in four absences was due to mental health issues and the trend was rising. Moreover, compared to Terveystalo\u2019s annual health statistics on the entire country, the proportion of absences due to mental health reasons was significantly higher. We had to do something, not least of all because of employee wellbeing, but also for financial reasons,\u201d says Head of Wellbeing Kirsi Nurmela<\/strong> from Murata Finland.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Half of the employees of Murata Finland work in production and the other half at the office. Around 70 per cent of the employees are men, and the production workers, in particular, tend to be quite young.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProduction work requires great care and precision, regardless of the time of the day. The work at the office is fast-paced and professionally demanding, and many of the stressors there are connected to mental strain and time pressure. In other words, risks to our employees\u2019 ability to work have been identified in both groups of people,\u201d Nurmela says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shift in absence duration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past at Murata, mental health problems tended to result in long-term absences. Now, sick leaves are often shorter in duration. In 2022, short sick leaves of less than 30 days accounted for 64 per cent of the total, while 36 per cent lasted for more than 30 days. In 2020, these numbers had been reversed, meaning that more than half (61 per cent) of the sick leaves were long and 39 per cent were short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarly intervention in mental health challenges and treatment provided in time stop the problem from becoming worse. The services currently in place at Murata have clearly managed to reduce the risk of long-term inability to work, and the services promoting mental health have helped young adults to continue to work,\u201d the senior psychologist from Terveystalo, Psychotherapist Tuija Turunen<\/strong> says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contacts made via a mental health chat service clearly show that stressors in personal life affect people\u2019s ability to work.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are the same people whether we are at work or home, and our personal lives have an impact on our work capacity. Low-threshold services allow people to talk about their stressors outside of the workplace, which improves their ability to cope at work despite challenges in personal life, as their work can function as an element of support. Young adults, in particular \u2013 and Murata\u2019s employees are fairly young \u2013 talk about their stressors in personal life, such as family situations, relationship themes and concerns about the wellbeing of loved ones,\u201d Turunen explains.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effects of brief psychotherapy seem to be positive. Based on the assessments by brief psychotherapy clients, the mood-related symptoms reduced from the medium level back to normal during treatment. They had fewer mental health symptoms, while their experienced mental wellbeing and ability to function improved significantly. Risky behaviors were initially relatively common, but these behaviors also lessened during therapy. The results indicate that mental health symptoms were clearly reduced in severity over the course of the psychotherapy treatment periods if the treatment had been initiated at the right time, i.e., as soon as the symptoms had appeared. The average employee from Murata attending brief psychotherapy is a young male, which reflects the company\u2019s personnel structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organization\u2019s culture promotes mental wellbeing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murata has been encouraging employees in multiple ways to seek help with mental health problems. Information about the services has been regularly shared with the workers, and the supervisors at Murata are familiar with the mental health services available from occupational health care, allowing them to guide their team members to seek these services, wherever necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur aim has been to use our communications to normalize mental health issues and create an atmosphere where talking about these issues is allowed. We have also trained our supervisors to observe the mental wellbeing of their team members and actively talk about it. I am particularly glad that we have been able to achieve such good results in such little time, but the work continues. For example, we are planning to train our supervisors further on wellbeing themes,\u201d Nurmela says.<\/p>", "protected": false }, "excerpt": { "rendered": "

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