Pension Fund Operators Association (PenOp) has joined the rest of the world to create awareness on mental health in the workplace, in commemoration of World Mental Health Day.
The Association says, mental health has direct impact on the performance of individual employees and organisational goals.
According to PenOp mental health concerns have risen in recent times in Nigeria, however, these conversations are not being had as much as it should because the workplace is where people spend most of their time and this contributes to pressures that result in increased mental health challenges.
On the back of this, the Association leveraged its monthly knowledge sharing sessions as an avenue to create awareness, initiate these conversations and seek to better inform its members on this issue.
Oguche Agudah, the CEO of Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) said ‘The workplace can sometimes seem like a war zone or a hostile and tense environment. People are already going through a lot and as managers or leaders of organizations, we need to support our employees and teams to overcome personal issues and be better individuals for the workplace and society’.
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He concluded by encouraging participants to take the learnings into their workplace and homes.
The session, which was facilitated by Akanimo Ekong, a certified mental health counsellor and performance coach was engaging and interactive with participant asking questions and getting answers on how to be empathetic in the workplace, how to spot danger signals and where to go to get help.
Participants left the session understanding new ways to navigate life for better mental wellbeing for themselves and others around them.
PenOp has over the past months committed to enhancing capacity in the sector through its monthly knowledge sharing series which incorporates technical and soft skills training.
Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) is an independent, non-governmental, non-political and non-profit making body.
PenOp was established to promote the operations of the pension industry, provide for self-regulation and ensure that international best practices relating to the industry are observed by the operators registered in Nigeria.
It is the umbrella association for all the Licensed Pension Fund Custodians, Pension Fund Administrators and Closed Pension Fund Administrators (PFCs, PFAs and CPFAs) operating in Nigeria.
Its role internally, is to add value to its members across all levels; information, education, visibility, networking, strategy, product development, etc. Externally its role is to increase the awareness and visibility of the pension industry and enable external stakeholders understand and participate in the development of this financial sub-sector wherever and whenever possible.
