Mental Health as an Organizational Construct: A Strategic Reorientation of Human Resource Management for Work Environment Design

Fayola Issalillah; Rafadi Khan Khayru

Authors

Fayola Issalillah Universitas Sunan Giri Surabaya, Indonesia
Rafadi Khan Khayru Universitas Sunan Giri Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords:

Workplace Mental Health; Burnout; Socio-Structural Determinants; Job Design; Organizational Culture; Human Resource Management; Psychological Safety

Abstract

Mental health in the workplace is predominantly a socio-structural outcome rather than an individual failing. This literature study examines burnout, stress, and anxiety as consequences of organizational architecture, work demands, and social norms. The analysis reveals how hierarchical structures, excessive formalization, and unrealistic workloads systematically generate psychological pressure, while cultural norms stigmatizing vulnerability and digital tools eroding work-life boundaries exacerbate these effects. The study argues that individual-focused interventions are insufficient, necessitating a fundamental reorientation of Human Resource Management (HRM). HRM must evolve from managing individuals to designing psychologically healthy social environments. This entails leading organizational diagnostics to identify systemic pressure points, advocating for regenerative job design that fulfills psychological needs, developing leadership capacities for psychological safety, and restructuring reward systems to value sustainable work practices and collective well-being. The role expands to include ethical oversight of workplace technology and the cultivation of metrics that capture the quality of the social environment. Ultimately, this repositions HRM as a strategic designer of organizational systems, tasked with creating workplaces where mental health is an emergent property of a fair, supportive, and humanely structured social ecology.

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