Over 40,000 civil servants at high risk of mental health issues, says Public Service DG

KUCHING (Oct 2): More than 40,000 civil servants in the country are at high risk of experiencing psychological health issues that require immediate intervention to prevent mental disorders, said Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz.

In view of this, he said among the government’s latest initiatives to improve risky behaviour prevention programmes is through the Civil Servant Psychological Health Digital Profiling System (MyPsyD), which has been implemented since March 1 this year.

“Implemented in stages at all ministries, departments or agencies nationwide, the initiative involves nearly 1 million civil servants who have successfully completed the MyPsyD profile.

“This MyPsyD profile serves as an indicator for individuals and organisations, making them more accurate in formulating strategies that promote self-development, prevention, and targeted interventions to nurture and preserve civil servants’ well-being while remaining prudent in providing services,” he said.

Wan Ahmad Dahlan said this at the opening of the International Conference on Psychological Well-Being, which took place in conjunction with the Public Service Psychology Conference 2024 (ICOPW2024) yesterday.

The inaugural conference was jointly held by the Psychology Management Division, Department of Public Service, and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

Wan Ahmad Dahlan pointed out: “Civil servants are not exempted from dealing with stress, workload, burnout, and various issues that have a negative effect on enjoyment in work, personal well-being and productivity.”

He quoted a study by the iOpener Institute in Oxford, United Kingdom (2020), which concluded that employees who are happy and enjoy their work are found to be 65 per cent more energetic and twice as productive at work.

“Enjoyment at work will help employees do their work efficiently, thus improving organisational performance,” he added.

On this matter, Wan Ahmad Dahlan noted that the results of the Malaysian Psychological Well-Being Index (IKPM) study conducted in the public service show that the level of psychological well-being of civil servants is still at a moderate level.

“As such, the sharing of knowledge needs to be intensified to ensure the well-being of civil servants is maintained at an optimal level.

“These include holistic well-being, mental health literacy, psychological first aid (PFA), emotional management, well-being screening, psychological intervention, and organisational support,” he said.

Also present at the conference was Unimas deputy vice-chancellor (Research & Innovation) Prof Ir Dr Siti Noor Linda Taib, who represented the university’s vice-chancellor Prof Dr Ahmad Hata Rasit.