A healthy and competent workforce is a precondition for an effective and profitable work organisation. In turn, work and meaningful activity are essential components of mental health. Working life is an arena in which people, during their adult years, spend a considerable amount of time. The workplace is therefore an excellent venue in which to promote mental wellbeing, to address mental health problems, and prevent existing mental health problems from becoming more serious.

Activities which maintain work ability and promote wellbeing are common in the Finnish workplace, and more than two thirds of Finnish employees have access to them.¹ As the following list illustrates, most programmes focus on maintaining physical work ability, which can have a positive impact on employees' mental wellbeing. Programmes aimed at improving the organisation of work or the atmosphere in the workplace are also important to mental wellbeing.

Measures most commonly taken in the Finnish workplace aim to:

*Improve the working environment (e.g. enhancing occupational safety and ergonomics);

*Develop the management and organisation of work (e.g. better job design, good communication, clear goals, independence at work);

*Provide further training and learning opportunities (e.g. improving occupational and team work skills or promoting independent study);

*Promote health (promoting physical activity and a healthy lifestyle, offering rehabilitation, and preventing substance abuse).

However, activities or programmes in the Finnish workplace rarely address mental health issues directly. Employees suffering from severe burnout or stress may need early rehabilitation in order to maintain their working capacity and maintain employment.² Many employees, employers, and health care service providers feel that the programmes have not yet been integrated into workplace culture and are separate activities which lack continuity. There are disparities in the resources available to address the issue: larger employers (with more than 100 employees) often have better resources than small employers to organise activities which maintain work ability.³ This is usually because their human resources management structures are better organised rather than because of financial resources. In general, employers consider work ability programmes and activities cost-effective. As many as 90 % of employers believe that they benefit financially from them.

Employees, employers, and occupational health care service providers face the challenges of expanding the concept of work ability maintenance to address mental health issues more efficiently and clearly and to create early rehabilitation services which are integrated into management and occupational health care activities. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health recommends the following ways to promote mental health in work organisations⁴:

*Increase awareness of the preconditions for and the value of mental health in the workplace;

*Implement and disseminate good practices;