The Mental Health Institute (Mr. Susumu Oda, Executive Director) of the Japan Productivity Center published the White Paper on Mental Health of Workers 2009. The paper is published every year since 2001 with the purpose of improving the treatments and conditions of mental health within companies. The 2009 paper focused on "Hope" and "Reinstatement of workers with mental health problems." Below is the summary of the paper's chapter 2, which discusses the direction of company policies.

1. The future is not as bright for company employees.

The Mental Health Institute used questions related to "hope" in its JMI Survey to examine the current status and the change on the perception about the future. The result was as follows.

• Those who answered "There is nothing to worry about the future" was down by half.

In the "bubble-years" of 1985 and 1986, more than 50% of respondents agreed that "There is nothing to worry about the future." In 2007 and 2008, the score was around 25%. Number of respondents without anxiety over the future was down by half as compared to 1982.

• How we can improve the prospect of the future?

The questions "There is nothing to worry about the future," "I am concerned about post-retirement life" and "Current employer is stable and I am not worried about the future", were categorized under the same factor. If the hope for the future were defined through these social systems, then we would have to improve the prospects of these systems.

2. Companies doing well with reinstatement have less mental health problems.

This study was conducted to 2,237 listed companies in April 2009 with 242 valid responses to learn about reinstatement of "workers with mental health problems."

• 75% of respondents experienced reinstatement of "workers with mental health problems."

About three out of four companies (74.3%) experienced reinstatement of "workers with mental health problems." About half of companies (49.2%) had difficulty in reinstatement process and "mental sickness" was on the rise in these companies. Conversely, companies successful in reinstatement tended to succeed in containment of "mental sickness" among employees.

• The smooth process of reinstatement may prevent worker's "mental sickness".

Smooth "reinstatement of workers with mental health problems" is critical to maintain strong organization. Therefore, it is critical to establish a system that fosters trust among those receiving the reinstated and gives returning workers reasonable assurance.