In 1938, Harvard University embarked on a landmark study that yielded fascinating insights into the human condition. By following the lives of 724 men from adolescence to old age, researchers found that the quality of our connections is the most important factor in determining happiness. These findings were echoed in last year’s TV documentary <i>Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones</i>. It found that communities with the longest age and health spans were all places where people enjoyed strong social connections and had a purpose deep into old age. Conversely, <a href="https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/facts-and-statistics/" target="_blank">60 per cent</a> of people experiencing <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/2023/03/02/elderly-friends-in-dubais-jlt-urban-loneliness/" target="_blank">chronic loneliness</a> also experience mental distress, compared to just 15 per cent of people who are not chronically lonely. According to the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work" target="_blank">World Health Organisation</a>, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of $1 trillion a year globally in lost productivity. As we mark World Mental Health Day today, there is much we can and should do to improve or maintain our mental health – diet, exercise, cultivating personal connections, and finding balance and meaning in our lives. But we should also remember that we cannot be expected to do all this on our own. Given the time we spend at the workplace, there is <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/health/2023/02/13/half-of-gulf-employees-say-their-workplace-is-toxic-survey-finds/" target="_blank">much that businesses can do</a> to foster meaningful connections. I am fortunate to do this for a living, in my role at NYU Abu Dhabi’s (NYUAD) Office of Social Responsibility. Since 2012, we have served a non-traditional student population at our campus of over 800 contracted and domestic workers from over 30 countries who participate through our free Adult Education Programme. They are not direct employees of the university but are very much at the front lines of daily operations as security guards, housekeepers, cooks, technicians, cashiers, and more. Each day, they are the first to greet and support our students, faculty and staff. The growth of this venture has yielded some profound lessons about the value of human connections and creating an environment of inclusion in which everyone is supported in their development. Last year we ran 22 programmes in subjects ranging from ChatGPT training to entrepreneurship, financial literacy and English in the Workplace to learning Arabic. As a result of surveys to gauge preferences, we added more mental health workshops, hosting new classes on mastering negative emotions, cultivating strength for personal and professional triumph, finding effective ways to build confidence at work and cultivating self-worth and self-love. Requests for courses of this nature reaffirm the fact that we all have the innate need to feel and be seen, heard and understood. Most of us in the UAE are expatriates, a long way from home, and beyond our professional pursuits, we seek meaningful connections and yearn for a sense of belonging. These are not just "nice to have" additions. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/comment/2022/10/08/boys-do-cry-why-men-wont-talk-about-their-mental-health/" target="_blank">Mental health challenges</a> significantly impact workplace performance. There are many additional payoffs to a more thoughtful, inclusive approach for people and organisations. Having completed one such course, a nanny for one of our faculty members opened a supermarket in Sri Lanka that she runs from Abu Dhabi. One of our security guards developed and pitched a business plan to build a school back in Uganda. Another domestic worker colleague is now a licensed freelance photographer in her spare time. Thanks to an appreciation for the programme by our vendors, we now also offer English classes to our contracted staff during their work hours, to upskill them without upsetting their work-life balance. Equally important, our lessons recognise our contracted colleagues as both learners and teachers. Our "each one teach one" model has seen domestic worker colleagues guest lecture in a sociology class on migration. Several contracted workers engaged with students on a CSR case study for a business course while other colleagues taught courses in photography and the arts. Classes like Arabic are also open to our university faculty and staff. This is important because the invisible barriers that tend to exist in any organisation are removed when we are all in a room together as students. I would urge every organisation to think about the many powerful ways its employees can teach and learn from each other. In a country full of people from somewhere else, we have a unique opportunity to appreciate and learn from the dynamic diversity of cultures. By embracing this abundance, we can create a community of happier, better-connected people who forge a bright future for the country and themselves.