What would you do with £35 billion? Huge amount of money, isn’t it. What if I told you that its also the same amount of money that mental health issues at work are costing the UK economy? Averaging at £1,300 per person, it is not an amount that employers can afford to ignore.

In a 2017 publication by The Centre for Mental Health, this was broken down as

• £3.1 billion in staff turnover
• £10.6 billion in sickness absence
• £21.2 billion in reduced productivity at work

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown a significant uptick in people seeking mental health support. In January 2021, almost a year ago now, 41% of adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression. Over half of 18-24 year olds are included in this figure, and just under half of adults 25-49 were included too. With this in mind, it is time that employers start to think harder about mental health and how they support their colleagues.

Mental health support should start at work

A full time employee spends about 25% of their week in the office or commuting. With the rise in people working from home, there is also a blurred line between work and home, which means staff as struggling to switch off, are more likely to work unpaid overtime, and it’s a recipe for burnout. Stress management, resilience and anxiety support should be a priority for employers wanting to reduce sickness, improve staff retention, and maximise team productivity.

What does good look like?

On a global scale, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, and Virgin are among the leaders when it comes to mental health support. Virgin’s interactive MindCoach workshop gives participants stress coping strategies, and all managers are trained on supporting colleagues. Unilever have similar programs, but Johnson & Johnson go one better and extend their services to all family members of their employees, and also give their staff six paid therapy visits a year.

It doesn’t just have to be the large corporations though. Cambridgeshire autism and learning disability charity, Red2Green has trained 10% of their staff as mental health first aiders, has a mental health support worker for their clients learners who attend the day services, and actively promotes positive mental health with employees, referring out to external support service Able Futures where necessary.

Many employers are now buying into workplace coaching and corporate training for managers to encourage mental health support and a positive, destigmatised culture for staff. As a transformational life coach, rapid transformational therapist and hypnotherapist, I personally have seen the value that such programmes have brought to the workplace, and to the wider workforce.

Are you a business owner? Why not look at this for your own company?