The term “mental health” can cover a broad range of experiences, from positive mental wellbeing through to living with a diagnosis of a long-term mental health condition. Mental wellbeing simply means "feeling good and functioning well". Protecting and improving our mental wellbeing contributes to our overall mental health (and our physical health) and can help to reduce the risk of experiencing depression or anxiety.
Promoting mental wellbeing in the workplace is crucial for both employers and employees, offering significant benefits such as increased productivity, improved workplace relationships, better recruitment and retention, and financial gains.
Poor mental health in the workplace has a considerable financial impact, in Wales, as in other parts of the UK. These costs arise from lost productivity, absenteeism, presenteeism (where employees are physically present but not fully productive), and increased healthcare and support expenses.
The financial burden on employers is considerable. In 2022-2023, Deloitte, UK employers faced a financial burden of £51 billion due to poor mental health in the workplace, 8% lower than the £55 billion reported in 2020-2021 (figure 1). This suggests that progress is being made in improving the lives and wellbeing of employees. Despite the drop, presenteeism continues to be the largest contributor to these costs.
Figure 1: Annual costs due to absenteeism, presenteeism and labour turnover
Note: UK Adults 18+ who worked in September 2022-October 2023 and not self-employed
Source: Deloitte: Mental Health and Employers
A report published in 2023 by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Simplyhealth highlights:
If you were able to average out the cost to each Welsh employee, not just those who are unwell, Deloitte estimates this cost to be £1,557 per employee. If you consider a small organisation in Wales employing 50 people, this could amount to costs of nearly £78,000 a year because of poor mental health among employees.
Evidence shows that workplace interventions to support mental health and wellbeing have the potential for significant benefits to employers, employees and the wider economy. In addition to the benefits employees will experience, investing in mental health and wellbeing in the workplace provides a range of rewards to the organisation which can be calculated as an average return on investment. So, for every £1 spent on supporting employees' mental health, employers will receive an average of £4.70 back in reduced absenteeism and staff turnover
We know that mental health issues are one of the top reasons for sickness absence, and that more and more employers are concerned about employee mental health and wellbeing and would like to do more.
The good news is there are many things that employers can do to look after the mental health and wellbeing of their employees. The following pages provide employers with further information, resources and guidance to help maintain positive workplace mental health and signpost to services that can offer support to employees if needed.
Promoting a positive workplace culture that prioritises mental wellbeing can alleviate these impacts. The Healthy Working Wales (HWW) guide on Managing Sickness Absence (MSA) suggests a range of strategies to create supportive work environments where employees feel valued and understood.
A key area of focus should be to encourage open conversations:
Building opportunities for employees to engage with wellbeing-promoting activities, like physical activity, connecting with nature and supporting learning can further support good mental wellbeing at work.
The following actions are based on research about what works best in the workplace: