Why poor mental health is bad for business – Unmind research
Amid rising costs, economic challenges and growing demands, the question of how mental health affects productivity is a growing focus for researchers and industry experts alike.
Research into wellbeing and performance can help leaders make evidence-based decisions to optimise growth and promote better mental health.
Worldwide, there is growing evidence that poorer mental health is contributing to slowing economic growth.
In the UK, 23.3 million sick days due to work-related stress is costing the economy £28bn a year, with increasing levels of poor mental health and long-term sickness absence since the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Australia, reduced productivity and compensation claims cost workplaces around $11bn per year.
Spotlight on the US legal sector
In the US legal sector, mental health is a particular cause for concern as research shows lawyers are experiencing greater levels of stress, depression and suicidal thoughts compared with the general population.
Unmind’s State of Wellbeing in Law report examines workplace factors to understand their impact on mental health and the economic implications for US law firms and the wider legal sector.
Based on self-reported data related to performance and average industry salary from six large US law firms, Unmind estimates an average $14,216 loss per employee, per year, due to mental health difficulties, equating to an annual average loss of almost $22m per firm, or nearly one-tenth (9.7%) of annual staffing costs.
The good news
Among these eye-opening figures, it also finds that better mental health could be the key to driving economic gains.
Researchers from Harvard and Oxford universities analysed data on work satisfaction and happiness from Indeed.com’s surveys of employees at more than 1,600 US companies on the stock market.
They found that the top 100 happiest companies in the sample have outperformed S&P 500 and Dow Jones by 20% since 2021.
How can employers tap into the benefits of greater wellbeing for their people? A Deloitte study tracking large employers over several years aimed to pinpoint the best ways employers can support their employees and economic growth.
Companies with the greatest ROI went beyond investing in reactive treatment to addressing the full spectrum of mental health, from proactive prevention to managing workplace stressors, and benefited from the greatest returns.
Within this, leadership training and return to work support were identified as high-impact areas of investment.
Understanding productivity
As part of Unmind’s scientific research, it examined the potential economic returns thanks to improved symptoms in pilot randomised controlled trials addressing sleep and low mood. It estimates that digital tools addressing these areas could save companies £5,049 per year per employee experiencing mental health-related presenteeism based on average UK wages.
It aims to replicate these studies in real-world employee samples with organisations around the world.
Link between wellbeing and growth
From stock market performance to self-reported levels of productivity, global studies are highlighting the link between employee wellbeing and economic growth.
While research has revealed significant social and financial losses from poor mental health, these findings also point to the more hopeful insight that prioritising mental health could play a central role in economic recovery and high performance on a global scale.
In partnership with Unmind
Our vision is to create a world where mental health is universally understood, nurtured&celebrated.
