The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has brought this issue to the forefront for many employers. Over 40% of Americans report experiencing increases in mental distress due to the pandemic, and over 85% say that work impacts their mental health. Employers are now recognizing the effects of employee mental distress, including increased absenteeism, negative impacts on productivity and profits, and an increase in healthcare costs.
Encouragingly, organizations see a return of $4 for every dollar invested in mental health treatment in improved health and productivity. Supporting treatment alone, however, is not enough. Employers should prioritize protecting employee mental health and safety on an equal level as physical safety.
To help employers understand the pivotal role they play in supporting the mental health of their employees, National Safety Council and NORC at the University of Chicago created the Mental Health Cost Calculator for Employers, funded by Nationwide. This authoritative, easy-to-use tool provides business leaders with data-driven insight about the costs of employee mental distress in their workplaces, showing that employers spend, on average, over $15,000 a year on employees who experience mental distress. This data highlights the costs pre-COVID-19 and likely underrepresents the current cost to employers due to the increase in Americans experiencing mental distress.
NSC encourages business leaders to take action to support their workers and offers materials, consulting services and additional resources to help keep employees safe at nsc.org/MentalHealth.
See the methodology behind the calculator and the key takeaways.
NSC recommendations for employers
NSC recognizes addressing mental distress in the workplace takes the whole organization, including leadership, human resources, supervisors and managers, safety professionals, and of course, employees themselves. Key actions to take include:
- Understanding how workplace conditions and culture can impact employee mental health and, in some cases, create or enhance employee mental distress
- Ensuring leaders, managers and supervisors prioritize employee mental health and wellbeing, work to prevent mental distress, and support employees experiencing mental distress
- Ensuring human resources develops robust, compassionate, and clear policies, programs, and procedures to prevent mental distress and support employees experiencing mental distress
- Providing employee education and increasing awareness on mental wellbeing and distress, as well as awareness of workplace resources, supports and policies
Check out additional recommendations for employers, including NSC partners’ resources and solutions on addressing employee mental health and distress.
Mental Health America offers a number of mental health resources for the workplace, including screening tools, research reports and toolkits. See a full list of these resources here.