THE IMPACT OF POOR MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE
The workplace provides individuals with a sense of purpose, acceptance within society and opportunities for development.
A mentally healthy workplace gets the best out of your employees. It helps create a more engaged and productive workforce, ultimately attracting and retaining great staff.
Poor mental health comes at a huge cost to the suffering individuals, their family and friends, but also to their workplace if they fail to address the existence of poor mental health in their organisation. It is now the leading cause of sickness absence and long-term work incapacity in most developed countries.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) investigated the cost associated with poor mental health in the workplace. It is estimated that untreated mental health conditions cost Australian employers 10.9 billion every year. These costs are made up of a combination of absenteeism, presenteeism and compensation claims.
146 Million
Compensation Claims
Absenteeism and presenteeism create additional costs for employers through reduced productivity. To calculate the impact on your business, presenteeism costs businesses an average of $3,401 per year for a worker experiencing mental ill-health and up to $5,305 for workers with severe mental ill-health. With absenteeism costs due to mental ill-health about $825 per worker every year.
Mental ill-health is likely to be present in your workplace, whether you see it or not and neglecting it is simply bad business.
Employers can play a signficant role in promoting and maintaining the health and well-being of their workers. Given the high economic and personal costs that result from poor mental health in the workplace there are obvious advantages to investing in mental health initiatives and training.
PwC estimated that for every $1 invested by employers in interventions to create a mentally healthy workplace can, on average, result in a positive return on investment of $2.30 through improved productivity and savings from reduced workers compensation claims.
There are also a range of other benefits enjoyed by all employees including increased staff engagement and morale as well as the recruitment and retention of skilled staff.
"The Mental Health Movement delivered a mental health initiative to our NSW and ACT businesses. Delivering a combination of mental health awareness and education to all our managers, supervisors and frontline leaders. They delivered 22 presentations to over 400 employees. The feedback was unbelievable and the positive impact within the workplace has been great. We highly recommend the Mental Health Movement if you are looking for improved mental health outcomes within your workplace."
Greg Price
Executive General Manager NSW, Boral
"Dan and the Mental Health Movement are doing great things in the mental health space. Dan has presented to our corporate staff and his education and story has had a real positive impact on our staff and management. Dan is now St George Bank's Mental Health and Wellbeing Ambassador and we look forward to continuing to work with him and the Mental Health Movement."
Ross Miller
General Manager Retail Banking, St George Bank
"Mental Health Movement have made a really big impact within our workforce. They have really connected with us and have assisted us in creating a mentally healthy, supportive workplace. Dan is an inspiration to all of us with not only telling his real-life story of having a mental illness but leading the way in helping and educating so many others. As a company we would highly recommend others to connect with Dan and the Mental Health Movement team to understand and manage mental health in their workplace."
Barry Riley
Health Safety & Training Superintendent, Centennial Coal
"We engaged the Mental Health Movement to deliver stages 1 & 2 of their Mental Health Workplace Blueprint to our entire workforce covering more than 2000 employees. The work was of very high quality and the professionalism was second to none. MHM also work in collaboration with our company employment assistance program linking many employees to further support. This collaboration was a key driver in the huge success of the initiative. We would highly recommend Dan and the MHM to any workforce. It was a pleasure to work with them and be a part of the change."
Keili Adams
Human Resource Manager, Gemco, Temco & Cannington, South 32
"The wonderful team at MHM have been providing Mental Health Education and Training for the past 3 years within our Australian Business. Their relatable and “real life” approach seems to really connect with many of our employees, and in my dealings with them I have really valued the personal and caring approach they have taken to meet the needs of the teams and individuals they have worked with. Their care for supporting us to reach our aspirations to create awareness and build capability in this space is genuine and much appreciated. Every interaction has been a pleasure and a positive experience."
Stephanie O'Dwyer
Health, Wellbeing & Innovation Manager, BlueScope Wollongong
"The feedback received from staff has been overwhelmingly positive with many resonating with the personal stories and journeys shared by the Facilitators. All of our Facilitators, Brett, Alisha, Ashton, Chris and Dan, are down to earth, genuine and relatable guys with a natural ability to connect with our diverse workforce. This was evident by the amount of staff sharing personal experiences in the sessions and some staff staying back to talk about their struggles and seek further support from the Facilitators. The workplace audit will play a key role in informing our future mental health strategy, education and training at Council and we are proud to partner with MHM over the next few years as we continue to develop and strengthen our workplace to be aware, take action, break down the stigma and support a mentally fit workforce."
Sharni Watts
Manager of People & Culture, Georges River Council
"After the first session every single employee personally thanked the business owners for organising the event and said how much they appreciated it. I think it gave us a better understanding of some of our difficulties in life, that everyone has struggles which reminded us to be good to each other. I believe it brought us closer as a group and reinforced that we all support each other. I think the whole MHM crew are amazing people doing a great job for our community and the different workforces they encounter. They genuinely care, want to help and make a difference."
Ben Cohen
Director & Licensee, Ray White Shellharbour
