Workplace mental health crisis threatens global productivity

There are only 19 countries in the world with a GDP of US$1 trillion or more, meaning that the economic cost of mental health problems is greater than the GDP of 90% of the countries. A study of Deloittecited by Financial Timesrevealed that 17% of British employees in finance and insurance present the three main symptoms of burnout: exhaustion, lower performance and mental disconnection.

Mental health versus global productivity

“The magnitude of the problem is very worrying, especially among young people,” he told the influential British newspaper Kate Pickettprofessor of York University Epidemiology. “People wonder if we are simply measuring more mental illnesses because people are more willing to report them,” he added. “But the increase has been so enormous that there is something real.”

According to experts, the factors that aggravate this crisis range from rising cost of living to the influence of social networksaccentuated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A report of the WHO points out that cases of depression increased by 25% in 2020 and 2021. Although the numbers have improved, pre-pandemic levels have not yet been reachedhe told the FT Dan ChisholmWHO mental health specialist.

In this context, Business leaders are beginning to prioritize the emotional well-being of their employees. “Executives must be willing to openly discuss mental health,” he stressed. John Flint, former CEO of HSBC and current person in charge of UK National Wealth Fund.

The director of Deloitte research, Elizabeth Hampsonsaid deteriorating young people’s wellbeing was increasing pressure on working parents. He said that today, one in five children may have a mental health disorder in 2023, compared to one in nine in 2017.

What companies say

The study also found that when company executives address the topic of mental health in the workplace, 85% of its workers felt supported. When the problem is ignored or avoided by executives, only 31% felt support. The CEO of MindForward, Alison Unstedwarned that the growing stigma towards mental health problems can generate setbacks.

“There’s more unhelpful rhetoric out there, with people using terms like ‘snowflake’ and starting to point to mental health as a cause of downtime in the economy,” Unsted said. “I fear this is leading to an increase in stigma that will prevent people from talking about it.. It is a challenge for us and our business partners, but we will continue fighting,” he told FT.

What is clear is that companies that invest in well-being report concrete benefits. An example is that of Brightstar Groupa British financial services firm, which implemented monthly meetings with coaches and specialized mental health teams, which reduced staff turnover, sickness absence and has improved productivity by 40-60%.

This occurred mainly after the company’s CEO, Rob Juppwill confess his complications with mental health. “Talking about my mental health changed my life, and now I want my employees to have that opportunity“, he told the influential British newspaper. “I’m ashamed that it took me so long to open up. When I was growing up, it wasn’t acceptable to mention your mental health. “Then I started talking about it and I felt a lot better.”

The University of Oxford, using information from the website Indeedcarried out a study to see if it was convenient, for company income, to invest in mental well-being. They used the response of one million workers from 1,782 publicly traded North American companies, and the results were shocking.

Jan-Emmanuel De Neveprofessor of Economics at Oxford and director of the Center for Wellbeing Research, confirmed that there is a “strong positive relationship between employee well-being and company results.” “We have proven that the way people feel at work is a good indicator of future financial and stock market results,” De Neve said.