QUICK READ:

• 80% of employees at companies with robust health and wellness programs at work feel engaged and cared for by their employers.
• When comparing employees with and without a wellness program at work over 18 months, those who had a wellness program had significantly higher rates of self-reported exercise (70% vs. 62%) and weight management efforts (69% vs. 55%).
• The Center for Prevention and Health Services estimates that mental illness and substance abuse issues cost employers between $79 and $105 billion annually in indirect costs.

Companies cannot afford to simply treat employees with health problems, they need to be proactive especially when it comes to mental health.

Mental Health Issues Affect Businesses and Their Employees

Poor mental health and stress can negatively affect employee:

• Job performance and productivity.
• Engagement with one’s work.
• Communication with coworkers.
• Physical capability and daily functioning.

Mental illnesses such as depression are associated with higher rates of disability and unemployment.

• Depression interferes with a person’s ability to complete physical job tasks about 20% of the time and reduces cognitive performance about 35% of the time.
• Only 57% of employees who report moderate depression and 40% of those who report severe depression receive treatment to control depression symptoms.

Even after taking other health risks—like smoking and obesity—into account, employees at high risk of depression had the highest health care costs during the 3 years after an initial health risk assessment.

A growing number of HR professionals recognize that early detection and treatment of mental illness often can prevent a crisis and reduce employers’ health care costs down the road. They are developing programs and plans to provide more support for their employees with psychiatric disorders—similar to the help they provide those with physical injuries or ailments.

The problem is twofold. First, HR people need a budget to implement employee mental health programs and second, they need to convince management that such programs help retain talent and lesson employee healthcare costs.

Workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional responses that can happen when there is a conflict between job demands on the employee and the amount of control an employee has over meeting these demands. … It can impact on both employees and employers alike.

When employee health and wellness are impacted by mental health issues, it contributes to organizational performances. Impact of employee burnout on the organization may include:

• High absenteeism
• High labor turnover
• Poor timekeeping
• Poor performance and productivity
• Low morale
• Poor motivation
• Increased employee complaints
• Increased ill-health, accidents, and incidents reports.

As companies fight for talent they need to examine how employees are coping with increased workloads and 24/7 connections to managers. We can’t simply just treat employees with medications it’s less expensive to insure that employee wellness is part of your company culture.