The Top Six Benefits of Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace

The demand for training around Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace has been growing at a steady pace but with the recent pandemic, there is now, more than ever, a strong demand for employers to prioritise this within their own organisations.

Although it is a topic that has facilitated much discussion and interest for businesses over recent years, many employers are discouraged from the topic as it can be perceived as expensive, time-consuming, only suited to large corporations and more of a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than commercially impactful.

However, it is well known that Mental Health and Wellbeing courses make a positive impact on personal and business performance. Here, we share with you the six top benefits of promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace that make this an essential feature of your organisation.

1. Improves productivity
   Poor mental health and wellbeing can lead to symptoms of low self-esteem, poor concentration and a lack of focus. When people are experiencing these issues, their levels of productivity decrease, causing them to both lose the ability to prioritise and increase their risk of procrastination. Long-term, employees can start to fall behind, no longer able to manage their workloads, and thus increasing their levels of stress and putting them at a higher risk of sickness absence.
2. Reduces mistakes and wastage
   In order to maximise profits, there can be little margin for error. However, if your employees are struggling to manage their mental health and wellbeing they may be making more mistakes than ever before. Evidence shows that by promoting health and wellbeing in the workplace, an employee’s memory, concentration and alertness is improved – leaving less room for mistakes and wastage.
3. Increases employee engagement and morale
   Employers who actively engage in promoting positive health and wellbeing in the workplace are viewed as taking a genuine interest in the workforce which not only encourages employees to engage more with company-wide objectives and initiatives but also increases the loyalty and overall retention of staff. In addition, positive mental health and wellbeing encourages individuals to build better relationships and can improve the morale of the entire workforce.
4. Reduces the costs associated with staff absence or presenteeism
   “Mental ill health is responsible for 72 million working days lost and costs £34.9bn each year” (MHFA, 2020). The costs associated with sickness absence are phenomenal but with additional support in place through appropriate training, they can be avoided. It is relatively easy to calculate the costs associated with staff absence however presenteeism can often go undetected. ‘Presenteeism’ is a term which has been adopted to describe the loss of productivity caused by people working at less than full capacity due to ill-health. It is predicted that the cost of presenteeism can be almost double that of absenteeism. The reasons for it range from fear of stigma to lack of awareness of symptoms and could be easily avoided if appropriate Mental Health Awareness training is put in place.
5. Enhances the reputation and profile of an organisation
   Recruitment is a two-way process, organisations want to attract top talent who can drive their business priorities and growth whilst individuals are attracted to organisations who will enable them to grow with the business, nurture their talent and support and encourage their goals. By promoting positive health and wellbeing in the workplace, businesses will not only retain the skills of their workforce but they will attract fresh, new skills by building a reputation that shows they care for and support their workforce.
6. Boosts profits
   From the five points above, we can see that an increase in an organisation’s profit margin is easily achievable by promoting positive health and wellbeing in the workplace, however it isn’t as simple as “free-fruit Fridays” or reduced subscriptions to the local gym (however good they are). Promoting positive health and wellbeing is a skill that must be learnt and practiced regularly to be effective.