The Surprising Cost of Neglecting the Wellbeing of Your Workforce

As a business owner, you have probably put a lot of thought in how you can ensure the health and safety of your employees whilst they are in the workplace. But have you put any thought into the impact their mental health has on their productivity at work and on staff retention rates?

Ensuring the emotional wellbeing of your workforce is not just your ethical responsibility as a business owner, but it also meets your fiscal obligations too. Read on to find out why.

What is the impact on my business?

Stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 55% of working days lost to UK businesses in 2019 and 2020. This means there were were a whopping 17.9m working days lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety. More than for any other illness!

The impact this has on productivity cost UK businesses £15.1bn in 2019 and 2020 and for those employees who left their roles due to mental health issues, this cost UK businesses £3.4bn in recruitment fees.

Having a productive, reliable and loyal workforce is critical for any employer. There are many reasons why your employees might be feeling pressure or stress and neglecting this rather than resolving it will impact more than just your business.

What is the impact on my employees?

Chronic stress has a cumulative impact on the functioning of the human body. Over time it can weaken your natural resilience to disease and contribute to organ failure. This means that many instances of absences from work due to physical illnesses could also be linked to their mental health.

It’s clear that absence due to both mental and physical health may be avoided entirely if the wellbeing of employees is improved.

Given that 14.7% of people will experience mental health problems in their workplace, investing in a workplace wellbeing service to provide better mental health support would save UK businesses up to 8bn per year.

How can JSA help future-proof your business?

JSA’s Workplace Wellbeing Service offers access to therapeutic assistance, from counselling to clinical psychotherapy services to help your employees better manage stress or resolve the underlying issues that may contribute to mental illness.

Get in touch to talk about how we can support you or check out our wellbeing page to find out more.