How positive mental health builds stronger companies

It's no secret that mental health challenges affect individuals' overall wellbeing and functioning, nor that these limitations can follow them to their places of work. The connections between mental health and workplace wellness are well documented, and employers are paying increasing attention to the issue as work from home and fallouts from the COVID-19 pandemic make proactively supporting employee wellness ever more important. 

Indeed, trends in employee burnout, absenteeism and reduced productivity, and feelings of loneliness and isolation that can affect work relationships and satisfaction have all accelerated during the pandemic. One recent study found that half of respondents had left roles – voluntarily or not – for mental health reasons.[1]Missed days due to common anxiety disorders alone can amount to 8-24 days per employee per year.[2] Even more time may be lost due to "presenteeism," or reduced productivity (an estimated 12-26 partial disability days for anxiety and another 11-25 for depression).[3] Younger employees, women, and employees from marginalized groups often struggle the most, making mental health a significant barrier to recruiting and retaining diverse talent. An estimated three quarters of employees have experienced at least one symptom of mental health challenges,[4]a figure that spans organizational levels and that may be even higher in many lower-resource countries, where mental health issues are now the leading cause of disability.[5]

This illustrates a broader point, that the absence of a diagnosed mental health disorder doesn’t mean that employees -- and company leaders -- are flourishing. Employees are increasingly valuing employers that foster a generally open and supportive wellness environment. Workers who feel supported with their overall wellness are less likely to report symptoms. They're also less likely to underperform, more likely to report higher job satisfaction, intend to leave their companies at lower rates, and think more highly of their employers.[1] 

So, what can employers do to foster this sort of environment? Talking more openly and honestly about mental health and providing tailored opportunities for employees to enhance their overall wellness are a good start. At Shamiri Health, we provide employers with a solution that allows them to support all employees, not just those struggling with diagnosed mental health problems, with personalized wellness tools and therapies. By giving employees access to the right care, employers can make companies stronger and more resilient at all levels.

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Sources:

1. Kelly Greenwood andJulia Anas, “It’s a New Era for Mental Health at Work,” Harvard BusinessReview, October 4, 2021, https://hbr.org/2021/10/its-a-new-era-for-mental-health-at-work
2. Dan Chisholm et al.,“Scaling-up treatment of depression and anxiety: a global return on investmentanalysis,” The Lancet Psychiatry 3, no. 5 (May 2016).
3. Chisholm, “Scaling-up.”
4. Greenwood and Anas, “New Era.”
5. “Global Disability,” TheEconomist, June 20, 2015, https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2015/06/20/global-disability?fsrc=rss%7Csct.
6. Greenwood and Anas, “New Era.”

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