Workplace Mental Health Best Practices

Poor mental health conditions, occurring irrespective of whether work has causally contributed, exert a negative effect on a person’s cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social, and relational wellbeing and functioning, as well as their physical health, personal identity, and wellbeing as related to workⁱ. As a result, mental illness remains one of (if not) the leading causes of sickness absence and longterm work incapacity.

Indeed, one’s capacity to participate in work can be impaired through a reduction in productivity and performance, reduction in the ability to work safely, or difficulty in retaining or gaining work. Presenteeism (or lost productivity, where the largest financial costs lie), absenteeism, and staff turnover affect both workers and employers and, in turn, the society’s economy.

On this score, the numbers are stark.

The most common mental disorders, i.e., depression and anxiety, are estimated to cost the global economy USD 1 trillion per annum. These disorders are prolific.

An estimated 15 per cent of working-age adults have a mental disorder at any point in timeⁱⁱ. As of 2019, 301 million people around the world were living with anxiety; 280 million people were living with depression; and 64 million people were living with schizophrenia or bipolar disorderⁱⁱⁱ.

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