Developing a Mentally Healthy Workplace Guide

Best Practice Guide

Diagnosing the mental health and wellbeing crisis

In most advanced economies, mental illness is one of (if not) the leading causes of sickness absence and long-term work incapacity. The numbers are stark. Nearly one in five adults in the U.S. live with a mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Almost 3 million Australians have a mental illness out of a total population of less than 26 million. An additional 440,000 working-age people in the country care for someone affected with mental illness.

In both countries, elevated rates of mental illness spill over into the wider economy. In Australia, the annual cost of ill-health and suicide ranges from AUD 43 billion to AUD 70 billion, according to a parliamentary productivity commission. Every year the direct cost of healthcare expenditure and other services and supports comes in at around AUD 16 billion.

In the larger American economy, the American Psychiatric Association estimated the macroeconomic loss at USD 210.5 billion per year. Just a single, extra poor mental health day every month was associated with a 1.84 per cent drop in per capital real income growth, or USD 53 billion lost in total income every year from 2008 to 2014, according to a separate analysis.

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