How much is mental illness costing our workplace?
To understand the value of investing in mental health care, employers should understand the cost of not investing in their employees’ mental health. Health insurance was ranked as the most important benefit an employer can offer according to a Glassdoor survey. Not only is health care important to employees, but it has important financial implications for employers because of its effects on rates of absenteeism and presenteeism.
According to research, the cost of employee absences, planned and unplanned per year, could be as much as 36 percent of payroll, more than twice the cost of health care. Additionally, employees who have access to affordable and comprehensive health insurance are far less likely to miss work and are more likely to be productive when at work. Simply put, investing in employee health is better for business.
Considering mental health care, for every dollar spent towards treatment for common mental illnesses, there is a return of four dollars in improved health and productivity. Understanding the impact of mental illness on your company is one of the first steps to addressing the concerns with absenteeism and lost productivity and improving employee mental health.
The Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation developed mental health calculators to understand how mental illness and substance use disorders affect an employer's bottom line. These tools estimate the prevalence of the disorders in your workforce, their cost to the bottom line, and the potential savings to be had from implementing intervention programs. The calculators create personalized reports, based on your workforce demographics, that you can use to show the importance of prioritizing mental health in your workplace. Access the mental health calculators.
More Information:
How can we educate our employees about their benefits?
What questions should we ask our Benefits Broker, TPA, or EAP?
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