Are employers spending enough on mental wellbeing?

Are employers spending enough on mental wellbeing?

Deloitte’s new report —Mental health and employers: The case for investment – pandemic and beyond — suggests the estimated total cost from absenteeism, presenteeism and turnover caused by mental ill health has increased by a quarter since the start of the pandemic: up to somewhere between £53 and £56 billion.

The authors surveyed 3,599 employees about their experiences between September and October 2021 (building on previous work dating back to 2017 for comparisons). The worst period was November 2020 to January 2021 — with some improvements in levels of mental ill health since that time, but ongoing higher rates of problems.

Just a third said that in the past year they had used some tools and resources to help them manage their mental health. Use of EAPs and digital apps has been growing, says the report.

Focusing investment

The most common cause of costs to employees is presenteeism. But the biggest cost overall comes form higher turnover, where people have left their job in the previous year or intended to do so in the next 12 months, for mental health or wellbeing reasons.

In response, Deloitte recommends investment into more awareness of issues, screening (monitoring and measuring) and training around mental health. Its model suggests a £5.30 return on every £1.00 spent on these approaches. It also points to the value of targeting measures to support higher risk groups like younger employees, employees with caring responsibilities outside work, key workers and ethnic minorities. For example, younger employees (under 30) have been more affected by the pandemic, with about two-thirds of respondents in this age group saying they had left their job in the previous year or were planning to do so due to poor mental wellbeing.

EAP ROI

“Increases in costs for employers due to reduced mental wellbeing is, of course, no surprise,” says EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell. “It’s all about what HR is doing in response.

“More employees have been turning to their EAP — backed up by EAPA’s research earlier this year, which found that 347,000 more employees had used their EAP between October 2020 and October 2021 compared with previous years. Higher usage rates resulted in even higher Return on Investment as a result of reduced absence and presenteeism. For every £1.00 spent on an EAP in the UK, employers have seen an average return on investment (ROI) of £8.00. This compares with a previous average of £7.27.

“The key is promotion and awareness, particularly engaging employees around specific issues relevant to them, and making sure the EAP services available are tailored to suit the workforce.”

Are employers spending enough on mental wellbeing? EAPA UK