How to strike a balance between protecting mental health and prioritizing productivity

Employee experience – including employee mental health – has become a higher priority for many organizations, according to research by Gartner.

The Great Resignation that was triggered by the pandemic resulted in companies competing to deliver a best-in-class employee experience to retain their talent.

Meanwhile, the ongoing cost of living crisis has increased employee burnout and career dissatisfaction, leading to rising costs related to staff turnover and reduced revenues from the decrease in productivity. It’s why your peers have been striving to implement care strategies, such as financial well-being support.

And there’s research to support taking those actions. For example, a Willis Towers Watson study found that companies that invest in a positive employee experience are:

• 2.7 times more likely to have significantly higher productivity than their industry peers
• 90% more likely to report lower annual turnover than their industry peers
• 28% more likely to be effective at helping employees understand company goals and objectives
• 27% more likely to be better at helping workers develop their full potential, and
• 32% more likely to report having senior leaders who are effective at setting and communicating strategies, and managing change.

Spotlight on mental health

Despite mental health being a crucial component of employee experience, research by digital mental healthcare solutions provider Koa Health found that more than a third of employers surveyed (37%) say that mental health is not a cultural priority and just 45% plan to make further investments in providing mental health support.

However, neglecting mental health has far-reaching consequences for the bottom line. The World Health Organization reports an estimated 12 billion working days are collectively lost every year due to depression and anxiety, which is costing companies $1 trillion worldwide in decreased productivity. This makes the possible link between the economic well-being of your company and supporting employee mental health hard to ignore.

Reducing absenteeism costs

Speaking of lost working days caused by poor mental health and stress, you know from experience that when staff members are absent, workloads must be redistributed. Tasks must be shifted to other employees, or left incomplete, until their return.

Also, your teams’ short-term and long-term objectives can often be interdependent, requiring the collaboration of various employees to be completed. Therefore, healthy employee attendance and minimizing absenteeism are vital to maintaining a positive culture and ensuring business success.

To meet your attendance goals, employee mental well-being must be addressed. Investing resources in improving mental health can’t wait because productivity is directly linked to employee well-being. The question is no longer “Should employee mental health be prioritized?” It’s “How can we make it happen?” Protecting and supporting mental health is crucial to business success.

The flip side: presenteeism

Sometimes a decline in performance can occur even when your entire team is present. Workers filling their chairs without fulfilling their responsibilities – intentional or not – is known as presenteeism, and can be even more harmful than absenteeism.

But why would an employee come to work in the first place, if they aren’t feeling up to it?

The “show up no matter what” culture of the past continues to influence today’s employees and the organizations they work for. Fortunately, perspectives are shifting, and employers recognize that time away from work is integral to balanced mental well-being. It’s often more cost-effective for people to take sick leave than it is for them to work when they’re mentally or physically too unwell to do their jobs. This positively impacts how businesses and employees view taking time off to recover. However, time off is only one aspect of supporting mental health at work.

Leveraging company culture to support productivity

The evidence is clear: Employees dealing with poor mental health and well-being are less productive, which can lead to some serious costs.

According to SurePayroll, some of the most expensive productivity killers that can be related to well-being are:

• lack of engagement in a job ($550 billion annually)
• hangovers ($160 billion)
• smoking ($92 billion), and
• insomnia ($63 billion).

Also keep in mind that your employees care about their productivity as well. When workers were surveyed in the Koa Health study about what outcomes they’d like to see from their employers investing in mental health support, 64% said improved workplace productivity.

To safeguard performance, employers must prioritize well-being, starting with culture. Encouraging people to be authentic is essential, as is leading by example and offering accessible and inclusive, evidence-based resources across the full range of mental health.

More than half of the employers in the Koa Health study say they plan to talk more about mental health in company communications, and 58% say they’ll openly and visibly practice mental well-being habits in the workplace.

Bottom line: Healthier, happier employees are less likely to be absent or underperform, and opportunities are available for employers to support their employees and enable them to live their best lives professionally and personally. By supporting mental health at work, they safeguard the talent they need to achieve business goals.