Feature
Time for employers to consider mental health With quarter of a million mental healthrelated workplace insurance claims across Australasia, companies need to do more, writes Craig Furness, managing director of Gallagher Bassett New Zealand
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he time for taking mental health in the workplace seriously has passed. It is now vital for employers to be taking active action on addressing the mental health challenges their workforce faces. Why? Because of the prevalence of full time employees who have reported they have experienced symptoms of a mental health condition at work. This means the vast majority of your team has likely come to work experiencing signs and symptoms such as feeling sad or down, confused thinking, reduced ability to concentrate, excessive fears or worries, extreme mood changes, significant tiredness, inability to cope with daily problems or stress or problems with alcohol or drug use. It’s fair to say that many of the leaders reading this piece have also likely experienced these same symptoms at some point or another. We all know it has been a truly tough year on professional and personal fronts, and we have asked so much more of our employees than ever before. We have all seen economies, travel, countries and populations
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June 2021
severely impacted from the pandemic, and this in-your-face, all-consuming focus has led to many a sleepless night and nervous news conference for everyone we know. But, how do these experiences impact a company’s bottom line? Mental-ill health costs the NZ economy $10.4B, whilst anxiety costs another $1.75B. We know for every dollar an organisation spends on mental wellbeing programmes, they experience an average return of $4.20. It is overwhelmingly clear that companies who fail to address mental wellness are bleeding money. From workplace gyms, resilience training, to flexible working programs, it’s the same message: regardless of what benefit you prioritise, you will see a reward in the wellbeing of your people and to your bottom line by implementing a focus on mental wellness. So, what can we do as leaders to overcome this impact? To actually make an impact to our workforce, workplaces need to shift their view on the concept of wellness. We tend to deal with the
