Mental health leadership is good business

By the age of 40, one of every two Canadians will have or will have had a mental illness. And in a given year, 20 per cent of the national population will directly experience a mental health issue in some form, according to data collected by the Canadian Mental Health Association

The data is clear, and our collective conversations about mental health and well-being need to catch up to it. No person can reasonably claim that they are protected from such problems, and immune to the challenges they represent. Doing so only masks the immense mental challenge before us.

Over the three decades from 2011 to 2041, the Mental Health Commission of Canada estimates the cumulative economic impact of the direct costs tied to mental health problems will exceed $2.3 trillion. This is a significant burden for health-care systems that are already underfunded and struggling to maintain our physical health.

In the workplace, lost productivity due to mental illness is expected to reach $16 billion per year by 2041. If Canada fails to seriously invest in improving mental health outcomes, the commission anticipates inaction on this file will continue to cost the Canadian economy upwards of $50 billion per year.

The imperative to act is evident, and the response must be led in part by business. The poor current state of our mental health infrastructure presents a real cost to business, just as it offers an opportunity to do business better. Thoughtful, holistic approaches to supporting workers’ mental well-being is not only the responsible path forward, but an effective strategy for attracting, engaging and retaining teams.

The employee experience – and, therefore, productivity and culture – cannot be separated from health. For better or worse, healthy organizations rely on holistically healthy people. This is an investment and growth opportunity that can be led by businesses.