Mental health and employers. The case for investment – pandemic and beyond (a Deloitte report)

In the report “Mental health and employers: The case for investment - pandemic and beyond”, published in March 2022, Deloitte analysed the effect COVID-19 had on employees' mental health, focusing on four groups: young people, key workers, people with caring responsibilities and ethnic minorities.
It shows that investing in mental health to support the workforce is the right choice for employers, that can also make significant gains.

The report reviews the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of employees but also on the costs to employers, based on the costing model and the return on investment (ROI) analysis, that considers the cost to employers of poor mental health and the returns on investing in support measures to improve mental wellbeing.

The findings are based on a survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,599 individuals in the United Kingdom (UK) conducted in September and October 2021.

The report shows that there has been a general improvement in the mental health and wellbeing since the worst period in November 2020 – January 2021. However, the level of mental health in general is still lower than before the pandemic.

According to the report, poor mental health has an impact on employers’ costs. The estimated total annual costs of absenteeism, presenteeism while ill (and so underperforming or being less productive) and labour turnover have increased by 25% since 2019.

This is attributable to higher turnover: more respondents said they had left their job in the previous year or intended to do so in the next 12 months, for mental health or wellbeing reasons.

Giving that, employers can decide to invest in providing support to improve the mental wellbeing of employees through measures such as screening, training, promoting general awareness of mental health issues, and targeted interventions or personal therapy.

Deloitte’s model found that the average return for employers from such measures is £5.3 for every £1 invested.

Moreover, proactive interventions have proven to bring better outcomes and higher return on investment than reactive approaches.

Based on this analysis, Deloitte made a series of recommendations that employers, leaders and organisations could consider in support of employees’ wellbeing and mental health, aiming to achieve a greater awareness of the issues and a shift in culture.

Employers could also introduce schemes for monitoring and measuring mental health in the workforce and consider developing a portfolio of support measures.