What are the benefits of offering mental health support

Mental health can mean different things for different people.

According to the wonderful and reliable source that is the Oxford Dictionary, Mental Health is defined as ‘a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional wellbeing.’

But did you know that one in four adults experience mental health struggles at some point in their lives and many more of us know and care for people who do?  Looking at these statistics, there’s a high probability that even if you don’t fit in to either of these categories right now, you may do in the future.

Mental health struggles left unchecked will almost certainly continue to affect a person’s life until they are acknowledged and addressed.  Symptoms may vary in intensity and regularity, but the issue will always be lurking around the corner if you choose to ignore it.

Good mental health is as important as good physical health.  If you break a bone, there is no stigma attached to getting it mended and the same should apply to looking after your mental health.  We are conditioned to believe that a mental illness is a sign of weakness. Well, in fact, people who live with a mental illness must sometimes summon great strength to navigate their daily lives and responsibilities.

This is never truer than when it comes to a working environment.

Employees can go out of their way to put themselves under huge amounts of pressure when it comes to hiding their mental struggles from colleagues and bosses.  At TherapyFinders Corporate, we carried out a study that showed 37% of people believe that if they disclose their mental health to their boss, they will be seen as unstable or unreliable which, they believe, could have a detrimental impact on their career.

Our study also showed that 60% of people think that their employer doesn’t care at all. An alarming theme starts to appear, and the message this sends is simple. Mental health just isn’t a priority for a lot of companies, suggesting employees may feel like just another number.

So, why should you support your employees with their mental health? Well, there are multiple benefits to both the employee and the employer when a company offers a high-quality mental health service. For the employer these include the following:

1. Higher productivity from employees
2. Reduced number of sick days
3. Retaining a competitive edge
4. Better retention of staff
5. Attract better quality candidates
6. The employees know you care and value them

For the employee, these include:

1. Job satisfaction
2. Higher levels of motivation
3. Reduced stress
4. Better personal relations
5. Support with work life and home life balance
6. Sense of belonging and security
7. Stability
8. Increased happiness

It’s clear from those simple reasons above that the proof is in the pudding when it comes to support for your employees, but taking a positive approach can also help save financially too.

A study published by Deloitte in 2022 stated that the cost to employers of poor mental health was £56bn, and according to the Office of National Statistics in 2022, the number of sick days across the UK attributed to mental health conditions was 14.6 million. Therefore, by allowing mental health issues to be recognised and treated, the number of sick days could be vastly reduced, saving your organisation significant costs.

As evidenced; by supporting your employees with their mental health you could also reap additional benefits that you may not have even considered. Perhaps, you are wondering whether your team would be less stressed if you provided mental health support. Perhaps, you may now be looking at your organisations number of sick days and thinking how many of them could have been mental health related. Perhaps, it is now time to investigate adding a mental health employee benefit to your offering.

Well, if this is the case, please do get in touch with Zest via their Marketplace page, as we would be delighted to explain our services and support you in providing a high-quality gold standard mental health service to your employees.