- 1 in 5 American adults will have a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year.
- Annually, mental illness and substance abuse cost employers approximately $80 to $100 billion in indirect costs. Depression alone is estimated to cause 200 million lost workdays each year, costing employers $17 to $44 billion.
- Stress and anxiety cause more work absences than physical illness or injury.
Mental illness is much more common than most people realize. Ignoring it can be costly to you and the individual, as mental health conditions can get significantly worse if untreated.
But as the Partnership for Workplace Health points out, there is good news. Treatment does work. About 65-80% of individuals with mental illness will see improvement with the proper diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing monitoring.
Yet the National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that approximately 60% of adults with a mental illness receive NO mental health services in a given year. Why is that?
Though we cannot begin to properly tackle that issue in its entirety, we can consider the stigma often associated with mental illness. This frequently keeps employees from communicating about their condition and makes employers uncomfortable. While there is much talk of the importance of fostering overall wellbeing for your employees, managing an employee with mental illness can make employers feel as if they are walking a fine line between encouraging the mental wellbeing of their employees and intruding on their workers’ private lives.
Once an employer is aware of a mental health issue, a myriad of other legal considerations come into play. What can you ask? What should be communicated to the employee’s direct supervisor? What shouldn’t the supervisor know about? What can be evaluated? What situations might lead to a discrimination or retaliation suit? What about the safety of everyone on site? How should FMLA be applied?
Employment law prohibits employers from asking applicants about their medical status, which includes mental health. But once the individual is offered a job, companies are able to conduct physical, cognitive, and emotional evaluations on both applicants and current employees to ensure they can perform the position requirements.
Creating A Mentally Healthy Workplace
How can you support your employees and foster a mentally healthy workplace?
- Educate employees on the warning signs of mental health conditions.
- Provide and promote Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services. These can be great resources in cases where employees do not feel comfortable talking directly with their supervisors or human resource professionals. In addition to counseling services, many EAPs provide financial services.
- Employ tactics to help employees manage stress.
- Make sure managers and supervisors understand what resources are available so they can refer employees appropriately. And if you offer health coaching through your workplace wellness program, inform the coach(es) of the company-sponsored and community resources available so they can also help refer employees.
- Consider these additional tips and resources: How To Foster Good Mental Health In The Workplace by Amy Morin, psychotherapist and Forbes contributor, and Supporting An Employee from Mental Health America.
