Mental health in the workplace

While we recognise the cost of mental ill-health is not merely a financial issue, calculating the costs of mental health problems can be persuasive when making the case for investment in preventing them.

Mental health problems are all too common in the workplace and it is the leading cause of sickness absence. A staggering 70 million work days are lost each year due to mental health problems in the UK, costing employers approximately £2.4 billion per year.

An essential building block for workplace mental health is the ability to have open, authentic conversations about mental health in the workplace, both individually and on a strategic level. This is more important than ever as we recover from the impact of the pandemic.

Mental Health at Work CIC is a subsidiary of the Mental Health Foundation providing tailored mental health programmes to organisations of all sizes, focusing on making mental health conversations a part of everyday working life. If you are interested in finding out what a mental health programme could look like for your organisation, including both online and face-to-face mental health workshops or training sessions for employees, managers and leaders, please contact Mental Health at Work directly.

Visit the Mental Health at Work website

How to support good mental health at work

Our guide covers various aspects of mental health at work. Work can be stressful, so we cover how to look after our own mental health at work, and what we can do to help colleagues who might be struggling. The guide also provides advice for line managers and employers in creating a mentally healthy workplace.