Your staff’s wellbeing falls within your duty of care. Failure to comply, as well as accommodate those with disabilities under the Equality Act 2010, can be financially detrimental to your business.

Poor mental health correlates to increased absence rates, presenteeism and disengagement. If you want your staff engaged, focused, productive and performing at their best, then it’s important to provide wellbeing initiatives that benefit your employees and the business at the same time.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 17.1 million working days are lost to work-related stress, depression and anxiety every year. This equates to approximately 19.6 days of sick leave per employee.

The financial sector is no stranger to poor mental health either. Of the 1,000 people surveyed by MHFA England, 60% said their employers should do more for workplace mental health and wellbeing.

If individuals in your organisation are citing poor mental health for their absences, it is certainly costing in output, sick pay, and turnover rates. That’s why it’s time to act for the sake of your bottom line.

Benefits of mental health and wellbeing initiatives

There are a number of benefits of setting up mental health and wellbeing initiatives at work, including improved mental and physical wellbeing, increased job satisfaction and higher levels of engagement.

It also helps to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism, and give staff a better work-life balance, which in turn will increase productivity.

Higher staff retention levels will also create a more positive company culture and improve brand reputation.

Return on investment benefits

An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is an increasingly popular way to address absence rates caused by poor mental health, as well as provide your people with an avenue for professional counselling support.

With the UK losing £51bn a year to poor mental health, it makes perfect business sense to invest. HA | Wisdom Wellbeing is one of the UK’s leading EAP providers and is the only nationally BACP [British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy] accredited provider, with a proven return on investment (ROI) of £10.85 for every £1 spent.

If you are responsible for shaping employee support and culture, an EAP can act as a key intervention for both human and financial value.

How to maximise the ROI of a company EAP

1. Drive awareness company-wide

Make your EAP visible across the company. You can do this by emailing regular news articles, updates and other exciting features of the EAP on a regular basis. Printouts of content supplied by the EAP (such as posters, infographics and other media), along with the number to contact them placed physically around the workplace can also serve as great visual reminders for your people too.

2. Train line managers in mental health first aid (MHFA)

Managers are essentially the frontline for employee concerns. With mental health first aid (MFHA) and/or regular staff mental health training, you can equip your line managers with the skills and knowledge to spot the signs of poor mental health in their team before it gets worse.

3. Gather real feedback

Knowing whether your EAP is a good investment can only come from your people. Consider sending out an anonymised survey to get feedback on the service, whether they have used the EAP, why they have not used it yet and what could be improved.

How HA | Wisdom Wellbeing can help

It’s your duty as an employer to inform your people of the wellbeing initiatives available. HA | Wisdom Wellbeing consistently provides insightful content to inspire leaders and staff.

By giving your people access to 24/7, 365-day access to a qualified counsellor, they can get professional support at a time that suits them. Plus, the service is accessible on their wellbeing app Wisdom – which allows your people to connect to a counsellor via live chat, telephone or video call.

Want to discover how helping your people can improve your ROI? Contact one of our Wellbeing Specialists today.

About the author

Matt Smith is associate director of clinical excellence at HA | Wisdom Wellbeing