The Stevenson-Farmer Independent Review into Mental Health in the workplace was commissioned by Theresa May in January this year. The subsequent report, Thriving at Work sets out what employers can do to better support all employees, including those with mental health problems to remain in and thrive through work.

Costs of poor Mental Health

The report includes a detailed analysis that explores the significant cost of poor mental health to UK businesses and the economy as a whole. Furthermore it highlights that this costs employers between £33 billion and £42 billion a year.  The annual cost to the UK economy is between £74 billion and £99 billion.

Good practice

The review quantifies how investing in supporting mental health at work is good for business and productivity. The most important recommendation is that all employers, regardless of size or industry, should adopt 6 core standards.  These lay basic foundations for an approach to workplace mental health. It also details how large employers and the public sector can develop these standards further through a set of enhanced standards. Further, the review also makes a series of recommendations to government and other bodies.

Return on investment

Deloitte’s research found that the return on investment of workplace mental health interventions is overwhelmingly positive, with an average ROI of 4:1.

Read the report in full here.  Read Deloitte’s research here.