“Mental Health “ a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to her or his community
The evidence is in….the statistics on mental health in the workplace are difficult to ignore and should be enough to make any manager sit up and take notice. Mental illness is now the leading cause of sickness absence and long term work incapacity in most developed countries. All employees should receive mental health training to increase their understanding of mental health and develop skills to assist colleagues experiencing a mental health issue
Did you know?
- An estimated 1 in 6 people of Australia´s working population are experiencing a mental illness at any one point in time
- The most common mental illnesses
o Anxiety 14%
o Depression 6%
o Substance Abuse 5% - Suicide is the leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds
o Men account for 70% of all suicides - Psychological injury claims are steadily increasing and incur the largest proportion of expense in relation to compensation claims
It is therefore highly likely that at some point in your career you will employ or work with someone who has a mental health condition in your business – whether you know it or not.
Would you know if mental health was an issue in your business?
Recent research shows:
- 69% of people are uncomfortable disclosing a mental illness to their employer
- 35% would never disclose a mental illness to their employer
- 48% of people who have taken time off due to mental illness did not disclose the reason to anybody in their workplace
- 65% of people with a mental illness do not access treatment
What´s it costing your business?
The cost of unmanaged mental health conditions is costing businesses $11 billion per year in Australia and up to a staggering $113 billion per year in America due to:
- absenteeism
- presenteeism (an employees physical presence at work whilst being psychologically disengaged and unproductive
- low productivity
- compensation claims
These figures do not include flow on effects and costs such as increased staff turnover, and effects on company morale and culture.
Have you stopped to think how much unmanaged workplace mental health conditions are costing your business?
Whether, you are a small, medium or large multinational global business, the effects of unmanaged mental health conditions on your business are the same and they all impact your bottom line.
Research shows that the majority of mental illnesses seen in the workforce are treatable, and possibly even preventable. Therefore, ensuring your leaders and employees have developed the knowledge and skills to manage mental health conditions in the workplace is essential for you, your team and your business.
“People with mental illness are, and continue to be, very important parts of the workforce and the vast majority of people with a mental illness function very effectively most of the time.”
Why it makes good business sense
Investing in mental health and wellbeing workplace training makes good economical and business sense – here´s nine reasons why:
- Analysis suggests an ROI of up to $15 for every $1 spent mental health initiatives
- As an employer, you meet your legal and moral obligations, including managing and addressing potential psychosocial hazards
- You create happier employees
- You increase productivity and engagement
- You reduce absenteeism, staff turn over and worker’s compensation claims
- You lower the insurance costs for your organisation
- You reduce incident costs
- Your organisation attracts and maintains talent, becoming an employer of choice
- You improve your bottom line results
Never before has the evidence been so strong for investing in workplace mental health and wellbeing for your employees.
Where do I start?
One of the first steps in creating a mentally healthy workplace is to create awareness and reduce the stigma associated with mental health. This can be achieved by providing your leaders and employees with corporate workplace training in mental health and wellbeing. Workplace mental health training courses equip your workforce with the knowledge and skills to proactively manage and respond effectively and appropriately to mental health issues in the workplace.
eLearning – An Easy and Affordable Solution
In the current economy, face-to-face mental health and wellbeing training is fast becoming cost prohibitive. The Mental Health Project offers affordable and efficient workplace mental health and wellbeing training coursees through evidence based, high impact, innovative, interactive and engaging eLearning courses and resources for the workplace. Taking a preventative and proactive approach, we offer you an easy and time effective way to meet your corporate mental health and wellbeing training needs.
eLearning courses have been found to be particularly suitable for mental health education providing a confidential and private learning environment on this often sensitive and confronting topic.
7 Key Benefits of Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing eLearning Courses
Benefit 1: Lower Training Costs
Each time the eLearning course is accessed your return on investment increases as you are dividing the fixed purchase costs by the number of uses. Additional savings are also made through decreased travel, accommodation, reduced physical materials and room/equipment hire, and facilitator costs.
Benefit 2: Reduced Time Investment
Reduced down time combined with anytime anywhere access, gives you a flexible and efficient training option for educating your busy workforce in mental health. No need for scheduling employees to physically attend training events, they will simply receive an invitation via email to complete the mental health training eLearning course.
Benefit 3: Increased Productivity
Because elearning is not bound by geography or time, you can control your training’s impact on productivity by training people during down times.
Benefit 4: Standardisation
You may have a great facilitator, but that’s no guarantee that the courses are presented the same across sessions. Workplace mental health eLearning training courses allows you to create a standardised process and consistency in the delivery of content. It also compresses delivery time.
Benefit 5: Management and Tracking
The Learning Management System on which the eLearning course is hosted allows you to report, track and manage your training at the click of button across your organisation, multiple sites or even multiple organisations.
Benefit 6: Multiple Uses
You can use our mental health for business eLearning training courses as a replacement for face-to-face training, for your inductions, as an annual refresher, or for your remote or adhoc workdplace mental health and wellbeing training needs.
Benefit 7: It´s Good for the Environment
Britain’s Open University’s “study found that producing and providing distance learning courses consumes an average of 90% less energy and produces 85% fewer CO2 emissions per student than conventional face-to-face courses.”
What’s Next?
If you like what you have read and are interested in finding out more we would love to hear from you to find out how we can help you with your workplace mental health and wellbeing eLearning training requirements. Book an online demonstration today to view our courses.
To find out more about our workplace mental health training eLearning courses, drop us a line or book in for a free online demo.
If you or someone you know needs help contact your organisation´s Employee Assistance Program (EAP), your GP or call LifeLine on 13 11 14; Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800; MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978; Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this document is not intended to be legal advice and should not be interpreted as such. Managers and businesses should seek appropriate counsel from relevant HR and legal personnel if they do not feel they have the applied knowledge for lawfully managing mental health issues in the workplace. In addition to the information provided, it is important to be fully aware of all relevant legislations and the requirements in your specific state or territory and your organisations applicable policies and procedures.