A recent survey by Unite and Mind has shown that mental ill-health of the UK workforce means that 70 million working days are lost to absences due to mental health problems. The estimated cost of this to British business is £8.4 billion a year.
However a similar study by The Centre for Mental Health has show that when the costs of sickness absence, non-employment, effects on unpaid work and output losses are combined that figure rises to nearer £26 billion. Divide that up and that's the equivalent of £1,035 for every employee in the UK workforce.
Other research in this area has also found that line managers significantly underestimate that effect that mental ill-health could have on their team and how many people can be affected by it. This is the most worrying thing of all - that most of the time mental ill-health goes unnoticed, until it has reached the point at which their condition can no longer be managed in the workplace and long-term absence is the only solution.
Should managers be more responsible for keeping an eye on their staff's welfare? Do they know how to spot a problem? And do they know what to do about that problem, if and when they do spot it?
Tell us what you think.
