Mental health support an affordability issue according to employers

According to Group Risk Development (GRiD), aside from perceived budgetary challenges, 89% of those that do implement mental health support for employees see a positive impact on the business.

GRid emphasises the importance of measuring the impact of health and wellbeing support. It defines affordability as more than just the actual cost of the providing it, but the perception of its value to the business by decision-makers.

Its findings showed only 51% measure the impact of implementing support, while 42% of this group see evidence that supporting health and wellbeing helps them manage absence, allowing for quicker returns to work.

Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, said, “Unlike an investment in other business assets, evaluating the business benefits of health and wellbeing support can be more nuanced. That’s why it’s so important that HR teams have measurements in place that demonstrate the worth of their selected employee benefits to ensure they can retain and grow their budget for this type of support in the future.”

Grid also found that 39% of employers believed mental health and wellbeing support was integral to their company ethos and helped them fulfil their business objectives.36% said they are more likely to succeed financially as a business when their employees are fit, healthy and engaged in their work. 35% agreed that when their employees know that they are supported with their overall health and wellbeing, it increased their productivity. This attitude also reflected well for client engagement as 30% say potential clients are interested in how well they look after staff and that it helps when working with clients.

Moxham added, “The perceived value of health and wellbeing support should not be taken for granted. It is down to HR teams and the wider business to not only provide health and wellbeing benefits for their staff, such as group risk – employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness - but to also measure and then demonstrate the inherent value within them. This doesn’t necessarily need to be undertaken by the business in isolation: advisers and providers can also help determine how to measure success in order to build the business case.”