Core & Advanced Mental Health Standards

Poor mental health costs employers between £33 billion and £42 billion per year.

This is made up of:

• Absenteeism £8 billion

• Presenteeism £17-£26 billion

• Staff turnover £8 billion

This amounts to a cost per employee of between £1,205 and £1,560 per year. This cost is for all employees, not just those who are ill.

These figures are higher than previous estimates but in line with other analysis, including from the Centre for Mental Health. We acknowledge that some of these costs will always exist and we acknowledge there is some uncertainty about the costs of presenteeism. However, even if we applied more conservative assumptions in particular to the calculation of presenteeism, the figures that emerge for the cost to employers are huge.

The core mental health standards for SME’s are:

1. Produce, implement and communicate a mental health at work plan that promotes good mental health of all employees and outlines the support available for those who may need it.

2. Develop mental health awareness among employees by making information, tools and support accessible.

3. Encourage open conversations about mental health and the support available when employees are struggling, during the recruitment process and at regular intervals throughout employment, offer appropriate workplace adjustments to employees who require them.

4. Provide employees with good working conditions and ensure they have a healthy work life balance and opportunities for development.

5. Promote effective people management to ensure all employees have a regular conversation about their health and well-being with their line manager, supervisor or organisational leader and train and support line managers and supervisors in effective management practices.

6. Routinely monitor employee mental health and wellbeing by understanding available data, talking to employees, and understanding risk factors.

Enhanced Standards, 500+  Staff

1. Increase transparency and accountability through internal and external reporting, to include a leadership commitment and outline of the organisation’s approach to mental health. (We will discuss this further in chapter 5.)

2. Demonstrate accountability by nominating a health and wellbeing lead at Board or Senior Leadership level, with clear reporting duties and responsibilities

3. Improve the disclosure process to encourage openness during recruitment and throughout, ensuring employees are aware of why the information is needed and make sure the right support is in place to facilitate a good employer response following disclosure

4. Ensure provision of tailored in-house mental health support and signposting to clinical help, including digital support, employer-purchased Occupational Health or Employee Assistance Programmes, or NHS services, amongst other sources of support. Larger employers also have significant influence through their supply chains, customers and contractors, and can use this influence to encourage and support smaller employers to implement the mental health core standards, as well as sharing resources and knowledge. Many smaller employers will also aspire to, or be able to implement, the enhanced standards.

These standards were recommended as part of a government initiative in 2017 by the Stevenson-Farmer Review.

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