Business Case
| Mental illness and substance use disorders annually cost employers an estimated $80 to $100 billion in indirect costs alone. 1 More days of work loss and work impairment are caused by mental illness than by other chronic health conditions, including arthritis, asthma, back pain, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. 2,3,4 |
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The good news is that treatment works. Take depression, for instance, a highly prevalent condition: 70-80% of people with depression improve significantly with appropriate treatment, and studies prove that treatment of depression can result in a 40-60% reduction in absenteeism and presenteeism.
Investing in a mentally healthy workforce is good for business. When employees receive effective treatment for mental illnesses, the result is lower total medical costs, increased productivity, lower absenteeism and presenteeism, and decreased disability costs.
Armed with research and data, many employers today recognize that there is there is strong business case for investing in the programs and services necessary to create a mentally healthy workforce. Our goal is to provide you with tools and resources to make the business case at your company and take action advance mental health at your company.
References
1 Finch, R. A. & Phillips, K. (2005). An employer’s guide to behavioral health services. Washington, DC: National Business Group on Health/Center for Prevention and Health Services.
2 Druss, B. G., & Rosenheck. R. A. (1999). Patterns of health care costs associated with depression and substance abuse in a national sample. Psychiatric Services, 50, 214–218.
3 Kessler, R. C., Greenberg, P. E., Mickelson, K. D., Meneades, L. M., & Wang, P. S. (2001). The effects of chronic medical conditions on work loss and work cutback. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 43(3), 218-225.
Resources
Most employers know that a mentally healthy workforce is linked to lower medical costs. What employers may not know is how to get from A to B: How does a company change a mentally unhealthy workplace into a healthy workplace? The Partnership provides some insight into that question with this publication.
Produced by the National Business Group on Health, this publication provides an overview of employer-sponsored behavioral health services and recommendations for evaluating, designing and implementing behavioral health services.
Also from the National Business Group on Health, this publication provides information to help employers understand addiction, the prevalence of substance use disorders among working adults, and the costs associated with substance use disorders.