Is your business working to address workplace mental health issues among your staff? If not, it could be costing you money and work quality, all while harming workplace morale. Read on to learn more about how stress affects productivity and what can be done to mitigate workplace stress.

Stress: The New Productivity Killer

Stress is increasingly seen as a significant brake on productivity. According to a recent Mercer study, nearly 1 in 5 workers globally report high levels of stress at work, and that’s even higher in the US. Approximately 25% of US workers report having high stress levels at work. Stressed workers are often poor performers, or merely showing up while doing little actual work. Morale can drop severely as well, leading to workers seeking new jobs.

That translates to a trillion dollars of lost productivity worldwide, according to the UN’s World Health Organization. In the same study, they also found that investment in your workplace mental health is worthwhile – finding a $4 return for every $1 spent on reducing stress.

One of the best ways to address this is also among the simplest: making mental health days an official part of your workplace wellness program.

The Benefits Of Mental Health Days

Mental health days are like sick days, except they don’t require an explicit medical condition. They are simply PTO days your workers can freely take if they need a day off for self-care or rest.

This leads to:

Improved Productivity

It’s self-evident to say that a happy well-rested worker is going to perform better than one who is miserable and tired. Overwork can easily become a problem of diminishing returns, where stressed workers get less done than if they had more time to rest.

Better Employee Engagement

The Harvard Business Review found that companies with engaged high-morale workers see 22% higher profits on average. In addition, workers who are engaged with their jobs are less likely to see employment elsewhere.

Easier Recruitment

Younger workers – Millennials and Gen Z – take corporate responsibility seriously. They’re more likely to work for, and support, businesses which support the health of their workers. This can be key to maintaining a high-quality workforce when job-hopping is so common.

Reduced Absenteeism

According to an American Heart Association study (PDF) on workplace stress, workers who are allowed to freely take mental health days will typically take fewer days off than workers who have to lie about their reason for skipping work.

In short, introducing mental health days to support workplace mental health is a cheap, easy way to help your workers de-stress. This small policy change can bring substantial boosts to your productivity.