Paul Avis: The mental health solution

The Stevenson Farmer review of mental health and the workplace estimates the cost of presenteeism caused by poor mental health is £17bn to £26bn per year; far more significant than the estimated £8bn cost of absenteeism to employers each year.[1] Our own research on presenteeism can shed some light on this discrepancy. Employees are only as likely to take time off work for a stress-related illness as they would for a migraine (20% of respondents), and the same proportion are more likely to come into work with a mental health problem than a physical health one.[2] We have been research...