Guest Author: Ryan Johansen, Teacher at Electives 

When you are making a business case to leaders, they often need numbers - not the warm fluffy feel good stories and gut feelings. They need facts and tangible data. How can you make a business case for investing in mental health awareness in the workplace? Well, a good place to start is this shocking number: stress costs American companies $300B annually. 

Here are a few ways to support your business case around mental health education at work: 

1. Mental health education improves employee retention

It costs 33% of an employee’s salary to replace them. So, if you lose 3 employees for preventable reasons, you are looking at losing the cost of one full time employee.

2. In turn, that reduces your recruiting costs

If people are happy, not only do they stay, they tend to tell people about their workplaces. For example, I joined Cisco because they foster a strong culture of mental health in the workplace. And I told everyone how much I love it. 

If three employees refer someone, that alone can save thousands of dollars in recruiting. 

3. Mental health education will increase employee morale, and therefore increase productivity

Workers miss time due to mental health. If you can make employees happy, they show up and do good work, and your business wins. Absenteeism is a known issue for organizations. Another topic emerging is presenteeism, meaning people who show up physically, but are checked out. A workforce that doesn’t show up and isn’t engaged, costs you dollars.

If you can show a business leader they can make an incredible return on a purchase, it’s a no brainer. Proactive mental health education in the workplace fits this criterion. If you were to spend $2,500 on training, and that saved even one employee making $75,000 that is a $25,000 savings alone. 

So if you think improving your team’s mental health is expensive, think again. Invest in mental health education for your teams!

Ryan Johansen teaches teams how to become top performers and without burning out. He offers the following electives:

Guest Author: Ryan Johansen, Teacher at Electives 

When you are making a business case to leaders, they often need numbers - not the warm fluffy feel good stories and gut feelings. They need facts and tangible data. How can you make a business case for investing in mental health awareness in the workplace? Well, a good place to start is this shocking number: stress costs American companies $300B annually. 

Here are a few ways to support your business case around mental health education at work: 

1. Mental health education improves employee retention
It costs 33% of an employee’s salary to replace them. So, if you lose 3 employees for preventable reasons, you are looking at losing the cost of one full time employee.

2. In turn, that reduces your recruiting costs
If people are happy, not only do they stay, they tend to tell people about their workplaces. For example, I joined Cisco because they foster a strong culture of mental health in the workplace. And I told everyone how much I love it. 

If three employees refer someone, that alone can save thousands of dollars in recruiting. 

3. Mental health education will increase employee morale, and therefore increase productivity
Workers miss time due to mental health. If you can make employees happy, they show up and do good work, and your business wins. Absenteeism is a known issue for organizations. Another topic emerging is presenteeism, meaning people who show up physically, but are checked out. A workforce that doesn’t show up and isn’t engaged, costs you dollars.

If you can show a business leader they can make an incredible return on a purchase, it’s a no brainer. Proactive mental health education in the workplace fits this criterion. If you were to spend $2,500 on training, and that saved even one employee making $75,000 that is a $25,000 savings alone. 

So if you think improving your team’s mental health is expensive, think again. Invest in mental health education for your teams!


About the Author
Ryan Johansen teaches teams how to become top performers and without burning out. He offers the following electives:
Taming Stress in a World Gone Mad
Conquering Digital Distractions
The First Time Manager Toolkit 

Check out electives' mental health trainings

Ryan Johansen, one of our teachers at Electives, puts together tips on making a business case for mental health training in the workplace

How to Make the Business Case for Mental Health Education in the Workplace

Wed Jul 20 2022

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