£1,000 lost per worker per year to mental ill health

British businesses are losing £1,000 a year per worker because of mental ill health among their staff, latest research has suggested.

The report, by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, calculated the total cost to UK employers of mental ill health among staff as being more than £25bn, or the equivalent of £1,000 per employee in the workforce.

The costs comprised £8.4bn in sickness absence, £2.4bn to replace staff leaving their jobs and some £15.1bn in reduced productivity among people still at work but unwell.

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At the same time, the Shaw Trust charity has warned that many managers are still seriously under-estimating the impact of mental health issues at work.

Its report argued that, while official figures suggested one in four workers experienced stress, anxiety, depression and other forms of mental ill health in any given year, senior executives were still largely unaware of this, and so unable to manage it effectively.