In addition to being the fastest growing category of short-term disability (STD) and long-term disability (LTD), Canadian research7 suggests that disabilities due to mental illness are also, on average, the longest and have the highest costs. On average, a disability episode lasted for 33 days, which a cost of about $9,027. In contrast, disability episodes for mental/behavioural illness were the longest and lasted 65 workdays with an average cost of about $18,000.

Lost productivity takes the form of both absenteeism and presenteeism. Absenteeism occurs when an employee is unable to be present at work due to mental illness while presenteeism occurs when employees are at work but experiencing illness-caused impairment resulting in reduced performance and productivity. A significant body of research indicates that presenteeism is a much larger and growing problem for employers and may count for up to 70% of all mental illness-related lost productivity costs. Absenteeism costs, although huge, are just the tip of the iceberg.

Medically depressed employees with reduced productivity due to unrecognized and untreated cognitive and emotional impairment, affect everyone. Co-workers experience mounting stress from increased workloads. Managers juggle work priorities and resources. Increased demands can cause employee dissatisfaction, and the burnout of top performers who take on too much of the work of others, while Owners and Executives worry about how to control their organization’s growing costs. Untreated mental illness rips through organizations, touching multiple employees along a delivery continuum. Swift and early intervention is vital to reduce costs and improve mental health and organizational outcomes.