If your board asked what stress and poor mental health cost your organisation last year, could you answer? And could you explain how your wellbeing strategy is designed to reduce that cost?
In Great Britain, work-related stress, depression or anxiety accounted for an estimated 22.1 million working days lost in 2024/25. That represents people struggling and businesses losing capacity. Yet knowing the national picture is only useful if we understand what is happening in our own workplace. HSE
Look beyond the sickness absence figure
Deloitte’s 2024 research estimated that poor employee mental health costs UK employers £51 billion annually, with working while unwell and unable to perform at full capacity the largest contributor. Deloitte
So what does that actually mean for your business?
Look beyond sick pay. What are you spending on overtime, agency cover and replacing people who leave? What happens to deadlines, service quality and colleagues taking on additional work, and are you adding in the cost you won’t be measuring called presenteeism?
Look at where absence is concentrated, how long people are off and whether they return sustainably. Bring finance into that conversation.
If you know what your wellbeing provision costs, but not what the problem costs, how are you deciding where to invest?
Is your strategy tackling the causes?
This is where I would challenge you to look at the bigger picture.
Supporting someone who is struggling matters. But what happens when they return to the same unmanageable workload, difficult relationships or lack of manager support?
HSE’s Management Standards identify these organisational conditions as risks associated with poor health and increased sickness absence. Employers also have a legal duty of care to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of it’s employees, and yes health includes mental health. Employers also have a legal duty to assess work-related stress risks and act on them. HSE
This is not about assuming every mental health problem starts at work but it is about taking responsibility for the conditions we can influence and control
At Wellbeing Lead Academy®, our Mental Health Culture Change Framework connects employee insight, leadership accountability, policy, work design, manager capability, professional and peer support, communication and measurement. It helps organisations identify gaps and build a coordinated strategy rather than adding disconnected initiatives.
Start with your data and employee voice. Identify the pressures, agree what needs to change, assign responsibility and review whether those changes are working.
Develop managers to recognise concerns, hold supportive conversations and address work-related stress. Give them the time, tools and authority to act, including a route to escalate problems they cannot resolve themselves.
The aim is to prevent avoidable ill health, not pressure people to attend while unwell.
What this looked like at Adient
Adient’s HR Manager, Hayley Cheel, implemented the framework while undertaking our Level 5 Advanced Certificate in Strategic Wellbeing Leadership.
The standout changes were developing all their managers and embedding the work-related stress risk management programme detailed in the framework. Manager development became part of how the organisation identified and addressed risk, rather than a training session sitting separately from the strategy.
Reflecting on the results after 12 months, Hayley said:
“We’ve reduced our stress and mental health-related sickness absence by 41% in just 12 months. Seeing that impact in real numbers has reinforced just how vital a structured wellbeing strategy is for both our people and the business.”
Hayley Cheel, HR Manager, Adient Wellbeing Lead Academy
For me, the important lesson is the connection between a capable wellbeing lead, managers equipped to act and a structured approach to prevention.
Build prevention into your strategy
Join our free webinar, Preventing Work-Related Stress & Reducing Mental Health Sickness Absence, on 15 October 2026 at 12 noon.
You’ll receive our free 28-page practical guide and Culture Change Framework, showing you how to embed this approach into your strategy and measure its impact.
Reserve your free place and start building a strategy that tackles the causes.
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