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Mental Health Matters: A Guide to Organisational & Personal Resilience

Resilience Institute · Weekly Resilience Brief · 8 minute read

A landmark 2023 study found one in two people worldwide will experience a mental health disorder by age 75, based on WHO survey data spanning over 150,000 people across 29 countries.
WHO estimates depression and anxiety alone cost the global economy 12 billion working days and US$1 trillion in lost productivity every year.
A genuine mental health strategy needs both organisational commitment, culture, policy, trained leaders, and real personal practice, physical, social, digital, and emotional habits that actually support wellbeing day to day.

One in two people will experience a mental health disorder at some point in their lives. That’s the finding of a landmark 2023 study by researchers John McGrath, Ronald Kessler, and colleagues, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, drawing on World Health Organization survey data from more than 150,000 people across 29 countries, the largest coordinated study of its kind. Applied globally, that’s over 4 billion people personally touched by a mental health disorder in their lifetime.

Before diving in, and more importantly, to genuinely look after your own mental health in case reading a long article on this topic triggers anxiety, you’re welcome to scroll straight down to the personal and organisational action plans near the end. Otherwise, keep reading.

The effects of mental health disorders in the world of work have never been more visible. WHO estimates the global economy loses 12 billion working days every year to depression and anxiety alone, at a cost of US$1 trillion annually in lost productivity. What does that actually mean for you and your organisation? Read on to find out, with a real example.

Mental health issues and other stress-related disorders are recognised as leading causes of early retirement, high absenteeism, general health problems, weakened leadership, and reduced organisational efficiency. Mental health risk is also genuinely linked to newer pressures: rapid technology change, process overload, skills and agility gaps, digitalisation, and the sheer volume of information many people now have to process daily, sometimes called infobesity.

Do organisations need more reasons to tackle this seriously as part of a genuine resilience and wellbeing strategy? Before going further, let’s align on the actual terms so we’re discussing the same thing.

What Do We Actually Mean by Mental Health?

According to WHO, mental health is a state of mental wellbeing that enables people to cope with life’s stresses, realise their abilities, learn and work well, and genuinely contribute to their community. It’s also a basic human right, central to personal, organisational, and socio-economic development.

We can’t discuss mental health without addressing mental illness directly. Casual terms like “bonkers,” “crazy,” “psycho,” or “deranged” are still used, even by well-intentioned people, and they promote real rejection and stigma rather than understanding. The term mental disorder is broader, encompassing both diagnosable mental illnesses and crisis states that may not meet full diagnostic criteria: depression, bipolar disorder, burnout, anxiety disorders (including phobias, PTSD, panic disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, OCD, social anxiety), psychosis (including schizophrenia), substance use disorders, eating disorders, and behavioural addictions (screens, gambling, work, and others). Chronic stress itself can, in some cases, be understood as a mental disorder. Given how broad this territory genuinely is, it’s not surprising most people are affected at least once in their life.

This also can’t be covered without mentioning psychosocial risk. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work defines it as the risk of harm to a worker’s psychological or physical wellbeing arising from poor work design, organisation, and management, alongside a poor social context at work. Workplace stress is genuinely associated with poorer mental health, even though stress itself isn’t classified as a mental disorder.

What Mental Disorders Actually Cost Your Organisation

The US$1 trillion annual global productivity cost is a genuinely staggering headline figure. Translating it to a specific organisation takes a proper framework. One useful formula was developed by Ravi Tangri, a Canadian strategy and leadership expert and author of Stress Costs, Stress Cures, who is also certified with Resilience Institute. His formula, incorporating six weighted cost elements, is one of those presented by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work: 19% of absenteeism costs, 40% of staff turnover costs, 55% of Employee Assistance Programme costs, 30% of short- and long-term disability costs, 60% of workplace accident costs (professional causes only), and 100% of costs related to workers’ compensation and stress-related legal claims.

Applied to a real example: a Switzerland-based company with roughly 3,000 employees, an average absenteeism rate of 4%, a below-average turnover rate of 3%, modest EAP spend, disability and workplace accident costs under €1 million, and no workers’ compensation claims, still reached an estimated €3.9 million in annual stress and psychosocial risk costs. That’s a genuinely sobering number for an organisation that looks, on paper, like it’s managing things reasonably well.

A Guide to Implementing Mental Health in Your Organisation

Beyond the direct cost savings, taking mental health seriously genuinely helps organisations manage economic pressure, develop more authentic, empathic, and adaptive leadership, recruit increasingly scarce talent, advance real diversity, equity, and inclusion, and reduce quiet quitting and presenteeism.

Conduct a Genuine Needs and Risk Analysis

Use a robust resilience or mental health diagnostic, or a proper health risk assessment tool. What actually gets measured is what actually gets addressed.

Build a Genuinely Inclusive Culture

Actively end stigma and discrimination by raising real awareness and breaking the silence and taboo that still surround mental health at work.

Set Real Policies and Regulations

Cover overtime, leave, harassment, ethics and compliance, code of conduct, and psychological safety directly. A dedicated pillar or pilot group focused on mental health and psychosocial risk can genuinely help drive this.

Train and Coach Your Leaders Directly

A manager’s skills, behaviours, and habits have a genuine, direct link to the mental health of their team. Leaders need real training to detect risk, including psychosocial risk, and to manage their own mental health, emotions, and chronic stress alongside their team’s.

Offer Genuinely Targeted Training Programmes

The right content depends on your specific assessment and needs analysis, but strong candidates include mental health first aid, sleep and fatigue, stress and change management, resilience, suicide prevention, and addiction awareness, especially tailored for younger employees. Measure, map, and evaluate outcomes, and revise what isn’t working.

Get the Right Resources in Place

Depending on budget: a designated person of trust, an internal mediator, occupational health nurses, trained mental health first aiders, or structured group discussion forums can all genuinely help.

Your Personal Guide to Improving Your Mental Health

Around World Mental Health Day each 10 October, it’s worth reinforcing a few genuinely practical, individual habits: looking after yourself physically, socially, emotionally, mentally, and digitally all have a real, cumulative impact on your own mental health.

Make Real Time for Physical Care

Stay physically active; Harvard Health Publishing notes exercise can have an effect on depression comparable to medication for some people. Protect your sleep, aim for enough deep sleep especially around seasonal clock changes, and eat well: plenty of fruit and vegetables, omega-3-rich foods, protein, dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and legumes.

Keep a Genuine Support Network Close

Family, friends, or even pets, real social interaction has a genuine, positive impact on brain function and mental wellbeing.

Be Deliberate About Digital Consumption

Nurture real, offline connection, and seek support directly when you genuinely can’t switch off. It’s possible to navigate a digital-heavy life with real resilience rather than simply being carried by it.

Explore Complementary Options

Relaxation, meditation, hatha yoga, massage, support groups, bright light therapy, or music therapy can all genuinely support wellbeing alongside anything else you’re doing.

Practise Genuine Self-Compassion and Gratitude

Be kind to yourself directly. Kindness and self-compassion are associated with activation in the brain’s reward circuitry, involving neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, contributing to genuine feelings of satisfaction and wellbeing. Practising gratitude consistently is also linked to meaningful improvements in mental health over time.

Reducing psychosocial and mental health risk is a genuinely major issue for organisations, one that shows real ability to be efficient and sustainable when properly tackled. Cost, productivity, and legal obligations all drive this conversation, but it’s also a genuine public health issue: because it reaches nearly every active member of the labour market, the workplace remains a fundamentally important player in promoting mental health across the wider population.

One in two people will face this. The real question isn’t whether your organisation, or you personally, will encounter it. It’s whether you’re genuinely prepared when you do.

Written by Delphine Caprez, Corporate Health Consultant, Author, and Senior Consultant at Resilience Institute.

Sources:
McGrath, J.J., Kessler, R.C., et al. (2023). Age of onset and cumulative risk of mental disorders: a cross-national analysis of population surveys from 29 countries. The Lancet Psychiatry.
Exercise is an all-natural treatment to fight depression (2021), Harvard Health Publishing.
Mental Health First Aid (2019), ensa, Swiss Foundation Pro Mente Sana, Zürich.
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2014), Calculating the costs of work-related stress and psychosocial risks.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to some of the most common questions about this topic.

Is it really true that half of people will experience a mental health disorder?

Yes. A landmark 2023 study by McGrath, Kessler, and colleagues, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, analysed WHO World Mental Health Survey data from over 150,000 people across 29 countries and found roughly half the population will develop at least one mental disorder by age 75, the largest coordinated study of its kind to date.

How can an organisation actually calculate its own mental health costs?

One established approach, developed by consultant Ravi Tangri and presented by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, weights six cost categories: absenteeism, turnover, EAP usage, disability costs, workplace accidents, and legal/compensation claims. Applied to real organisations, the total can be substantially higher than expected, even for companies with seemingly average metrics.

What's the difference between mental health, mental illness, and psychosocial risk?

Mental health is a positive state of wellbeing that allows someone to cope with life's demands and contribute meaningfully. Mental disorder is a broader term covering diagnosable illnesses and crisis states, including depression, anxiety disorders, burnout, and more. Psychosocial risk, as defined by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, refers specifically to the risk of psychological or physical harm arising from poor work design, organisation, or management.