Article: The costs of mental health issues cannot be ignored
We liked this article we read about a talk given to a Cambridge Network on World Mental Health Day, emphasizing that the cost of mental health issues to individuals, employers and to the wider UK economy can not be ignored.The article cites some illuminating statistics from a 2017 government paper called "Thriving at Work";
15% of workers have a mental health condition
300,000 with long-term mental health problems lose their UK jobs each year
the cost to employers is more than £33bn per year
the cost to the State is more than £24bn per year
and the cost to the whole economy is more than £73bn yearly.
The speaker of the event is on the advisory board for Britain's Healthiest Workplace Survey. It seeks to create awareness of the importance of workplace health and wellbeing and to build an evidence base for employers to make improvements, and for employees to engage with their modifiable risks.She recommended employers to ensure they provide good workplaces as well as good work; and follow evidence/best practice to address mental health issues in employees.You can read the full article here
Why was this interesting to us?
Mental health and cognitive wellbeing form a big part of our Cubex treatment plans for patients. At Cubex we don't just treat a hearing condition, we treat the whole person, and often with a hearing condition comes some form of cognitive decline or mental health concern. We have developed a unique set of cognitive wellbeing assessments which help us to identify various aspects of cognitive decline or psychological stress. Modern day hearing treatment technology is absolutely fantastic at treating a hearing condition and helping a sound to be clearly heard, but we actually hear sounds with our brains and that is why cognition plays such a huge role in healthy hearing.
We are pleased to see the government taking employee wellbeing so seriously and are researching new and improved ways to improve mental health in the workplace. Speak to Cubex about our corporate wellbeing programmes, utilising hearing treatment & mindfulness techniques to improve the cognitive health of teams around the country.