The ROI of an Employee Assistance Programme: how investing in mental wellbeing can transform your company
Mental wellbeing is a fundamental part of the workplace that should not be overlooked. Which initiatives are best for your team while staying in balance with other business priorities?
A societal problem with an impact on your organization
The scale of the problem is considerable. According to the RIZIV (the Belgian National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance), half a million employees and self-employed people are currently at home for more than a year. Over the past five years, the number of long-term sick people due to burnout or depression has risen by 43%. This shows how urgent it is to invest in mental wellbeing.
This matters beyond social responsibility; it is also crucial for the financial health of your company. Mental health challenges bring considerable costs. Long-term sick leave is an important indicator of a company's financial performance. Research by GraydonCreditsafe and Securex shows that companies without long-term sick employees are 1.4 times as profitable. High staff turnover is also expensive. Companies with low staff turnover are 1.3 times as productive as companies where two out of three employment contracts ended within a year. The link is clear: healthy and satisfied employees contribute directly to a profitable company.
Financial impact and possible savings for your company
So there are several costs we could work on to save money. We list them below:
1 - Reduced turnover
A culture of good mental wellbeing lowers staff turnover, which reduces the costs of recruitment and onboarding.
2 - Costs of absenteeism
Mental health challenges lead to expensive absenteeism. With a wellbeing platform you can reduce absenteeism through early support.
3 - Productivity gains / presenteeism
Better mental health increases productivity. Giving employees the tools to learn to deal with stress better, or strengthening leadership and collaboration, can deliver directly measurable results.
4 - Benefits you cannot measure
Much more broadly than the points above, good mental health supports a positive company culture and makes your organization more agile, with all kinds of extra benefits (in people's personal lives too).
Measuring is knowing
To make the potential savings concrete, you can use an ROI calculator. With an ROI calculator you can map out the financial impact of your wellbeing programmes accurately. This tool gives insight into the possible savings and benefits of your investments in mental health, so you can make better-informed decisions about optimizing your company budget.
Example of the calculator we built:
Studies show that companies investing in mental health programmes can achieve an ROI of up to 5:1. This means that for every euro invested in mental healthcare, companies earn back 5 euros through savings and productivity improvements. By investing in a wellbeing platform, you can benefit from this positive ROI.
Based on our expertise from customer experiences and studies, we built our own calculator to make the overview of costs a lot easier. With our ROI calculator you can easily work out how much your company can save each year by investing in the wellbeing of your employees. You do this in the following steps:
- Choose your sector
- Enter the number of employees
- Fill in the different cost items
- Get insight into your (hidden) costs, as well as an estimate of the possible savings when you invest in a wellbeing platform. Go to the ROI calculator here.
For more detailed insights into the wellbeing of your employees, you can use surveys and HR analytics. Regular surveys provide valuable information about the satisfaction and mental wellbeing of your team. With tools such as Wenite dashboards you can collect important data on absenteeism, productivity and other crucial indicators. This data helps you spot trends and step in on time to improve the wellbeing of your employees.
A cost analysis for your company?
A platform like BloomUp can help your company achieve financial and operational benefits.
Do you have questions, or would you like to know more about how BloomUp can contribute to your organization specifically? Book a no-obligation cost analysis tailored to your company here.
Written by:
Benjamin Bergers
