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The Reality of Addiction & Mental Illness in The Workplace

The direct and indirect costs associated with mental health and addiction disorders in the workplace, such as lower productivity, increased absenteeism, greater accident and injury rates, and increased disability claims, are a serious concern for employers and policy makers. Recent studies show the significance of this issue for businesses.

Workplace stress contributes to:

19% of absenteeism costs

40% of turnover costs

55% of EAP costs

30% of short and long term disability costs

60% of workplace accidents

10% of drug plan costs

Great-West Life Assurance Company estimates that 30% of disability insurance claims relate to mental illnesses, and in the remaining 70%, a quarter or more have mental illnesses as a secondary or underlying diagnosis. Alberta’s share of disability claims related to mental health problems in the workplace accounts for $3.3 billion dollars annually.

By addressing mental health and addiction issues in the workplace it has been estimated that Canadian businesses have the opportunity to save, per year:

$700 million in stress-related absences

$2.22 billion in lost productivity due to mental illness

$6.6 billion in lost productivity due to all forms of clinical and sub clinical mental illness

Employees who access to treatment, could save their employer between $5000 to $10,000 per individual in the cost of prescription drugs, sick leave, and average wage replacement