Monitoring mental health in workplace prioritized

Mental health challenges are a widespread workplace concern, with their economic impact extending well beyond recorded sick leave to lost productivity, operational disruptions and repeated absences, according to a new white paper from International SOS.

The white paper, titled "The Hidden Cost of Sickness Absence", calls on employers to move beyond simply tracking sick leave and adopt a more systematic approach to identifying health risks, supporting employees and managing workforce productivity.

The report notes that depression and anxiety alone result in approximately 12 billion lost working days globally each year, costing the world economy around $1 trillion in lost productivity.

The challenge is also drawing attention in China, where research has highlighted the relationship between occupational stress and productivity, while policymakers are encouraging employers to strengthen workplace mental health support.

A study published in July in the Chinese Journal of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases found that 55.1 percent of 1,032 employees surveyed at five companies in Shanghai experienced occupational stress, while 60.9 percent reported productivity impairment.

Employees experiencing occupational stress had 1.88 times the odds of reporting productivity loss compared with those without such stress, after accounting for other factors. The researchers identified a significant association, although the cross-sectional study did not establish causation.

Beyond absence from work, another concern for employers is "presenteeism" — employees continuing to work despite health problems that undermine their effectiveness.

Yang Tianan, an associate professor of management at Beijing Institute of Technology, and fellow researchers argued in a 2025 academic article that presenteeism can impose substantial hidden costs on businesses, while conventional measures of employee absence often fail to capture the full impact of health-related productivity losses. The distinction is important for employers because reducing sick leave does not necessarily mean employees are working more effectively.

According to International SOS, the visible costs of employee illness, including wages and sick-leave payments, represent only part of the financial burden.

Additional costs arise from overtime and temporary replacement workers, delayed production, reduced service capacity, management time spent coordinating absences and the risk of employees returning before they can sustain their normal workloads.

The impact varies by industry. In professional services, it can reduce billable capacity or delay project delivery, International SOS said in response to questions posed by China Daily.

Research suggests that workplace management practices, rather than individual health interventions alone, can influence productivity outcomes. In a study involving healthcare workers from 64 hospitals across 28 Chinese cities, Yang and his coauthors found that greater supervisor and coworker support was associated with lower levels of presenteeism-related productivity impairment. Perceived fairness in the workplace also played an important role in these relationships.

The findings suggest that efforts to improve employee well-being may need to address management support, workloads and organizational practices alongside access to mental health services.

Yue Wei, medical director of International SOS China, said employers should not make the speed of an employee's return to work their sole measure of success. Instead, companies should identify employees who may need additional support, respect medical privacy and make appropriate workplace adjustments to help them return safely and sustainably, he said.

lijing2009@chinadaily.com.cn