Caroline Cavanagh breaks down the £117 billion annual cost of poor mental health in the UK—5% of GDP—and argues companies lose money through turnover and reduced performance. She calls for shifting how we relate to anxiety, moving beyond corporate lip-service to build genuine mental health cultures that improve the bottom line.
Chapters
The estimate, £117 billion a year through poor mental health. 5% of the GDP. Just stop for a minute. 5% of GDP is going poof because of poor mental health. So bring that down to a company level, people leaving, recruitment costs of getting a new person in. A new person is typically unproductive for at least 3 months, let alone the cost intellectually of the person who's taken all of that intellectual knowledge out of the company. There's the people who are not performing to their best, they're only on 50%. If you're in a bad place and you're worrying, you're not a problem solver, you're not coming up with sparky ideas, you're not firing on all cylinders. That's a cost to a company. Are you struggling a little bit with your self-confidence, your self-esteem? Everyone does at some point. If you don't control anxiety, it controls you. Anxiety needs you to be in charge. We need to change our relationship with anxiety. We need to put the sticky plasters away and pick up the reins to lead this really powerful emotion. I love working with organisations where the senior leadership team are not only paying lip service but really want to build a culture where mental health is actually a mental wealth. It's something that's going to make a difference to the bottom line. In my talks, I help people change their relationship with anxiety, help them understand what it can do for them. There is a real importance for the audience to be able to relate to the people that are talking to them, so I can stand up and go, I've had domestic abuse, I've had a miscarriage, this is me, I'm very close to you, and if I can do this, so can you. For me, the real magic moment is when you see light bulbs go on in people's heads, or they just go, yeah, I get it, and that is just a magical moment, and I saw lots of that happening today. You make your life better, but the wonderful thing is by you being less stressed, happier, more content, It ripples out and touches other people too. It's not selfish to look after yourself. And if everyone was to take a step outside of their comfort zone and keep practicing and keep growing, wow, the impact that could have on you as a company is phenomenal. When you have leadership of your mind, you have leadership of anxiety, and that is a mental strength that can really define us. So by going on a stage and delivering a keynote, a training session in an organization, I've then given the same tools to more people. So it's selfish not to do it. And the fact that I absolutely love it is just a bonus.
