Home topics workplace human-resources-blogs HR Small Business HR Time to stop ignoring the evidence: a healthy workforce fosters a healthy bottom line Jason Dooris July 4, 2017 With winter well and truly kicking in, it’s that time of the year when people get particularly vigilant about their own health. And there’s always that one person in the office who, upon hearing the hint of a sniffle, finds the culprit and demands they go home immediately to protect the well-being of everyone else. And while that person may be considered a bit of a hard-ass, those who make it through the colder months without having to spend any days tucked up in bed as a stuffy, flu-y mess secretly appreciate their efforts. Because of course it makes sense to send a sick person home. Someone who’s under the weather is not only going to be unable to perform at their best levels, they’ll also likely bring other people’s productivity levels down as well. Yet, many workplaces are still failing to realise this is also absolutely the case with people’s mental health and wellbeing. The financial argument for mental health A 2013 paper from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine offered resounding arguments in support of the notion that a healthy employee is a better employee – and those arguments factored in mental health as well. “Workers who suffer from physical or mental health problems are more likely to have higher rates of