Want a $10 return on every $1 spent? Help your colleagues with this critical issue…

It pays big to invest in workplace mental health.

Companies that provide basic training for managers on how to identify and respond to employees’ mental health issues see major reductions in absences from work and other negative effects of depression on workplace productivity, a new study from the Black Dog Institute, an Australian nonprofit that works on mental health issues, and the University of New South Wales in Sydney found.

The savings for employers who implement training, according to the study, ultimately average out to a return on investment of $9.98 for every $1 spent, according to researchers. “Good managers know what is going on in their employees’ lives,” Theresa Nguyen, vice president of policy and programs at Mental Health America said. “If there’s stress involved they are more proactive about opening a conversation on whether someone needs a mental health day or sick day, so [the employee] knows it’s OK to ask before they need it.”

In 2013, Canada announced “The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace,” a voluntary set of rules and guidelines to prioritize mental health and avoid psychological harm at work, but the U.S. has no such guidelines. “America has always struggled with developing standards for this,” Nguyen said. “There has always been a desire to be more progressive and create standards from a federal perspective but I don’t know if there is the political will to make that happen.”

How much does the U.S. economy lose because of depression?

The U.S. loses about $5,524 per working person each year, or 0.5% of total gross domestic product, because of depression, according to a study published in a journal of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology in November 2016. It loses an additional $390 per working person each year because of absences from work due to depression, or another 0.03% of GDP.

The latest findings, published in the Lancet Psychiatry on this week, come as corporations increasingly prioritize their employees’ mental health, said Rachel Bitte, a human resources expert at Jobvite, a job recruiting software company.

“We’ve been focused on the physical well-being of employees in the U.S. for a long time, but companies are just starting to learn more about the importance of the mental aspect,” she said. “With the proper education and awareness, it’s oftentimes easier in the workplace to identify issues affecting the mind and prescribe help because we engage with our colleagues eight hours a day, five days a week.”

What happens when staff undergo mental-health training?

Only 0.14% of managers list any kind of mental health training on their resumes, according to an analysis of more than 815,000 resumes by career insight company Zippia. This does not mean that fully 99.86% of managers have no training in mental health counseling whatsoever, but it does indicate “it’s not currently considered intrinsic to a manager’s responsibilities, or at least not valuable enough to merit space on a resume,” said David Luther, a content creator there.

In the study, some 88 managers responsible for nearly 4,000 staffers underwent a basic mental -health training program on how to spot and respond to employees’ mental health problems. Six months later, researchers measured changes in work absences due to sickness. Employees whose managers received the training reduced their illness-related absences by 18%, or 6.45 hours per employee over six months. Meanwhile, employees of managers who weren’t trained saw sick-related time off jump by 10%.

How employees are managed has a huge effect on their mental health

Recognizing these issues, training staff and creating an accepting environment for employees are critical, she said. “These are all things that mattered to people more than fair pay. It goes a long way to think about the ways managers are supporting their staff members.”

Training in the study focused on three main topics: How to recognize mental illness, the responsibility of senior officers to address it, and effective skills for discussing mental health matters with staff. Managers were shown models of positive and negative responses to mental health issues in staff.

The training followed a “RESPECT” system, which stands for the following principles: Regular contact is essential — the earlier the better — supportive and empathetic communication, practical help rather than psychotherapy, which is something an employee can seek privately. encourage employees to seek help, consider return-to-work options and, of course, tell them the door is always open and arrange next contact.