Employee Mental Health and Performance: Two Sides of the Same Coin
- Mind Share Partners
- Aug 27
- 4 min read
Increasingly, senior leaders are recognizing that supporting mental health drives stronger business outcomes and should be treated as a strategic priority.
But some leaders believe that focusing “too much” on mental health will have the opposite effect. Current research debunks this fallacy and actually shows that neglecting employee well-being poses a far greater risk to performance, engagement, and retention.
At Mind Share Partners, we see mental health and performance as two sides of the same coin. Here’s why.
The Business Case for Linking Mental Health and Performance
Performance and mental health are inseparable. They’re two sides of the same coin that reinforce one another. The future of workplace performance depends on recognizing this connection and making well-being foundational, not an afterthought.
Supporting mental health creates happier and healthier employees. Our research with Qualtrics shows that employees who feel supported by their company around their mental health report less burnout, depression, and anxiety, more job satisfaction, more excitement to show up each day, and a greater likelihood to stay with their employer.
Supporting well-being translates to higher engagement. Research by Gallup finds employees who feel their well-being is supported are 21% more likely to be highly engaged at work. As Gallup notes, “Employee engagement and well-being, when brought together, create a high-performance employee environment in which the two inform and build on one another.” Deloitte similarly finds that every £1 invested in workplace mental health delivers £4.70 in returns (about $5.32 for every $1.13) in higher productivity, lower absenteeism, and stronger retention.
Supporting well-being predicts stronger business outcomes. A study from Indeed and Oxford University found that better employee well-being predicts stronger stock market performance. The benefits aren’t just for individual companies. The McKinsey Health Institute reports that addressing workplace mental health could boost global GDP by 12%.
Why It Matters Now
Against a backdrop of rapid change and ongoing uncertainty, mental health challenges remain formidable.
Mental health challenges are rising. Mind Share Partners’ research with Qualtrics shows that nearly 90% of U.S. workers experienced at least one mental health challenge in the past year—the highest rate we’ve recorded since 2019. Mental health is also now one of the leading reasons employees take workplace leave. According to Littler, 74% of employers have seen an uptick in requests for mental health-related leave or accommodations.
Work is getting more intense and complex. The “infinite workday,” as described by Microsoft, has become normalized: employees start early, navigate constant messages and meetings, and continue working into evenings and weekends. Meanwhile, front-line workers are facing staffing shortages and a changing regulatory landscape. Financial stress also weighs heavily, too, with half of Americans reporting they feel like they are “treading water” amid economic uncertainty.
And work cultures continue to discourage employees from speaking up about mental health at work. Fears of negative career consequences or even job loss mean that support is often sought too late after challenges have already taken a toll.
What Employers Can Do
Be clear that work and well-being are both priorities.
Amidst constant change and ambiguity ,employees look to leadership for guidance and clarity. Consistency matters here: a clear voice of support should echo across the entire leadership team. Some organizations are already leading the way. Hospitality leader Hyatt, for example, had several members of its leadership team share their personal experiences in a “Mental Health Matters” storytelling series to encourage more safety and openness across its global workforce.
Align your business strategy with your well-being strategy.
Employees often tell us that while their company speaks positively about mental health, the reality of work doesn’t always reflect those values. In other words, leaders may “talk the talk” but struggle to “walk the walk.”
Aligning well-being with business goals doesn’t mean lowering expectations, it’s about empowering your people to achieve them. One example comes from Olly, a Bay Area–based vitamin and supplement company, which launched an internal Mental Health Advisory Committee. The committee serves as a voice to ensure that the company’s well-being efforts are integrated with its business priorities.
Equip managers to lead on well-being and work outcomes.
Managers play one of the most influential roles in shaping employees’ mental health and day-to-day experience of work. Yet too often, many managers feel unprepared to do so. Sometimes, it’s not knowing how to create psychological safety or navigating conversations around mental health at work. Other times, they are stuck between balancing corporate mandates with what motivates their team to work their best. The most effective organizations give managers clarity about business outcomes, along with enabling the trust, training, agency, and flexibility to achieve them.
About the authors
Bernie Wong, Movement Building & Research Lead
Bernie serves as the organization’s knowledge expert and oversees a variety of movement building initiatives at the national and state levels. He has led national studies on workforce mental health, and has written for Forbes, Harvard Business Review, HR Dive, and more. Bernie has a Master of Health Science (MHS) in Mental Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and in Sociology from UC Berkeley. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Public Health at the Tulane School of Public Health.
