Thriving at Work: the Stevenson/Farmer Review

Thriving at Work aims to set out what employers can do to better support all employees, especially those with mental health problems, to remain in and thrive through work.

It explores the significant cost of poor mental health to UK businesses and the economy as a whole. The reports analysis, commissioned from Deloitte, finds that poor mental health costs employers between £33 billion and £42 billion a year, with an annual cost to the UK economy of between £74 billion and £99 billion.

The review, commissioned by the Prime Minister in January 2017, quantifies how investing in supporting mental health at work is good for business and productivity. It recommends that all employers, regardless of size or industry, should adopt six “mental health core standards” that lay basic foundations for an approach to workplace mental health.

The Review, led by Paul Farmer, the Chief Executive of MIND and Lord Dennis Stevenson, also details how large employers and the public sector can develop these standards further through a set of “mental health enhanced standards.” It also makes a series of recommendations to government and other bodies.