Burnout Treatment – These are the Costs for a Company

More and more employees in companies see themselves confronted with work stress and pressure to perform. This could develop into burnout, reduced efficiency, and in the worst-case into an inability to work. Diagnosis: Burnout. For companies, healthy employees are the greatest asset. Therefore, burnout prevention is an important factor. Because the long-term consequences of burnout could be expensive. In this article you read why individual burnout treatment is so important and which are the costs for your company in the case of burnout(s).

Statistic Facts About the Diagnosis Burnout

Statistics show that the economic damage in 2006 was already about 117 billion euros . This was divided into 64,9% loss of productivity (76 billion €), 18,8% outpatient care (22 billion €), 8,6% inpatient care in hospitals (10 billion €) and 7,7% medication costs (9 billion €). In the year 2008, the costs in Germany alone were about 28,7 billion €. In 2018 the direct costs caused by mental illnesses already were around 44,4 billion euro. In 2018 the total costs because of psychological diseases amounted to about 147 billion € per year (DGGPN, 2018).

Burnout and Inability to Work

• The duration of sick leaves caused by mental diseases in the year 2019 was in average 43.2 days (TK, 2020).
• According to the German Gesundheitskasse AOK there had been 5.7 cases of inability to work in 1.000 members in Germany because of the diagnosis burnout (2018).
• This means a threefold increase of the diagnosis frequency in the last decade.
• While in 2005 the number of sick days was 13.9, the AOK already registered 12.5 days per 1.000 members in 2018.
• Speaking in numbers this means, referred to all the employees, who had a statutory health insurance in 2018, around 176.000 affected people with 3.9 million sick days.

Survey About Burnout in the Job (pronova BKK)

• Every second person in Germany feels threatened by burnout through work pressure
• 9 out of 10 Germans feel stressed and the pressure to perform in their job
• Six out of ten respondents sense burnout symptoms (long-term exhaustion, inner tension, and back pain)
• 53 percent of employees do not sleep well

Do you sometimes ask yourself: How stressed you or your employees are?

Consequences Because of Burnout at Work

Burnout is awfully expensive – for the health system as well as for companies. Though, the internal economical damage starts early. Consequences of burnout for employees are for example:

• Reduced individual work performance
• Increased error rate
• Additional burden for colleagues
• Anxious and insecure employees
• Loss of trust towards the management

Also, the company itself is affected by burnout. Negative factors are for example:

• daily sickness allowance
• loss of production
• long-term failures, thereby enormous loss of know-how
• burden for the corporate culture
• declined identification with the company

For many companies burnout prevention already is important, but maybe they do not know yet, how essential individual treatment is. But which costs result for companies , if the health of their employees is not good anymore?

How Much Does a Burnout Treatment Cost?

After the diagnosis burnout there are resulting immense costs out of this vicious circle, which is growing and growing after time. Depending on when the diagnosis is made, the costs for burnout treatment differ (JKU Linz, 2014).

Early Burnout Diagnosis

If the syndrome is diagnosed early enough, the mental burden is lower. For the wellbeing of the employees, this means at the same time that the burnout consequences are more manageable. To reduce the exhaustion and the inability to work, it takes about 10 hours of psychotherapy as burnout treatment. Nevertheless, the cost per employee is about 700 euros and 5 days of sick leave. Furthermore, there is a reduction of work performance around 5 percent in the first year.

Delayed Diagnosis and Burnout Treatment

If burnout is diagnosed later and the stress level of the employees is already moderate, the burnout costs for companies are already about 2300 euro and on average 15 days of sick days. Within the first year, the work performance decreases for 25 and in the 2-3 years after the diagnosis for 10 percent. Part of the burnout treatment is psychotherapy, medication, as well as GP and specialist visits.

Costs for Burnout Treatment When Diagnosed Late

If the pressure to perform and the working stress in employees is manifesting itself late as the diagnosis burnout, it costs about 31000 euro and 200 sick days. In the first year, the power to perform reduces itself about 100 percent and about 25-30 percent 2-3 years after the diagnosis. This includes for example hospital stay, rehabilitation, loss of work, and medication. Consequently, the affected person is 100 percent unable to work in the first year.

Burnout Treatment and Prevention

If some of your employees are diagnosed with burnout, especially individual care helps as burnout treatment (Harvard Business Review, 2021). Here, it is important to find out the reasons. In this context empathy is especially important. For oneself as well as for others. Studies show, that the empathy training helps in burnout prevention as well as in treatment.

In the case of burnout, psychological online counselling could help a lot. Because in this setting individual risks for burnout are found out. Through the online setting you get offered very low-threshold access to professional help: 24/7 availability, location-independent, and completely anonymous for all of those, who wish for it. Besides a high data protection standard and compatibility with the European General Data Protection Regulation, those are the main decision criteria of the corporate partners at Instahelp.

Another advantage is that the individual psychological online counselling is asynchronous and synchronous (self-based learning). Furthermore, for your company, this means, that the steps for burnout treatment or prevention are easy to implement. It is available at any locations in Europe. So, counselling is available in many languages. Affected employees can use the service 24/7.

How successful a company is, is strongly correlated with the health of the employees. It is not necessary that exhaustion, work stress and pressure to perform affect work performance. Therefore, it is important for you as a company, that you invest in burnout prevention. If there already are cases of the syndrome individual counselling helps. Maybe you are also interested in tipps how to get back to your job without problems? We wish you and your employees all the best. We are happy to support you with our offer for workplace health promotion.

Sources:
www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/92312/Jeder-Zweite-fuehlt-sich-von-Burnout-bedroht
hbr.org/2021/04/your-burnout-is-unique-your-recovery-will-be-too
www.care4core.at/burnout-erkennen-und-kosten-senken/
www.psych.mpg.de/2319598/Burnout_BroschureA5_171024LOW.pdf

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