The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly reshaped norms across industries. ComPsych Corporation, a leader in organizational mental health, wellbeing and absence management recently shared new data that demonstrates just how profound of an impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on employee leave, highlighting a continued and concerning elevation in employee leaves of absence.
According to the data, overall leaves of absence increased 30% between 2019 and 2024 with a staggering 300% increase when looking specifically at mental health-related leaves of absence.
However, despite these sizable increases from prior to the pandemic, the data does point towards stabilization. While last year’s analysis showed a 33% increase in mental health leaves in 2023 over 2022, from 2023 to 2024, levels remained flat year-over-year. The same was also true for leaves of absence.
“The pandemic fundamentally reset norms in absence management for employers,” said Paul Posey, ComPsych CEO. “In the ‘new normal,’ we’re seeing elevated levels of leave across the board, and especially for mental health. This means employers need to reevaluate both their approach to absence management and overall employee wellbeing to foster workforces that thrive.”
While employee leaves of absence are significantly elevated from the pre-pandemic levels, and particularly for mental health reasons, the data shows that employer behavioral health and wellbeing services can move the needle. According to the report, on average employees who take a leave of absence for any reason and use their employer-provided behavioral health services return to work six days sooner than those who don’t.
Similarly, the data shows that employees who take designated mental health leave and do not use available mental health services, end up increasing their leave duration by 12%, compared to employees who do access mental health services. For employees who take leave for other reasons, such as surgery or pregnancy/maternity-related leaves, the duration often increases from 12% to 15% respectively, for those who do not access employer-provided behavioral services.
“The data shows that engaging in behavioral services helps individuals, and ultimately their teams, by getting them back to work sooner,” said Dr. Jennifer Birdsall, Chief Clinical Officer at ComPsych. “It’s especially encouraging to see this remains true regardless of the leave reason – mental health, physical, parental – as it demonstrates investing in wellbeing is beneficial across diverse employee populations and life events.”
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