Employee wellbeing has never been such a popular workplace discussion. With bosses seeing growing absences due to mental ill-health, could mental health days be the right intervention?
Traditionally, the workplace was where employees left their personal lives, including issues around mental health, at the door.
Once, talking about mental health at work might have seemed unprofessional, but it is now necessary, and you only have to look at official statistics to see why.
Mental health at work – a worrying picture
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) – the national regulatory body for workplace health and safety – stress, depression, and anxiety were among the disorders that accounted for the majority of lost employee workdays between 2024 and 2025. On average, each employee who suffered from stress, depression, or anxiety took 22.9 days off work that year – a great loss, not only for employee wellbeing, but for workplace productivity.
According to 2024 figures from Mental Health First England (MHFA), poor mental health is not only causing absenteeism from work, but also for prolonged periods. The figures found that 45% of adults who took time off work for mental health reasons did so for one month or longer.
If the results of MHFA’s survey are to be taken seriously, it’s not only decreased productivity that should be a concern, but also potentially mounting workloads for remaining employees and associated stress, as well as rising recruitment and onboarding costs if employees decide to leave their workplace permanently due to mental health reasons.
Aside from the social necessity of looking after employees beyond paying salaries, when it comes to customers, stakeholders, and future job-seekers, a high employee exit rate is not good for business reputation or performance. In fact, MHFA says work-related mental health issues cost the UK economy £57.4bn each year.
Another element of mental ill-health at work is burnout. Acknowledged as an issue by the World Health Organisation (WHO), burnout is the consequence of sustained mental health pressures, leading to a depletion of energy, wellbeing and motivation.
According to Mental Health UK’s 2026 burnout report, out of the workers who took time off due to high or extreme pressure or stress, 27% said they did not receive any support when they returned.
Consequently, burnout, like other examples of mental health issues at work, needs to be addressed by employers before they become worse, and could implementing mental health days as a workplace wellbeing policy help?
What are mental health days, and can they help?
Mental health days are approved absences from work, whether paid or unpaid, that enable employees to proactively care for their mental health, rather than taking time off work when the negative effects hit. Mental health days may be spent with friends or family, or by simply resting, depending on employee preferences and needs.
The idea behind allowing mental health days at work is so that employees can make a positive mental health intervention and prevent things like stress, burnout or anxiety from manifesting and causing real damage to their wellbeing and career.
In theory, mental health days can work as short-term absences to prevent more damaging, longer-term absences from the workplace due to poor mental health.
With employees increasingly valuing employers who prioritise mental health and wellbeing at work, companies that take it seriously could see higher productivity, team morale and even retention if employees feel valued and cared for beyond their output.
For employers looking to make mental health days an official workplace policy, it needs to be documented as such and include a clear process on how to request it and be openly communicated to reduce any stigma.
Here’s what a series of business leaders had to say about mental health days…
According to Bertrand Stern-Gillet (pictured above), CEO of Health Assured UK, a health and wellbeing services provider, preventative measures around mental health are the best course of action: “Managers should be trained to identify signs of poor mental health and create a culture where employees feel comfortable talking about their mental health,” he explains.
“Your managers are your ear to the ground, ask them for suggestions about what they think would encourage a culture where people feel comfortable speaking about their mental health needs.”
Even if mental health days aren’t yet a company policy, he warns employers not to discriminate against employees for wanting to take them. “It’s worth noting that employers must comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Equality Act 2010, ensuring employees are not discriminated against for taking mental health days, especially if their mental health condition qualifies as a disability. In that case, employers may need to make reasonable adjustments to their role or working arrangements to prevent burnout and illness.”
Mental health days have obvious benefits, says Paul Kelly, Employment Team Head at UK law group Blacks Solicitors, including reduced absenteeism and presenteeism. “This helps prevent more serious conditions from developing and lowering long-term sickness absence,” he explains.
“From a recruitment and reputational perspective, mental health days can be an attractive benefit in a competitive labour market and demonstrate a progressive approach to employee welfare, as well as evidencing an employer’s commitment to its obligations under UK health and safety and equality legislation,” he adds.
However, there are challenges too, including “the risk of misuse where additional leave is taken opportunistically, alongside increased administrative and staffing costs, particularly in shift-based or resource-constrained sectors.”
As such, Kelly believes that good implementation requires carefully drafted policies, updated HR systems and targeted manager training to ensure consistency and avoid grievances or discrimination claims.
He advises employers to consider “eligibility, the relationship to existing sick leave entitlements, evidence requirements, confidentiality safeguards, and manager training on implementation.”
At strategic marketing agency Hallam, CEO Jake Third (pictured left), offers employees what he calls mental health provisions, rather than designated mental health days.
“Treating mental health days differently only reinforces the distinction between mental and physical health.
“We don’t believe in that separation. Anxiety or depression can be just as debilitating as the flu. Instead, we offer comprehensive, free therapy and trained mental health first aiders.
“This proactive approach enables staff to tackle the root causes of mental health challenges rather than treating mental health as a lesser form of illness.
“Our team has consistently told us that this approach feels more supportive.”
For Pauline Vuyelwa Muswere-Enagbonma, Group Chief Executive of Jessamy Care Group, a care, housing, workforce and technology ecosystem, mental health days work when implemented properly.
“If I were advising an employer, I would recommend the following design principles: Make it equitable and role-aware. This means defining how the policy operates in shift-based environments, including coverage expectations and notice periods where possible. Then, keep privacy intact. Employees should not be required to disclose diagnoses or personal details to access a mental health day. Also, create boundaries. Set a reasonable annual allowance, define whether they are paid, and align them with existing sickness absence frameworks to avoid confusion.
“You must train managers. The policy will live or die by how line managers respond. Training should include sensitive conversations, non-discriminatory practice, and consistent decision-making.
“Safeguarding service continuity is also key. In regulated or customer-facing operations, ensure a contingency rota/float capacity so service users or clients are not destabilised.
Finally, measure outcomes. Track utilisation, repeat patterns, retention, employee feedback, and operational impact. The goal is not ‘more days taken’; it is fewer crises and better sustainability.”
Similarly, for UK business commentator and adviser, Jason Tassie, mental health days need to be added to improve an organisation, rather than being a plaster for poor workplace practices. “Try not to just turn mental health days into a tick-box benefit,” he warns. “And don’t rely on mental health days to compensate for structural problems like understaffing or unclear priorities.” Tassie believes mental health days work best when “used as part of a system, and not a standalone fix.”
He adds, “where culture and workloads are in good shape, mental health days genuinely support business performance. Where they don’t, then the policy exists on paper but not in reality.”
The conclusion on mental health days
So that’s the story on mental health days as a workplace policy.
While there are some potential benefits, including reduced absenteeism and greater productivity and can be a positive intervention against long-term absences from work, as some of these business leaders have argued, mental health days cannot be effective workplace policies on their own. They need to be implemented and measured effectively for success.
