- Global study of more than 13,000 workers finds major life events – from returning to work after becoming a parent , to getting divorced and losing a loved one – can have a significant impact on people's health and wellbeing, contributing to an estimated $636 billion in lost productivity and 1.7 billion working days lost globally each year
- Economic modelling suggests earlier mental health support before or during major life events could save $42 billion and recover 108 million working days annually
- Those who took proactive steps such as talking to friends and family, seeking professional support or speaking to a healthcare provider, took an average of five fewer days off work due to better health, with 7 in 10 wishing they had taken earlier action to support their mental health before or during a major life event
- Findings reveal a significant opportunity to improve health, boost the economy and help people navigate life's biggest moments through earlier mental health support
Taking a more proactive approach to mental health before and during major life events presents one of the biggest untapped opportunities to improve wellbeing and workplace productivity, according to new global research and economic modelling from Bupa and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).
The global research explores how five major life events – including returning to work after becoming a parent, losing a loved one, caring for a relative, getting divorced and getting married – affect health, absenteeism and workplace productivity. While these life experiences are common and often predictable, with one-in-six (15%) likely to experience at least one in any given year, the findings suggest many people underestimate the role that proactive mental health support can play in helping them prepare for and navigate life's biggest moments with greater confidence and resilience. Earlier support can also help reduce the knock-on impact these events have on physical health.
Economic modelling by Cebr predicts that these major life events cost the global economy $636 billion a year, with 1.7 billion working days lost due to their impact on health and wellbeing.
Although major life events are an inevitable part of life, seven in 10 (70%) people say they wish they had taken proactive steps sooner to protect their mental and physical wellbeing – a consistent finding across every life moment studied. The research also found that those who proactively supported their mental health, for example by talking to friends and family, seeking professional support or speaking to a healthcare provider, took an average of five fewer days off work due to better health and wellbeing than those who did not.
Respondents who had experienced one or more of these life events reported reduced concentration at work and difficulty focusing (54%), emotional overwhelm (70%) and lower confidence (53%), all indicators of presenteeism that contribute to lower overall economic productivity.
Together, these findings highlight a clear opportunity to improve mental wellbeing and workplace productivity by encouraging proactive mental health support before and during major life events.
Professor Melvin Samsom, Chief Medical Officer at Bupa, said: "People invest time preparing financially and practically for life's biggest moments, yet many of us give far less attention to our mental health. What stands out in this research is how many people wish they had sought support earlier. Whether becoming a parent, caring for a loved one, or coping with loss, our mental wellbeing shapes how we experience those moments.
“At Bupa, we believe more needs to be done to help people take a proactive approach to their mental wellbeing, and recognise when they may need support sooner, helping make it easier for people to access that support and navigate life's biggest moments with greater confidence and resilience.”
Making it easier for people to access support earlier is a key part of Bupa's commitment to preventative healthcare. Through its £140m investment in Mindplace, Bupa is building a global network of 200 mental health centres by 2028, with 52 already open, helping more people take a proactive approach to their mental health.
Mindplace centres offer walk-in services including counselling, psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), alongside practical tools and expert guidance to help people look after their mental health and access support earlier when they need it.
The research also highlights an opportunity for employers to take a more preventative approach to supporting employees through major life events. By encouraging proactive mental health support, recognising the signs someone may be struggling earlier, and helping people access support sooner, organisations may be able to reduce the associated impact on employee wellbeing, productivity, absence and performance.
Commenting on the findings, Liam Daly, Senior Economist at Cebr, said: “Life's biggest moments, the joyful ones and the difficult ones alike, rarely stay confined to our personal lives. They follow us into work too, often in ways that are easy to underestimate.
“Drawing on primary research across multiple national markets, we set out to measure how much these moments disrupt working life, and what that disruption is actually worth.
“The findings are significant and point to a key factor shaping the scale of the cost for any given person: preparation. People who take proactive steps to support their mental and physical health around these moments tend to see a smaller dip in productivity than those who don’t.
“Together, the findings offer a clearer picture of just how much major life events can affect people and their ability to focus at work, and how much of the resulting personal and economic impact could be reduced if people had the chance to prepare for them.”
Notes to editors
About Bupa
Established in 1947, Bupa's purpose is helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives and making a better world. We are an international healthcare company serving 68 million customers worldwide. With no shareholders, we reinvest profits into providing more and better healthcare for the benefit of current and future customers. Bupa has businesses around the world, principally in Australia, the UK, Spain, Poland, Chile, Hong Kong SAR, India, Türkiye, Brazil, Mexico and New Zealand. We also have associate businesses in Saudi Arabia
About Mindplace by Bupa
Mindplace centres offer walk-in services, appointments and therapy programmes, including cognitive behavioural therapy and counselling, delivered by qualified professionals. Bupa has committed to opening 200 Mindplace centres globally by 2028 as part of its wider investment in mental health services and preventive healthcare.
About Cebr
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) is an independent economics consultancy, renowned for delivering rigorous, evidence-based insight to inform strategic decision-making. Established in 1992, Cebr specialises in economic forecasting, impact analysis, and policy research, working with leading UK and global organisations across the private and public sectors. Its clients include multinational corporations, financial institutions, government departments and trade associations. For more information, please visit cebr.com
About the research
The research is based on a custom survey of 13,000 people in employment across the UK, Spain, the U.S. and Australia who had experienced a major life event within the past five years. Participants were asked about any preparation they had taken beforehand, the impact on their mental and physical health and on their productivity, and their own reflections on the experience.
For the quantitative analysis, productivity loss (combining absenteeism and presenteeism) was estimated in two ways: as lost working days and as lost economic output. These individual-level estimates were then scaled up to the market level using the estimated probability that a worker experiences a major life event in a given year.
To produce global estimates, results from the high-income regions surveyed were adjusted to estimate equivalent productivity losses in upper-middle-, lower-middle-, and low-income regions. Two types of adjustment were made. The first accounted for differences in GDP per worker across regions, since this affects how a day of lost productivity translates into economic value. The second accounted for behavioural differences among workers, based on the assumption that in lower-income regions a major life event has a comparatively smaller effect on measured productivity. This reflects both a higher share of informal labour, and weaker social safety nets and paid leave provisions, which mean workers are more likely to return to work quickly out of financial necessity even while still affected by the event.
This approach allowed the analysis to estimate both the aggregate economic cost of each major life event and the difference in productivity loss between workers who took preparatory measures and those who did not.
