As the last two years have shown, living and working during a pandemic has taken a toll on employee mental health – which could create a new risk and compound existing ones for organizations who ignore it.

The International SOS Risk Outlook 2022 surveyed nearly 1,000 risk professionals in 75 countries, finding that 56% of organizations plan to increase spending on both physical and mental health support in the next year. The reasoning: as a result of COVID-19, mental health issues have been the biggest productivity disruptor in 2021 – the first time this has entered the top 3 risks in the past six years.

Among their predictions for 2022, respondents expect COVID-19, Long COVID and mental health issues will be the top employee productivity disruptors next year as well, contributing to increased absence and continuity issues.

However they also expect these disruptions to stabilize by 2023, if organizations use health and security risk management to their advantage, supporting employee wellness and worker retention.

You can read the complete report here.