Your best people are still losing to something
no spreadsheet tracks.
Every organization measures revenue, headcount, and turnover. Almost none measure the hours lost when a capable employee shows up exhausted, anxious, or quietly checked out. That gap is where profit disappears, one dysregulated nervous system at a time.
The numbers behind the problem.
Lost globally each year to depression and anxiety in reduced productivity, with 12 billion working days lost annually and a $4 return for every $1 invested in treatment.
Chisholm et al., The Lancet Psychiatry, 2016 (WHO-led)
Of global GDP lost to employee disengagement — over $10 trillion a year — with only about 1 in 5 employees engaged at work worldwide.
Gallup, State of the Global Workplace, 2026 report
Employees who show up but aren’t fully functioning cost businesses roughly ten times more than employees who are simply absent.
Global Corporate Challenge Insights, validated against the WHO’s HPQ
Figures compiled from public research for internal reference. Gallup’s cost estimate is updated annually and moves slightly with each release; the GCC presenteeism ratio is widely cited in trade press but its original primary report could not be directly verified — treat it as directionally reliable.
Stress doesn't stay in one seat.
A chronically stressed or burnt-out employee doesn’t just underperform in isolation. Research on workplace proximity shows that colleagues sitting nearby absorb measurable amounts of that person’s mood and output, whether that spillover is positive or negative.
“One person’s dysregulation becomes an entire team’s tax.”
Based on Housman, Minor & Greenbaum’s seating-proximity findings: roughly 10% of a worker’s performance is shaped by whoever sits nearest.
Nervous system regulation isn't a perk. It's the upstream fix.
- Chisholm et al., “Scaling-up treatment of depression and anxiety: a global return on investment analysis,” The Lancet Psychiatry (2016), WHO-led.
- Gallup, “State of the Global Workplace” (2026 report), on employee engagement and global GDP loss.
- Global Corporate Challenge Insights on presenteeism cost ratios, referenced against the WHO’s Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (HPQ).
- Housman & Minor, “Toxic Workers” and related seating-proximity performance spillover research, Harvard Business School Working Paper.