Aon Risk Solutions has started to offer various mental health first aid courses as part of its suite of workplace health, wellbeing and risk services.

It held a mental health first aid course in Brisbane last week and plans to schedule more classes in the near future. The company has also donated $105,000 to mental health lobby group Beyondblue.

Client Director People Risk Jennifer Cameron says companies’ efforts to invest in workers’ mental wellbeing will lead to long-term benefits, with increased productivity and reduced absenteeism.

“Employers have a large opportunity to positively impact their employee’s mental health in the workplace,” she said.

“Providing adequate levels of support for stress and other mental health conditions has also been proven to impact the productivity and engagement levels of many organisations.”

Absenteeism and presenteeism – the practice of being present at one’s place of work for more hours than required – cost Australian companies billions of dollars every year.

One in five Australians suffers from some form of mental health problem in any given year, according to the National Report Card on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.

“By implementing mental health programs in the workplace, employers can significantly cut levels of absenteeism and presenteeism which currently cost Australian organisations billions of dollars each year,” Ms Cameron said.

Details on future mental health first aid course will be available on Aon’s corporate website when the dates have been finalised.