Publication Date
Fall 1-20-2026
Presentation Length
20 minutes
College
College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Department
Mental Health Counseling, School of
Student Level
Graduate
Presentation Type
Talk/Oral
Summary
This study examines how medium and large formal companies’ perceptions of employee mental health changed between 2020 and 2025, especially after the impact of the COVID-19 pan demic, considering its organizational and economic impacts. Based on a narrative review of literature, we sought to understand the reasons why mental health care in a formal corporate environment should no longer be seen only as a cost and should instead occupy a central place in corporate investments and strategies. The results show that the significant increase in absences due to mental disorders, coupled with the economic and productivity losses associated with absenteeism and presenteeism, has made the continuation of traditional management models outdated and unsustainable, showing that formal absences represent only part of the economic impact, since losses associated with presenteeism tend to occur less visibly and are difficult to measure quantitatively. In addition, regulatory changes, such as the mandatory management of psychosocial risks, have expanded the responsibility of companies and strengthened the need for preventive practices in order to minimize cases of mental illness and their costs to society. Recent research shows that investing in emotional well-being in the workplace brings measurable returns, increasing productivity, improving engagement, reducing employee turnover, and strengthening organizational culture. It can be concluded that mental health initiatives in companies are no longer peripheral and sporadic but have become a strategic element for companies seeking sustainability, engagement, conscious productivity, and organizational performance.
Recommended Citation
McMillan, Patricia M.; Sousa, Antônia Márcia Rodrigues; and Mendes, Maria Ianka Soares, "From Cost to Investment: The Evolution of Mental Health Perception in Medium and Large-Scale Corporate Environments Between 2020 and 2025" (2026). SPARK Symposium Presentations. 1238.
https://repository.belmont.edu/spark_presentations/1238
Comments
This work was developed and written in Brazil, following the standards of the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT - Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas), specifically NBR 6023 for bibliographic references and NBR 14724 for academic works. The ABNT style is the official and mandatory formatting standard for academic and scientific publications in Brazilian educational and research institutions, differing from APA Style and other international citation formats. For the presentation here in US, I will use the APA on my slides. Please let me know if I need format the full text using APA.