German Business Missing Out on €30.5 Billion by Ignoring Trust and Mental Health
27.06.2026 - 01:51:41 | boerse-global.de
A national prevention forum in Berlin has thrown a spotlight on the hidden economic cost of poor psychological wellbeing at work. The eleventh Präventionsforum, held on 23 June by Germany’s Nationale Präventionskonferenz (NPK), gathered some 200 experts to discuss workplace mental health. Their conclusions will feed into the country’s national prevention strategy — and for good reason. Already in 2024, mental disorders ranked as the third most frequent cause of sickness-related absences across German companies.
The scale of the lost opportunity is staggering. A study released in February 2026 by the business research institute BSI, based on a survey of 2,025 people in Germany, found that a stronger culture of trust could unlock an additional €30.5 billion in annual productivity. Broken down, €22.1 billion of that figure comes from reducing psychological strain, with the remaining €8.4 billion tied to physical factors. The construction sector, healthcare and retail stand to gain the most.
Programmes like “fit2work” already offer free counselling for employees and employers. Yet trade union experts from the ÖGB warn that men in particular often only seek help after a complete collapse. An estimated 20 to 25 percent of all working people suffer from burnout, according to the forum’s background materials.
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Beyond the conference floor, courts and regulators are reshaping the landscape. On 26 June, the Darmstadt State Social Court handed down a notable ruling: a lunchtime walk at home during remote work can now qualify as an insured work accident — provided the break directly serves maintaining the ability to work and is work-related in origin.
That same day, federal and state governments, together with social insurance bodies, agreed on a new care pathway for post-acute infection syndromes, including ME/CFS and Post-Covid. Social insurers will take on a central role in diagnosis and treatment going forward.
Tension is brewing over planned digital health legislation. The Berufsverband Deutscher Psychologinnen und Psychologen (BDP) has criticised the proposed Gesundheits-Digital-Gesetz (GeDIG), warning that company doctors could access employee data from the electronic patient record without the individual’s consent. The association is demanding strict data-protection safeguards.
Heat protection is becoming another flashpoint. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is pushing for binding EU rules that would mandate drinking breaks and guaranteed access to water. Speaking at a seminar in Palermo on 25 June, the organisation noted that the World Health Organization estimates 2.4 billion workers worldwide are exposed to excessive heat, resulting in millions of workplace accidents each year. Austria, for its part, issued a heat warning on 26 June, advising people to avoid strenuous physical activity.
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Meanwhile, the invisible burden of “Mental Load” — the disproportionate responsibility for household and family organisation that still falls mainly on women — is receiving renewed attention. The Arbeiterkammer (Chamber of Labour) is calling for this pressure to be factored more explicitly into workplace stress assessments.
Positive examples do exist. On 24 June, Zurich Insurance’s Austrian arm received the 2026 BGF award for outstanding occupational health management, lauded for its Vital-Coaching programmes and support for employees caring for relatives. The same day in Vienna, the state prize “Familie & Beruf” (Family & Career) was awarded to companies including illwerke vkw AG and Generali Versicherung AG, both recognised for family-friendly employer branding and concepts that help reconcile caregiving with a career.
