You cannot fix retention without talking about mental health

Every leader is thinking about retention right now. How do we keep good people, build resilient teams, and create a workplace where people want to stay?

The answer might not be in your salary band or your HR strategy. It might be in how supported your people feel when they are under pressure. 

Because when mental health is ignored, people leave. Sometimes quietly. Sometimes suddenly. And often before they tell anyone why. 

What we are seeing 

At Maersk Training, we work with frontline teams across maritime, offshore energy, and logistics. The pattern is familiar. People show up, do their job, and perform well—until they don’t. Then they burn out, switch off, or disappear. 

In the 2025 North Sea Workforce Wellbeing Survey, nearly half of all offshore workers said they were less likely to stay in their role if they felt unsupported with mental health. Nearly one in three met the clinical threshold for depression during rotation. 

And the World Health Organization estimates that poor mental health costs the global economy over one trillion US dollars every year in lost productivity. 

According to the PwC Employee Financial Wellness Survey (2023), financially stressed employees are nearly five times more likely to be distracted at work, and twice as likely to be looking for a new job. This connects directly to how people experience support at work. 

Retention is not just a pipeline problem. It is a support problem. 

Why people leave 

People rarely leave over one bad day. They leave after months of silence, stress, and feeling like they cannot talk about what is really going on. 

This is especially true in operational environments, where resilience is part of the identity. Many workers still worry that asking for help will make them seem weak or unreliable. 

If leaders are not creating space to talk about mental health, that silence becomes the culture. 

And silence costs talent. 

Mental health is part of employee experience 

There is a growing body of evidence that shows a clear return on mental health investment. According to WHO, companies that implement training, awareness, and clear policies on mental health can expect higher engagement, better collaboration, and stronger retention. 

At Maersk Training, we have built mental health awareness into our leadership and culture portfolio for that reason. It is not about compliance or soft skills. It is about how people feel about coming to work, especially when things are difficult. 

We support organisations through: 

• Mental Health First Aid courses 

• Psychological Safety workshops 

• Custom coaching for team leaders 

• Integrated human factors and wellbeing modules in safety programmes 

All of it helps build a culture where people feel seen, heard, and supported. That is what makes people stay. A better question for leaders Instead of asking how to retain people, we should be asking, “What is it like to work here when someone is struggling?” If that answer is silence, we have work to do. People do not leave because they are weak. They leave because they feel alone. Mental health support is not a cost. It is a commitment to your people, and to keeping them. 

Sources 

• North Sea Workforce Wellbeing Survey Report 2025 (Step Change in Safety / Marine Safety Forum / Mental Health in Energy)

• World Health Organization (2022), Mental Health Policy Brief 

• WHO (2022), Guidelines on Mental Health at Work 

• PwC Employee Financial Wellness Survey (2023)