Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Huffington described how stress and burnout were having an economic burden on countries, making reference to the U.S. as a prime example.
“Stress and burnout are costing U.S. businesses $300 billion. It’s affecting, in a very deep way, health care and health care costs; because 75 percent of diseases and health care costs are because of preventable stress-related conditions, and we see that globally,” she said at the panel.
“When people are burnt out, they also act out, and this has a disproportionate impact on women; because when they act out, the worst comes out in them, including sexist behavior.
“We are now finding that being able to take care of the human capital of your employees is an incredibly important investment… So, remembering investments in our human capital are going to be as important as investments in technology, in the future.”
On top of stress, companies are facing a host of challenges when it comes to their workforce, such as issues with employee productivity, retention and engagement.
