Study Shows a Lack of Targets for Employee Mental Health Management

On Oct. 8, World Mental Health Day, CCLA Investment Management “launched a mental health benchmark to evaluate the world’s largest listed companies.”

The goal of the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark Global 100 study is “to be an engagement and accountability tool for responsible investors to help assess how companies are approaching workplace mental health.” Additionally, it is “a vital tool for investors to engage with companies on a critical aspect of protecting workers – that is, their approach to managing the business risks and opportunities presented by mental health.”

The study reported that almost all companies “acknowledge workplace mental health as an important consideration for their businesses and employees.” However, “fewer than half of companies (49%) have formalized their commitments in a policy statement and around only one in three companies (28%) has committed to encouraging a culture of openness on mental health.”

Amy Browne, stewardship lead at CCLA, claimed that there is “clear evidence” that integrating mental health into formal management systems can save money. “If we consider that the 100 companies in the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark Global 100 employ almost 19 million people worldwide, between them, that translates to $36 billion lost, each year, to mental ill-health,” Browne said.

The CCLA report stated its hopes for investors to call upon companies to promote mental health at work and acknowledge the link between mental health and the principles of “good work.”