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Business Leaders Back Push To Improve Workplace Mental Health

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This article is more than 3 years old.
Updated Jan 25, 2021, 11:32am EST

Topline

As many businesses begin to rebuild from the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of prominent CEOs is urging them to invest in employee mental health, launching a WHO-backed initiative. 

Key Facts

The Global Business Collaboration for Better Workplace Mental Health, which launched Monday, is intended to “raise awareness of the importance of mental health in the workplace and facilitate the adoption of best practices.” 

The group’s founding members — which includes CEOs from BHP, Clifford Chance, Deloitte, HSBC, Salesforce and Unilever— urged the business community to “prioritize and invest in the mental health of all employees” as both a business necessity and a societal imperative, especially given the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on mental health. 

“The pandemic has cast a spotlight on the need to address mental health in the workplace,” said Punit Renjen, CEO of Deloitte, and “as business leaders, we have a responsibility to break down the stigma associated with mental health issues like stress and anxiety to ensure everyone can thrive at work.” 

Despite progress in recent years, the group said there is still “significant workplace stigma and bias attached to mental ill health” and that many policies designed to support employees are not grounded in evidence, ultimately leading to decreased productivity and reduced customer satisfaction as well as reduced employee wellbeing. 

The group is encouraging the leaders of other businesses — large or small — to join them in advancing “the desperately needed conversation around creating an open, welcoming, and supportive workplace environment for all when it comes to mental health” and leaders are encouraged to sign a pledge committing their organization to promoting and developing a more positive culture around mental health. 

Crucial Quote

Arnaud Bernaert, who heads the Shaping the Future of Health and Healthcare initiative at the World Economic Forum, said the Covid-19 pandemic makes this kind of group action even more urgent than before. “With more than half of working adults reporting increases in anxiety and decreases in productivity at work in response to COVID-19, coordinated action and public-private partnerships are key to galvanizing action among employers globally to promote wellbeing of their workforces now and in the future," he said. 

Key Background

The efforts to treat mental ill health are vastly disproportionate to the high toll it exacts. In the U.S., the National Alliance on Mental Illness says one in five adults experience mental illness a year and suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people aged 10-34, while depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Both businesses and governments are not keeping up and the WHO estimates that just 2% of global healthcare expenditures go to mental health. The issue was growing before the pandemic and has been exacerbated throughout as many struggle from the effects of isolation, stress and fear, with many warning of a silent mental health pandemic running alongside the coronavirus pandemic. 

Big Number 

$1 trillion. This is how much the WHO estimates depression and anxiety, two of the most common mental health conditions, cost the global economy each year. 

Surprising Fact

Covid-19 survivors are also at considerable psychiatric risk. One study found that one in five patients was diagnosed with a mental illness within three months of testing positive. Puzzlingly, the researchers also found that those with pre-existing psychiatric illnesses were 65% more likely to contract Covid-19, a finding researchers said needed further investigation.

Further Reading

One In Five Covid-19 Patients Diagnosed With A Mental Illness Within Three Months Of Testing Positive, Study Finds (Forbes)

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