This is why the CCLA decided to build a benchmark that would be created around a league table of companies in relation to mental health strategies.
This is called the Corporate Mental Health Benchmark.
Together with an advisory panel, comprising names such as Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer, authors of the government's 2017 Thriving at Work review, CCLA created frameworks and an assessment criteria to assess companies in the UK and, later, globally.
The assessment criteria cover four key thematic pillars:
- Management commitment and policy
- Governance and management
- Leadership and innovation
- Performance reporting and impact.
Each pillar is weighted as illustrated in the image, below.
Companies are ranked into five tiers, ranging from 0-100, with the lowest tier marking those companies which have demonstrated no signs of adopting a formal approach to workplace mental health management and disclosure.
Although no individual rankings are published, the names of the biggest and most well-known companies in the UK (usually in June) and globally (in October).
After the first reports came out in 2022, CCLA started the second round, with an interest in seeing whether there had been any discernible improvement.
"We wanted to see if companies really had improved given the public ranking and the engagement we had in 2022", Browne said.
"We found that, between the global and UK benchmarks, we had assessed 207 companies. Some 119 engaged directly with us. Of those, 42 had improved significantly between 2022 and 2023 and moved up at least one performance tier."
The effect, as Browne says, was significant.
"It turns out that positive peer pressure does not just apply to human beings but also to very large businesses. It is amazing how effective this mechanism has been to incentivise them to change their approach."
She cited responses from companies who had previously not engaged with CCLA, calling up after the first benchmark came out to find out what they needed to do to improve and work on their mental wellbeing strategies.
For example, one company is now linking exec remuneration to achieving a certain level in the mental health benchmark.
Now in its third year, the benchmark aims not to "name and shame" but to help companies invest positively in mental health in a way that improves the bottom line.
"Having a financial case for encouraging the right action to be taken is a useful starting point in conversations", Browne says.
Commitments and challenges
Where should companies start? According to Browne, it is important to start with the assumption that mental ill health is a fact of life.
Of course, not all employees are happy all of the time - so it's not about assessing the happiness of people in a company, but a company needs to have the right conditions in place to help people thrive.
