Mind’s Workplace Wellbeing Index to recognise mentally healthy workplaces from 2016
Employers are starting to take the issue of workplace wellbeing more seriously. Smart businesses know that they are only as strong as their people – their success depends on having a healthy and productive workforce.
By positively managing and supporting employees’ mental wellbeing, employers can ensure that staff perform to their potential – and this allows the organisation to achieve peak performance. With stress and poor mental health costing UK businesses an estimated £26 billion a year* through reduced productivity, high turnover and sickness absence, it’s in the interests of every employer to take a proactive approach to promoting good mental health at work.
For the last five years, Mind has played a pivotal role in raising awareness of workplace wellbeing and helping to dissipate the stigma surrounding mental health. As employers begin to acknowledge the importance of promoting good mental health at work, we have seen a huge surge in our engagement with organisations of various sizes and sectors. In response to ever-increasing demand from employers, we now have a dedicated Workplace Wellbeing team who advise organisations on how they can effectively support staff experiencing stress or mental health problems and boost the wellbeing of each and every member of staff.
Next year Mind will launch a Workplace Wellbeing Index which will enable employers to celebrate the good work they’re doing to promote staff mental wellbeing and get the support they need to be able to do this even better. The Index will be a benchmark of best policy and practice and will publicly rank employers on how effectively they are addressing staff mental wellbeing. Mind will offer support and guidance to participating organisations based on their results – structured to increase employee mental wellbeing and deliver business benefits.
Emma Mamo, Head of Workplace Wellbeing at Mind, said:
“In the last few years, we’ve seen employers make great strides when it comes to tackling stress and supporting the mental wellbeing of their staff, including those with a diagnosed mental health problem. We’re keen to recognise those forward-thinking employers who are working hard to promote good mental health and wellbeing among their workforce. We also want to promote existing good practice and work with organisations to encourage and support them to go even further. Mind’s Workplace Wellbeing Index will be a great way for us to do this. Launching in 2016, we are inviting employers to register their interest now.”
- Employers can register their interest in Mind’s Workplace Wellbeing Index using our online form, or through our LinkedIn page
- Mind’s Workplace Wellbeing team is keen to find out about the great things your workplace is doing to boost wellbeing for you and your colleagues, whether you’re living with a mental health problem or not. Email them: [email protected]
- The Mind Workplace Wellbeing Index will be designed in consultation with people with lived experience of mental health problems and will be modelled on Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index in terms of quality and impact.
* Centre for Mental Health, 2007