The CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark aims to evaluate the extent to which employers provide the working conditions under which individuals can thrive.
While there remain significant challenges in assessing and comparing companies on a topic as complex as mental health, this new benchmark is designed as a tool for investors to drive corporate disclosure and progress on workplace mental health.
Companies and investors alike stand to gain. According to a report published by the Lancet, an estimated 17 billion productive working days are lost every year globally to depression and anxiety alone, at a cost of nearly $1 trillion. As well as the intrinsic benefits associated with improved health, scaling up mental health support for employees also leads to large economic gains.
With the support of Chronos Sustainability, and an Expert Advisory Panel including Paul Farmer CBE (Mind), Dennis Stevenson CBE, the Principles for Responsible Investment and others, CCLA has spent the last two years building and refining a set of 27 assessment criteria. Earlier this year, we used these criteria to evaluate and score the 100 largest listed global companies with more than 10,000 employees on their public disclosures.
The event will include a presentation on the benchmark findings by CCLA and Chronos Sustainability, followed by a short discussion on how the benchmark can be used by companies to inform strategy, action plans and drive improvements from within.
To accommodate east and west time zone, webinars will take place at 09.00 BST and 16.00 BST.
Benchmark assessments are based on information disclosed publicly by the companies themselves. While companies are doubtless doing more than they state in writing, we believe that done in the right way, and with the appropriate level of respect and encouragement, this approach has the potential to drive real progress. At the very least, it will strengthen the hand of those inside companies who are trying to make headway.
Read more about our Mental Health work here.
