×
First-time login tip: If you're a REBA Member, you'll need to reset your password the first time you login.
19 Aug 2019
by Rima Evans

Research: Nearly half of employers have a defined mental health strategy

Mental health plays a central role in employer wellbeing strategies this year with a steep rise in the number in the number of organisations offering dedicated mental health support.

5A31-1565193189_52FF3921-2B09-433D-8F92-FC2C61E360CA.jpeg

The Employee Wellbeing Research 2019, published by the Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA) in association with AXA PPP healthcare, revealed that 45.9% of employers now have a defined mental health strategy in place, up from 15.8% last year. This equates to a 191% rise.

Workplaces with a mental health strategy are leading the way in promoting mentally healthy cultures, the study also showed. For example, 91% of employers with a strategy have HR policies and procedures that support employees’ mental health compared with 77.1% of those without a strategy.

Similarly, 84.2% of employers with a strategy provide mental health awareness training for line managers, compared with 46.1% of other employers. For the training of employees, those figures are 72.3% and 40.4%, respectively.

And the mental health agenda is reaching the very top of organisations. A total of 62% of employers said common mental health conditions such as stress and anxiety are their boards’ number one wellbeing concern for their workforce.

That mental health is being prioritised is played out in employer wellbeing provision. For the first time since REBA started producing reports in 2016, mental health is the number one wellbeing issue being addressed by employers, and is now ahead of health and safety and physical activity.

Well over three quarters (83%) of employers now include mental health within their wellbeing strategy and a further one in seven (14.8%) are planning to add it this year.

“While there is still a long way to go before everyone with a mental health problem has access to the help they need, it is heartening to see so many employers in the UK now addressing mental health within their wellbeing agendas,” the report said.

Employers have been spurred on by high profile drives to raise awareness on mental health such as the Time to Change campaign, it added.

Download a copy of the 76-page Employee Wellbeing Research 2019 (free to REBA Professional Members and all those working for REBA Associate Members).

Related topics

In partnership with AXA Health

At AXA Health, we've been a trusted provider of quality healthcare for over 75 years.

Contact us today