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Mental health at work: strategies for promoting and supporting employee mental health

  • 11 hours ago
  • 9 min read

Building a workplace culture where mental wellbeing is prioritised every day.


A woman at work during a business meeting

Why employers should promote and support mental health at work


Poor mental health is now one of the leading causes of sickness absence in the UK. According to the Health and Safety Executive, work-related stress, depression and anxiety accounted for over 22.1 million working days lost in 2024/25. The research from Deloitte has also revealed that the cost to employers of poor mental health is £51 billion annually. This includes costs associated with absenteeism, presenteeism, and staff turnover. Given the high levels of stress and poor mental health among UK workers and its impact on the economy, there is a growing demand for innovative and proactive ways of managing mental health at work.

“Since mental ill health is a leading cause of absence, taking targeted action to help employees deal with both work-related stress and personal challenges is crucial.”  

-Rachel Suff, Senior wellbeing adviser at the CIPD


Taking steps to protect and promote good mental health for staff is both the right thing to do and it makes good business sense. For every £1 invested in workplace mental health initiatives, employers see an average return of £4.70 in increased productivity (Deloitte).


Here are some key benefits of prioritising mental health at work:

  • reduced sickness absences and associated savings

  • reduced staff turnover/better staff retention

  • improved work performance and productivity

  • compliance with the Equality Act 2010

  • enhanced reputation as an employer

  • improved working relationships


10 strategies for promoting and supporting employee mental health


A team having a meeting to discuss mental health promotion at work

  1. Carry out a Mental Health Risk Assessment for Employees


Poor mental health can be caused by a combination of both individual life circumstances and workplace factors. While an employee’s personal life is beyond your control, you have the power to manage psychosocial risks to mental health at work. 


Various factors in the workplace can cause stress or increase the risk of developing or worsening existing mental health problems. This can include:

  • long, unsociable hours

  • excessive workload 

  • unachievable deadlines

  • lack of autonomy

  • unclear job role and expectations

  • lack of resources to complete tasks

  • insufficient training

  • career stagnation and uncertainty

  • lack of support from the management

  • difficult relationships with colleagues

  • unsafe working conditions

  • violence, harassment, bullying, and discrimination 


By law, you must carry out a risk assessment to protect your employees from stress at work. Completing a mental health stress risk assessment will help you identify potential stressors and specific aspects in the workplace that may be contributing to mental ill-health among your staff. 


The HSE Management Standards approach is a framework that can help you effectively manage work-related stress by addressing six key areas of work design: demands, control, support, relationships, role, and change. Tackling work-related stress using the Management Standards approach. A step-by-step workbook provides guidance on the process of conducting a stress risk assessment using the Management Standards approach. 


Employee feedback can be a very useful indicator of the potential sources of work-related poor mental health. You may gather feedback through anonymous employee surveys to investigate whether there are any aspects in the workplace that can contribute to mental ill-health. The Workplace Wellbeing Question Bank from What Works Wellbeing offers a comprehensive a list of questions that you could use to measure the wellbeing of your staff and identify problematic areas. You can use these questions as the basis for your own questionnaire, tailoring and adapting it to the needs of your workplace and the specific circumstances of the sector you work in. 


You could also gather other types of information that will help you to assess workplace mental health, such as sickness absence records across different departments, the number of referrals to Occupational Health, usage of EAP services, employee turnover levels, or grievance, bullying and harassment figures. 


Once you identify the key issues, create an action plan that focuses on improving mental health and wellbeing of your staff. Remember to review mental health risk assessments regularly after initial implementation to ensure the risks have not changed and that no further measures are needed.


  1. Create a mental health policy for your workplace


A mental health policy is an integral part of mental health management in the workplace, setting out the framework for addressing mental health issues and supporting employees.  


The policy should include:

  • Policy statement: include a short statement of commitment to mental health and wellbeing

  • Aims of the policy: explain what you hope the policy will achieve

  • Roles and responsibilities: outline roles for HR, managers, and employees in creating and maintaining a mentally healthy workplace

  • Disclosure and Confidentiality: explain what an employee can do if they have a concern and how conversations about mental health will be kept confidential

  • Support for staff with mental health problems: Outline the practical workplace support on offer, such as access to Occupational Health, counselling, EAP, or Mental Health First Aiders. Also, provide sources of help and advice available externally, like mental health charities

  • Training and awareness: list what mental health training is provided for all staff and include further sources of information regarding mental health

  • Links to other policies and procedures: identify how the mental health policy relates to other policies in the workplace, such as sickness absence, flexible working, or grievances policies

  • Reviewing and monitoring: include details on how and when the policy will be reviewed 


St. John Ambulance has created a sample workplace mental health and wellbeing policy that you could use as a guide to create a policy in your workplace. 


  1. Share Mental Health Resources and Information about Available Support


Ensure your staff have access to mental health resources and information about available support both through the workplace, NHS, external organisations, and charities. Share information through blogs, newsletters, posters, fliers, brochures, noticeboards, posters, websites, and intranet.

Here are some examples:


See me in Work eLearning portal is a free programme to help staff understand more about mental health stigma and discrimination in work.


The Hub of Hope is the UK's largest and most comprehensive mental health support directory. It brings local, national, peer, community, charity, private and NHS mental health support services together in one place so that employees can easily find the right support for themselves or others.


  1. Organise mental health awareness sessions for all staff


Educating staff about mental health helps to open up conversations, break down stigma, and encourage mental health resilience. It can also ensure employees are aware of how to access help, allowing for quicker recoveries and more positive outcomes. Organise a companywide webinar or invite a guest speaker, such as a mental health professional, an advocate or a person with lived experience who can share their insights and perspectives. To make an even bigger impact, these awareness sessions could be organised around various national and global campaigns, such as Mental Health Awareness Week, Time to Talk Day, Stress Awareness Month, or World Mental Health Day.


Get in touch with us to book one of our webinars or onsite sessions: Mental Health Awareness, Developing Mental Resilience, Dealing Effectively with High Pressure Situations and Suicide Awareness.


A wellbeing coach delivering onsite seminar about mental health at work

  1. Provide training for line managers


Line managers are ideally positioned to make the biggest difference to mental health in the workplace, but many of them might not know what to say or do when a team member discloses a mental health issue. Offer training for line managers so that they can recognise symptoms of mental ill health, be confident to start a conversation with a member of a team, and signpost them to different resources and support. At Corazon Health we can help you organise Health Leadership Training for Managers, including modules like Mental health awareness and Developing team resilience and mental health. 


Here are also some useful guides to share with the line managers:


  1. Get professional advice from Occupational Health 


Because mental health experiences vary and require personalised interventions, you could consider an Occupational Health referral. An Occupational Health Assessment focuses on understanding the impact of mental health conditions on an employee’s ability to perform their job safely and effectively. It helps to identify work-related stressors, assesses the severity of mental health conditions, and determines whether reasonable adjustments are needed to support the employee. Adjustments for mental health are often simple and cost-effective, and it is best practice to offer support to all staff, whether or not they have a formal mental health diagnosis or a disability according to the legal definition in the Equality Act 2010.

Examples of reasonable adjustments include:

  • temporary or permanent changes to the role

  • flexible hours or a change to start and finish times

  • agreement to give an employee paid time off for appointments related to their mental health, such as counselling 

  • working from home at certain times or on certain days 

  • changes to workspace, e.g. installing dividing screens to create a quieter work environment, providing a light box 

  • increased supervision or support from a manager, buddy or mentor

  • debriefing sessions after difficult calls, customers or tasks

  • redeployment to a more suitable role


Get in touch with us if you need help with an Occupational Health Referral. Through our Management Referral Service, our Occupational Health Advisors can assess your employee's individual situation and recommend realistic and practical adjustments that will support them at work. 


  1. Train employees to become Mental Health First Aiders®


Invite employees to apply for the Mental Health First Aider (MHFA)® training to help them understand, identify, and support someone suffering with their mental health. The training provides staff with the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of what mental health is and what impacts mental wellbeing. The main role of MHFAiders® is to be a first point of contact for initial guidance and signposting someone to professional support services.  


Through our partner services, we can organise online or in-person courses certified by Mental Health First Aid England:

  • Become a Mental Health First Aider (MHFAider®)

  • Mental Health Skills for Managers

  • Become a MHFA Champion

  • Become Mental Health Aware

  • MHFA Refresher

  • MHFA Check-In


Implementing Mental Health First Aiders: Guide for employers from MHFA England will take you through the key considerations to help you recruit and implement MHFAiders® in your workplace. 


  1. Introduce an Employee Assistance Programme


An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is an employee benefit that provides staff with emotional support and practical advice on a wide range of issues that might be impacting their mental health and wellbeing. EAP services can be available in different forms, with a growing number of options tailored to meet the specific needs of both employees and employers. A buyer's guide to Employee Assistance Programmes from the EAP Association can help you decide which EAP is right for your organisation.


At Corazon Health, through our partner services, we provide an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which gives staff instant access to a wide range of supportive services such as 24/7 confidential telephone helpline, up to 6 sessions of face to face, telephone or online counselling, as well as legal and financial wellbeing services. Support is also available for those whose first language is not English, offering translation across over 200 languages. Moreover, employees gain access to an online Health & Wellbeing Portal and Mobile App which has monthly webinars, lifestyle advice, wellbeing articles, and interactive health assessments.


  1. Provide Counselling Support


“While counselling is available on the NHS, the long waiting times, lack of specialist insight and inflexibility of appointment times and locations make workplace counselling a more attractive option to many employers.”

-Rick Hughes, Personnel Today


Counselling is a structured support system where employees can openly discuss their personal or work-related concerns in a safe and confidential environment. The main aim of counselling is to help employees find their own solutions to problems and deal with issues that are impacting their overall wellbeing.


If you need counselling for your staff, we can arrange both telephone and face to face counselling sessions, as well as critical incident support counselling. All counsellors that we work with are fully qualified and registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.


  1. Encourage staff to complete a Wellness Action Plan 


Support your employees to develop a Wellness Action Plan (WAP) - a personalised, practical tool to help identify what keeps them well at work, what impacts their wellbeing, and the support they would like to receive.  A Wellness Action Plan is beneficial for everyone, regardless of their current mental health status. It allows for conversations around wellbeing with employees and managers, helping to identify problems before they escalate, or to tackle them when they appear. 

Useful resources:


A manager talking to a colleague about their mental health

Poor mental health has a huge impact on both businesses and the UK economy, making it essential for organisations to take proactive steps to support their workforce. Protecting and promoting the mental health of your employees isn’t just a moral obligation, it is a business necessity and a legal responsibility. It can help you create a safer, more resilient, and more productive workplace. 


Mental Health for Employers Toolkit from Business in the Community (BITC) and Public Health England (PHE) can provide you with further tips on how to build a workplace culture that champions good mental health. 


Get in touch with us so that we can help you adopt a range of measures to proactively manage mental health in the workplace and support your staff. 


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