CCLA Investment Management has launched a corporate mental health benchmark to be used as an engagement tool for investors and to support companies in developing best practice.
The benchmark evaluates the public disclosures of 100 of the UK’s largest companies. Primarily aimed at investors, it provides an objective assessment of how listed companies approach and manage the mental health of people at work.
The results show that, while most companies now publicly acknowledge mental health as an important business concern, many have a considerable way to go to formalise their approaches.
While 93% of the companies in the report acknowledge workplace mental health as an important business issue, only 34% publish formal objectives and targets. Just 11% disclose any related key performance indicators.
Centrica, Lloyds Banking Group and Serco are the only three companies to be placed in the top tier in this assessment period.
Elizabeth Sheldon, co-chair of the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark Expert Panel and CCLA chief operating officer, said: “It is only in thinking and acting systemically that we can hope to meet the major sustainability challenges of our time. We consider corporate mental health to be one such challenge; healthy companies require healthy workers.”
She added that she hoped the benchmark would be a “catalyst for change” in the investment industry. “Our theory is that being able to understand and compare corporate practice on mental health will inform and accelerate the progress that is needed to enable companies, investors – and, above all, people – to thrive.”
CCLA said it planned to build on the UK benchmark and launch a “Global 100” report in October 2022.
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