By Mario Marroquin
Early findings by U.K charity fund manager CCLA Investment
Management suggest the largest global companies in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa may be addressing employee mental health more than companies
in North America and Asia Pacific.
According to a new report by CCLA on corporate mental health,
only (26%) of the 100 largest companies in the world ranked by market cap have assigned
broad or senior management responsibility for mental health, while only 15% of
companies have published mental health targets and objectives.
CCLA CEO David Atkin said the report and its new Corporate
Mental Health Benchmark Global 100 aims to serve as a vital tool for companies
to address business risks presented by mental health.
“This responsibility to protect workers can be viewed
through the overall lens of how investors integrate [environmental, social
and governance] factors into investment and ownership decisions,” the CEO said
in a prepared statement. “This CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark Global
100 report represents a vital tool for investors to engage with companies on a
critical aspect of protecting workers – that is, their approach to managing the
business risks and opportunities presented by mental health.”
The investment management firm said the benchmark criteria
is broken down across four sections: management commitment and policy,
governance and management, leadership and innovation, and performance reporting
and impact.
The criteria used recognizes companies are at different stages
in their journey towards integrating mental health strategies, CCLA said in a
prepared statement. However, the fund manager ranked HSBC, AstraZeneca, BHP
Group and Unilever as the top companies demonstrating a strategy to address
mental health.
CCLA said benchmark companies achieved a mean average score
of 25%, which indicates workplace mental health is an immature business at the
largest companies in the world.
“Perhaps not surprisingly, almost all – 90 of the 100 global
companies evaluated by CCLA – acknowledge workplace mental health as an
important consideration for their businesses and for their employees.” Atkin
said. “Yet, fewer than half of companies (49%) have formalized their
commitments in a policy statement and around only one in three companies (28%)
has committed to encouraging a culture of openness on mental health.”
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