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The world’s largest companies are still falling short on mental health leadership, according to the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark Global 100+ Report 2024, with major implications for UK employers working to raise wellbeing standards.
The report, which assessed 119 multinational organisations across 10 industry sectors, found that, while investment in employee mental health support is now commonplace, too few businesses treat mental health as a strategic, board-level issue.
Just 13 per cent of companies publish a CEO statement on workplace mental health, despite the growing recognition that culture and leadership are critical to change. And although nearly three quarters of firms raise awareness through campaigns or communications, fewer than one in four provide mental health training for line managers — a key intervention recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on mental health at work.
The findings show that while corporate wellbeing programmes are now widely available, their reach and effectiveness remain inconsistent. According to the benchmark, almost all companies offer mental health resources such as employee assistance programmes (EAPs), counselling access, or digital wellbeing tools. Yet only a handful integrate these into governance or performance metrics, or adapt support to local needs. Just 4 per cent of firms provide evidence that they tailor mental health programmes to reflect regional or cultural differences among their workforces.
The benchmark, now in its third year, is produced by UK investor CCLA in partnership with mental health charity Mind and global research analysts. It aims to evaluate how major corporations manage workplace mental health and to encourage transparency across global capital markets. Companies are rated in performance tiers based on the quality of their disclosures, policies and governance.
There has been positive progress, albeit slow. 12 companies moved up a tier, benefiting almost 1.5 million workers while, for the first time, more organisations were ranked in tier four than in the lowest-performing tier five. However, only five companies reached the top two tiers; evidence, the report says, of a “nascent but maturing strategic approach” to workplace mental health.
For UK employers, the report offers a timely reflection. The UK 100 edition of the benchmark, released earlier this year, found similar trends: progress in awareness and policy development, but continued gaps in governance, leadership accountability and data reporting. The parallel findings underline the challenge for British firms aiming to align with international best practice and the WHO’s occupational health standards.
CCLA is calling on investors to engage directly with companies on their mental health performance and for boards to recognise wellbeing as a material governance issue. The authors urge firms to:
Publicly acknowledge mental health as a core business consideration
Embed leadership accountability for mental health outcomes
Set measurable targets and report progress annually
For the UK’s workplace wellbeing sector – now worth an estimated £647 million – the findings signal continued opportunity and scrutiny. With mental health increasingly viewed as an ESG priority, providers of training, digital health tools and data-led wellbeing analytics are likely to play a growing role in helping organisations close these gaps.
The report also suggests that wellbeing initiatives must evolve beyond awareness to integration. For HR and wellbeing leaders, this means ensuring mental health is reflected not only in benefits packages, but in leadership behaviours, performance management and culture.
As the benchmark’s authors conclude, progress is measurable but uneven. Mental health support may now be mainstream, but strategic, transparent, and accountable leadership on wellbeing remains the next frontier for responsible business.
(Source: CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark Global 100+ Report 2024)
