For employers

Charlie Waller Trust has been working for over 20 years to improve people’s awareness and understanding of mental health.

Mental health and wellbeing in the workplace

There is a wealth of empirical evidence showing that organisations with a culture of positive mental health, and with strategies in place to support the mental health and wellbeing of their people, enjoy greater employee engagement, higher productivity and better staff retention.

So a compelling business case exists for organisations to take a strategic and proactive approach in this area.

However, the human arguments are equally strong. For many of us, our work is a central pillar of our lives, so success and fulfilment matter, and the perceived need to be strong and to perform is deeply embedded. But it can be a source of stress – stress that can spill over into our personal lives - and, particularly if mental health challenges may be causing us to withdraw from normal social interactions at home, our colleagues may represent our main source of regular contact with others.

So the moral imperative for organisations to embed a culture of awareness, understanding and support around mental health, and to create an environment where people can look after their own wellbeing and be effectively supported by their colleagues, is beyond doubt.

Both the human cost of poor mental health, and the cost to the business, are well summarised in the 2017 Stevenson/Farmer review of mental health and employers, ‘Thriving at Work’.