A survey of just over 100 large UK businesses has found half are “still in the early days of formalising their mental health management approach and disclosure”.

A survey of just over 100 large UK businesses has found half are “still early days of formalising their mental health management approach and disclosure”.

The CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark survey found that 51 UK firms rated in its bottom two tiers for supporting their workers’ mental health.

It also found that 44% disclose whether they provide training for line managers to support employees with mental health issues.

This is down on last year’s proportion of a half of firms surveyed.

Just 42% of chief executives publicly promote workplace mental health.

Despite concerns raised about a lack of progress on mental health awareness by half of firms, the CCLA found that the number of strong performers is increasing.

A fifth of firms surveyed are in the top two performance tiers, double last year’s tally. One in four have improved their ranking in the last year.

Top six firms at supporting mental health revealed

The top six firms according to CCLA’s rankings of supporting workers mental health are BT Group, Centrica, Entain, Experian, J Sainsbury and Serco Group. Sainsbury’s is the first retailer to achieve the ranking’s top tier.

“This year’s benchmark demonstrates that the most progressive companies are making concerted efforts to get ahead on mental health, said CCLA stewardship lead Amy Browne.

But she added that “the results show a revealing and widening gap between the leaders and the slow-moving majority”.

The CCLA benchmark survey ranks 101 UK listed companies, who cover 4.9m workers.

“The significant increase in engagement on this topic since 2023 suggests a growing awareness by companies of poor mental health as a business risk, with many informally citing talent acquisition and retention as a key driver,” added Browne.

“However, there remains concern about the lack of progress in companies at the bottom of the tier rankings. Employees deserve better from their employers.”

CCLA is independently owned by church, charity and local government organisations.

Sainsbury’s chief people officer Prerana Issar said: “Our colleagues are at the heart of everything we do and we're committed to making sure that they have access to mental, physical and wellbeing support across all aspects of life.

“We're proud to be the first and only retailer to qualify for the top tier of UK benchmarks for workplace mental health practices this year as we know that having engaged and supported colleagues is critical to the long-term success of our business and delivering on our purpose to make good food joyful, accessible and affordable to all.”

---