By Poppy Jaman, CEO of the CMHA

Today we launched our Global Thriving At Work Framework which sets out, for the first time, a global standard for workplace mental health. It has been developed in collaboration with global businesses, and is based on 10 years of workplace mental health experience, with insight from across the CMHA membership of 54 large businesses contributing their expertise and knowledge. 

Workplaces, the cornerstone of any society, can play a significant role in supporting the positive mental health of their people. They are a place that many people seek support, even before a health service or family. They are well placed, and have a huge opportunity, to promote wellbeing and prevent poor mental health. And, as we face a global mental health crisis, there has never been a more important time for businesses to do this.

Building mentally healthy workplaces is not just the right thing to do, it is key to running a sustainable business. A business where your people can stay well and flourish, even in challenging times. One where people want to stay and that people want to join. A business which is a good corporate citizen, an increasingly important measure for all stakeholders, including investors. So it is great that, over the last few years, a growing number of multinationals have committed, and started to take steps towards, supporting the mental health of their people across the world. Global and multi-national businesses can have a huge impact because when they build a mentally healthy workplace, they are not just supporting many thousands of people, they are also setting a prominent example for other businesses to follow and have the opportunity to influence social norms in cultures around the world.  

The CMHA is sharing this business led, expert guided Global Framework to give multi-national organisations the direction and guidance they need to act on their commitment to create a sustainable mental health strategy and build a mentally healthy workplace for all. The framework, and its advice, is pragmatic for different organisations, cultures, and industries. It recommends practical actions that businesses can take, wherever they are on the mental health journey. It also includes a simple means of self-assessment that will allow businesses to measure their progress against the three pillars, to help them further embed change. The CMHA has evidence that this approach works at a national level, through our different regional Thriving At Work Programmes, but this approach has been missing at a global level. Until now.

I am grateful to Alison Unsted, our Director of Strategy and Operations, and our global CMHA business community, who have worked together to develop this. I am proud that the CMHA is again showing it is a global movement for change, as our members share their knowledge and experience of workplace mental health for the benefit of all. And I am calling on global organisations to be radical and relentless in its expectation of itself to support the mental health of its people, wherever they are based in the world.