How businesses can make Mental Health Awareness Week a year-long mindset

Mental Health Awareness Week

During Mental Health Awareness Week (taking place between 11 and 17 May in 2026), there’s an understandable spike in mental health activities in the workplace – from wellbeing webinars to motivational LinkedIn posts, internal communications and beyond.

While these are all well-intentioned, it’s usually easy to tell the difference between activities that have been planned for that one week, and what has been genuinely embedded throughout the business culture.

For employers, they should not simply ask themselves “What should we be doing for Mental Health Awareness Week?”, but: “What mental health benefits for employees do we currently have in place? Is it achieving the right results? If not, how can we do better?”

Read on to learn more about the importance of taking a joined-up, year-round approach to mental health support for employees, and the role employee benefits can play in making that support more meaningful and accessible.

The pressures of getting mental health benefits for employees right are significant.

Across both UK-based and multinational businesses:

• People are stretched financially, emotionally and professionally.
• Absence levels are increasingly linked to stress and burnout.
• Managers are expected to support wellbeing but often don’t feel equipped to do so.

For multinational employers, when they add the need to ensure cultural differences, varying healthcare systems and inconsistent access to support across regions, it becomes harder to get this right in a meaningful and consistent way.

These pressures have recently been exacerbated by global developments. For example, through its Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Good Health and Wellbeing (sustainable Development Goal 3), The United Nations has put a clear spotlight on mental health as a global priority, not just a local HR issue.

For multinational employers, this sets an expectation that organisations don’t just protect the physical health of their people, but actively support their overall wellbeing. Increasingly, this is also feeding into how businesses think about their responsibilities, whether that’s ESG reporting, attracting talent, or simply doing the right thing.

The risk of not getting mental health benefits for employees right is twofold:

1. The people risk

High workload, poor management, and work-life imbalance are regularly cited as contributors to poor mental health in the workplace. The impact of this on employees is significant, including:

• Increased absenteeism and presenteeism.
• Lower engagement and productivity.
• Reduced morale and motivation.

2. The business risk

The greatest impact of poor employee mental health being seen by employers through increasing staff turnover and reduced productivity.

Consequently, employers are facing significant financial repercussions. 2020 research by Deloitte, for example, found that UK businesses lost around £42 billion to £45 billion per year due to mental health related sickness absence and staff turnover.

What’s more, research has found that employees who feel that work negatively affects their mental health are less likely to recommend their employer, which can lead to reputational damage.

How can employers mitigate these risks?

The key here for businesses is to embed the right practices in the workplace and consistently demonstrate how they support mental health across their entire workforce.

Just some things to consider include:

• Manager and Mental Health First Aider training, empowering individuals to be a confident first port of call for employees with workplace mental health needs or concerns.
• Regularly updated day-to-day policies, such as:
  • Flexible/hybrid working.
  • Annual/bereavement/parental leave.
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
  • Workload and expectations.
  • Bullying/harassment.
• Their benefits package, signposting the team to where they can access support when needed.

It’s also important that these practices aren’t undertaken as a one-size-fits-all approach. Employees across different generations, family structures, cultures, ethnicities and identities will have varying needs and requirements, and what works for one person or group won’t necessarily be appropriate for another.

A more thoughtful approach will take DEI best practices into account, looking at, for example:

• The different ways that support can be accessed (digital, face-to-face, global coverage)
• Whether the support offering available feels inclusive and relevant.
• If people feel comfortable and empowered to use it.

Where do employee benefits sit?

Employee benefits have a significant role to play in a business’ approach to managing employee mental health.

Some of the most popular mental health benefits for employees include:

• Private Medical Insurance or Healthcare Cash Plans.
• Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs).
• Income Protection with embedded wellbeing support.
• Wellbeing apps or platforms.

While most employers already have several of, all of, or more than these options in place, businesses can encounter issues if:

• The benefits do not align with one another.
• Employees don’t understand what the benefits are, or how to use them.

How can employee mental health benefits be done “better”?

In short, the value isn’t just in having benefits; it’s in the employee experience, and people being able to use them confidently when they need to.

For businesses, this might mean:

• Being honest about where things aren’t currently working.
• Giving managers more confidence to have real conversations.
• Simplifying and aligning your benefits offering.
• Listening to employees, not just surveying them once a year.
• Making wellbeing part of leadership accountability, not just HR ownership.

So, while Mental Health Awareness Week is a great opportunity to remind your employees about the benefits you have, what they will truly remember – and what will positively impact them the most – is how they’re supported when they need it throughout the rest of the year and beyond.

Sources:

Mental Health Foundation (2026) Mental Health Awareness Week. Mental Health Foundation. Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week (Accessed 5 May 2026).

United Nations (2026) Health. United Nations Sustainable Development. Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/health/ (Accessed 5 May 2026).

World Health Organization (2026) Targets of Sustainable Development Goal 3. World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/europe/about-us/our-work/sustainable-development-goals/targets-of-sustainable-development-goal-3 (Accessed 5 May 2026).

Deloitte (2020) Mental health and employers: Refreshing the case for investment. Deloitte. Available at: https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/services/consulting/research/mental-health-and-employers-refreshing-the-case-for-investment.html (Accessed 5 May 2026).

Health Shield (2026) How does mental health affect office productivity? Health Shield. Available at: https://www.healthshield.co.uk/blog/how-does-mental-health-affect-office-productivity/ (Accessed 5 May 2026).

Important information

Attivo Financial Ltd (FRN 497130) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for the provision of regulated financial advice. Some services we provide, such as employee benefits advice, are not regulated activities and are therefore not covered by the FCA regulatory framework.