Workplace wellness: mental health takes center stage at work and TWSC 

Published

This year’s theme for World Mental Health Day – ‘It is Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace’ – underscores the essential role emotional well-being plays in professional settings and the importance in of supporting employees throughout the year. Leading mental health advocacy group Project Healthy Minds reports 615 million people worldwide are living with a mental health condition yet 60% of those do not get the support they need. Beyond the detriment to those individuals, the absence of mental health support leads to an estimated $1 trillion in costs to the global economy from lost productivity due to depression and anxiety.

 

Back in 2022, The Weber Shandwick Collective launched a global partnership with Project Healthy Minds (PHM) to continue to strengthen our approach. Last year, we held workshops with 150+ of our most senior global leaders on how they can help support a mentally healthy workforce. In 2024, we took this a step further, conducting focus groups to gather TWSC employees’ perspectives on mental health, partnering with our United Minds (UM) colleagues to facilitate these groups and working with the PHM team on analyzing the findings and helping us to develop recommendations.

 

All TWSC employees also have access to Headspace, a subscription service which includes an extensive library of meditations and talks as well as access to monthly live 30-minute meditations and quarterly workshops to help support mental health. Additionally, our employees have access to a variety of resources to tap into and activities to participate in around the globe:

 

  • Across EMEA and APAC, TWSC works with the organization This Can Happen to tailor initiatives that meet the needs of employees on topics such as dealing with anxiety, insomnia and menopause – and how to support those affected.
  • Our APAC teams  year-round focus on ways to enable employees to have their whole selves thrive in the workplace. At the beginning of the year, they launched a partnership with Intellect, a Singapore-based wellness platform offering access to comprehensive mental healthcare across 20 countries in Asia. Our China office provides massages to employees to help relieve work-related tension and offer outside-the-office excursions ranging from local lunchtime park outings to organized hiking trips. Our Japan team is celebrating World Mental Health Day with a morning yoga session on October 10th at Shiba Park near the Tokyo Tower, a landmark that holds special memories for the team.
  • In EMEA, our teams have been engaged as well around this cause. Our UK team is holding an event with speaker, poet, author, rap artist and mental health advocate Shocka to discuss mental health charity Beyond and tackling the growing mental health crisis affecting young people in the UK.
  • In North America, our teams come together regularly as part of the Time to Connect Series led by Global Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Judith Harrison. These calls provide dedicated time to examine complex social issues and their effect on our employees, enabling us to come together in more profound and impactful ways.
  • This month in NA, we’re also partnering with LDC Wellbeing for The Art of Listening, an interactive workshop on effective listening to equip our people with powerful techniques to truly connect with colleagues.

 

Like so many other annual holidays, World Mental Health Day is just one day but the focus for our teams – and across our organization – is to make this cause a year-round priority.