Mental Health Awareness Week: Insights from leading workplace wellbeing experts

This week (May 12th to 18th) marks UK Mental Health Awareness Week, a timely reminder of the importance of prioritising mental health and wellbeing at work.

To unpack this year’s theme of ‘community’, we sat down with four leading workplace wellbeing experts to discuss the current mental health landscape for employees, the costs of doing nothing when it comes to mental health and best practice tips for taking a proactive, holistic approach to employee wellbeing.

Our panellist, in conversation with Lucy Wilkinson (Senior Customer Success Manager at Sonder), shared practical insights and actionable tips your organisation can start implementing today to see a measurable ROI:

• Philip Houtermans (Global Director Health & Safety at Arcadis)
• Hannah Pearsall (Head of Wellbeing at Hays)
• Ruth Pott (Head of Workplace Wellbeing at BAM UK&IRL)
• Kalifa Oliver (Experience Coach, Author, and Global Director of Employee Experience Analytics Strategy at Ford Motor Company)

Watch the full recording here, or catch up on the highlights below.

The lives of today’s employees are more complex and turbulent than ever before. At both a macro and individual level, your people are facing growing economic uncertainty, increased workplace stress, as well as a persistent stigma towards speaking up about mental health challenges.

In the wake of Trump’s US import tariffs and rising employment costs (such as higher national insurance contributions and the rise in the national living wage), UK employers are reported to have laid off staff at a faster pace in April 2025. In fact, employer confidence is at an all-time low, sparking job cuts and hiring freezes across many UK companies.

External macro factors like these can have a very significant impact on employees’ mental health and wellbeing.

The growing threat of layoffs, company restructures, and redundancies can cause employees to avoid speaking up when they’re struggling, too.

As Kalifa explains, “It’s a difficult situation. People don’t like to talk about it because they are afraid of being laid off. They’re afraid of being fired right now. People are just sheltering in place. There are a lot of people languishing in jobs that they can’t stand due to burnout. It’s such a complex issue, and there’s no easy answer. But the first step is to talk about it.”

Stigma around discussing mental health in the workplace is another big challenge impacting organisations and employees. Cultural and industry norms mean your people might not feel comfortable bringing up mental health struggles with line managers for fear of the repercussions.

Philip explains that employees at Arcadis have access to a Stop Work Authority, creating a safe space for employees to speak up and put the tools down if they see something that’s unsafe on-site or at work. However, he explains that this approach is less effective when employees feel overworked, overcapacity, or on the brink of burnout.

Hannah Pearsall (Head of Wellbeing at Hays) echoes this sentiment, explaining that Hays is focused on helping their people feel comfortable about discussing the challenges they’re facing with their managers, whether they’re directly related to work or not.

If left unchecked, poor mental health can have a range of negative consequences for individuals. At the most severe end of the spectrum is suicide, which is a growing issue for certain industries where stigma remains high when it comes to openly discussing mental health.

Men account for approximately 75% of the one million annual suicide deaths worldwide. 

Ruth Pott (Head of Workplace Wellbeing at BAM UK&IRL) works in the male-dominated construction industry and has seen firsthand the impacts of this stigma on the wellbeing of employees. In the construction industry, the rate of suicide is three times the national average.

So, what’s stopping companies from taking action to prioritise employees’ mental health? One of the key barriers is the perceived challenge of proving the ROI of investing in employee wellbeing programmes or even traditional Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs).

As a people leader, providing clear reports to key stakeholders and C-suite leaders is what will help you win buy-in from decision makers. Capture a mix of qualitative and quantitative data using engagement surveys, focus groups and open-ended questions to give context to hard metrics like attrition rates and absentee rates.

Along with robust data and regular reporting, it’s important to articulate the cost of inaction and what’s at risk if your organisation falls short of protecting your people’s mental health and wellbeing.

According to Deloitte UK’s ‘Mental health and employers: the case for investment’ report 2024, employers can generate an average return of £4.70 for every £1 invested in improving workplace mental health.

Keep Reading: Discover how to accurately measure the ROI of EAPs and employee wellbeing programmes.

Ready to take action and improve the mental health and wellbeing of your entire organisation?

Our panellists all share the same sentiment: consistency is key. While timely moments (like Mental Health Week) are a good reminder of the importance of employee wellbeing, companies need to be taking sustainable action every day of the year to put mental health on the agenda.

In practical terms, here are a few places to start when it comes to making employee wellbeing a priority in your business:

• Encourage dialogue about mental health: Break down the stigma by ensuring mental health and wellbeing are openly discussed in all-staff meetings, internal communications and during 1:1s with direct reports.

• Lead by example: Managers and leaders within your organisation have a key role to play in normalising mental health conversations. Encourage leaders to share their own wellbeing habits with teams and ensure managers set the right example by not working while on holiday or during sick days.
• Empower employees to switch off: Build trust and psychological safety among teams by giving employees the confidence to take a break and use sick or personal leave, without worrying about whether they’ll miss an important email or last-minute request.
• Set managers up for success: It’s impossible to pour from an empty cup and managers need to be given the support, tools and training to effectively manage their own energy and mental health. The better support managers receive, the better support your entire organisation will receive, too.

But often, mental health is just one piece of the employee wellbeing puzzle. While traditional EAPs focus solely on counselling sessions, today’s employees need holistic medical, safety and wellbeing support at their fingertips — available 24/7, at no cost to the employee.

The team at Hays (along with 1 million members from the world’s leading organisations) are using Sonder’s early intervention approach to help teams feel healthier, happier and safer.

Ready to introduce an assistance programme that your employees will actively engage in? Book a free Sonder demo today and check out our Insider’s Guide to EAPs to learn more about how to track return on investment and return on value.