Mental health and well-being has an impact on employees both at home and at work – and it’s an area in which they are increasingly seeking advice. In tandem, it has become a major focus for employers who recognise the importance of monitoring and supporting the well-being of staff – whether physically, financially or mentally. 

While COVID-19 may have increased awareness of mental health in general, it was not necessarily a gamechanger. Chris Grove, a Deal Advisory Partner at BDO, is Chair of the firm’s Unifying Culture Board, an advisory executive that sits alongside the UK leadership team. He points to well-being initiatives that the firm has put in place since the board was established in January in 2017. 

“Our focus on well-being began well before COVID-19 hit. It put us in a strong position going into lockdown,” he says. Since then, several employee assistance programmes have been set up at BDO, including Digicare, an app that provides access to GP services and grief and mental health support. There are now around 140 trained mental health first aiders across BDO, led by the eight senior members of the Unifying Culture Board. Meanwhile, an arrangement with corporate psychologists Cognacity ensures ongoing training and the ability to provide specific interventions if needed. 

At EY, a health and well-being programme offers webinars and a well-being week, plus campaigns including Time to Talk Day and International Men’s Day. “Additionally, comprehensive benefits and flexibility help ensure and underpin support,” says Dr Sally Hemming, EY Health and Well-being Lead in the UK. 

It’s a similar story at PwC, where the well-being approach is called Be Well, Work Well. Alongside the 24/7 employee assistance programme and mental health first aid training, employees can subscribe to Headspace, an app providing access to mindfulness and meditation content. 

Top down, bottom up

Firms agree on the importance of initiatives being led both from the top down and from the bottom up. “We are constantly banging the drum about the importance of health and well-being, and promoting openness through encouraging disclosure,” says Hemming. “One way is by encouraging people to share their stories; another is to put our leaders front and centre in talking about the reality of their own well-being.” 

PwC’s Chief Inclusion, Culture and Well-Being Officer Victoria Broadhurst agrees: “We recently had a director and senior associate talk about their own experiences with cancer, how they dealt with it and the emotional journey they’ve been on. By opening up, it allows other people to think they can also talk about it.” 

New initiatives tend to be guided by feedback from employees as to where support would be appreciated. One such issue is the menopause. KPMG’s menopause policy, launched in 2022, sets out the support available for colleagues before, during and after the menopause. “We’ve already had more than 160 colleagues use our dedicated menopause support service,” says Rob Baxter, Head of Corporate Finance at KPMG.

Other forms of stress

The conflict in Israel and Gaza has also potentially unsettled staff and raised anxieties. Some employees will have friends and/or family in the region and inevitably have concerns for their safety. 

At PwC, discussions with its networks within work made clear the impact the conflict has been having, and that providing the right support was important. This meant turning to an external provider to get the right professional support, says Broadhurst. “We knew we didn’t have the necessary expertise, and so our provider, Cognacity, brought in psychologists to run listening groups for anyone who wanted to attend.” 

What is success?

There is broad consensus that while it may be hard to pinpoint any one particularly successful aspect of well-being programmes, whatever steps have been put in place are working. As Broadhurst says: “We have 5,000 people in our Be Well, Work Well chat group and we have seen 1,000 join in the past 12 months. Is that a good or bad thing? I like to say it’s good, as people get the support they need when they need it.” 

The fact that there is agreement on much of this area is not a coincidence. Organisations such as MindForward Alliance (formerly the City Mental Health Alliance) act as forums for professional services firms to share thoughts and best practice. The most recent discussion, Grove recounts, involved more than 20 representatives from different firms and focused primarily on the impact of the Middle Eastern crisis. “There is a heightened awareness of the blurring of work and home life and, although this sounds grandiose, an awakening to the responsibilities we – as significant employers – have to society. 

“But what I have also seen is that nobody has a magic bullet or the answer to all these things. We are all learning from each other.”

Online support 

Caba, the occupational charity supporting past and present ICAEW members and family dependants, plus ACA students, has a series of guides that can help gain a better understanding of mental health, along with techniques to build resilience and emotional well-being.

A longer version of this article appears on Corporate Financier, the Corporate Finance Faculty’s content hub.