How can bosses improve workers' mental health?

Having devoted her life to improving people's mental health after her own struggles, Emily Pearson has set her sights on getting businesses to prioritise employees' well-being. What five things can a company do?

Thursday is World Suicide Prevention Day, an annual reminder of why appreciating mental health is so important, Emily says.

Stress and the significant impact it can have on people needs to be recognised by employers, she says.

Companies have a legal duty of care for their employees, Emily, from Burnhope near Durham, says, which includes their mental as well as physical health and safety.

But it should not just be seen as an onerous requirement, she says, as a healthier workforce means fewer days lost through sickness - almost 9% of workplace ill health in 2025 was stress related, according to the Office for National Statistics.

"Humans are still the main resource, and if the people are not there, you don't have a successful business," Emily says.

Everyone wears a metaphorical backpack she says, filled with the stresses and concerns of life.

Work "chucks in loads more weight", she says, and when a backpack becomes too heavy, people become unwell.

"Any senior leader that has any kind of empathy and compassion for people won't want their business to be chucking weights into people's backpacks until they fall over," Emily says.

"Especially when there are things that you could actually do to help to actually take some of those weights out."

Knowing what the problem is is the first step towards solving it, Emily says.

Survey staff, listen to their stories, look at deeper cultural issues within the workforce to understand what needs to change.

"Understanding your demographics and your people is so important," Emily says.

Emily knows the importance of story, having been motivated by her own.

She left school at 16 with no GCSEs, fell into "doing drugs and stuff", became a young single mother exposed to domestic violence and developed mental health issues including anorexia and panic disorder.

In her early 20s she says she got help which not only saved her life but also inspired her to forge a career in mental health, from organising youth discos in Bishop Auckland to focusing on employers.

For 27 years she has worked in the arena, including most recently with the emergency services to try to improve the way issues such as trauma and stress are dealt with.

She has gained a "unique perspective" from her own experiences, she says, which she wants to share in her new book Solving a CEO's Blind Spot: Human Sustainability.

Data needs to be turned into strategy and the people doing that need to be capable, Emily says.

"People managers are a huge part of this," she says.

Workers' bosses can have "more of an impact on people's mental health and well-being" than they realise, Emily says.

"They're the ones who could be pushing the workload on, not supporting people, allowing bad behaviour to go on, not managing conflict well.

"So they need the capabilities to understand their role in that and the authority to make the change.

"Recognise the problem, analyse the problem, give someone the capability and accountability to deal with the problem."

Mental health leaders also need to be on a par with directors at the board level, Emily says, cultural change has to start at the top.

Otherwise, those making decisions affecting the workforce are doing so "without the impact on their people in mind".

"I'm not saying it's anyone's fault," Emily says, adding it's a "blind spot" she is "trying to highlight".

Everyone should benefit from change, Emily says, improvements need to be "equitable".

That means people's differences and individual circumstances need to be taken into account.

"We've seen mental health and well-being as just like very generic, a one size fits all approach," she says.

"But as we know," she adds, "one size fits all doesn't fit everybody".

Emily says a lot of businesses may feel they are "doing well", appointing mental health first aiders, holding awareness raising days, but "activity doesn't equal impact".

"They are doing easy things like activity without understanding the cultural shift that needs to happen within the organisation and change the systems," she says.

"Saying mental health and well-being is important to us is very different to a board making decisions focused around how this is going to impact our staff."

Once changes have been made, effectiveness needs to be measured, Emily says.

She says it is a constant process.

"Continuous improvement has to be key," she says, adding: "It's not 'we've done it now, lets move on'.

"It's a never-ending process."

Culture and society changes between the generations, and that also means problems alter too.

Emily says recognising and responding to culture and society changes between the generations is vital.

"I've seen so much change over my 27 years," Emily says, adding: "I see the complexity of it.

"There are things that we still don't even know, even I only know what I know.

"Constant improvement means we keep up with the changes that are happening in our society, in our communities, in our jobs.

"Because they're all linked together."

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