Mental Health America (MHA) has released its 2024 Workplace Mental Health Report, underscoring that top employers are leveraging industry best practices to address the specific wellness needs of their worker population. Highlights include: more leaders sharing their own lived experiences with mental health and substance use conditions; improved investment in mental health insurance benefits to achieve parity; and development of worker-led peer resource groups.
The report is based on data from recipients of MHA’s Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health, the first national program recognizing U.S. employers committed to supporting a mentally healthy workforce. Started in 2019, the recognition program evaluates eligible employers according to four components: culture, benefits, compliance, and wellness. In 2024, 87% of employers applying to receive recognition had qualified in 2023 or in years past.
Notable trends this year in workplace wellness include an increase in public sharing of mental health journeys. Three-quarters of Bell Seal employers had leaders at the executive, director, and senior management levels openly share their lived experiences with mental health or substance use conditions, addiction, and suicide loss—an increase from 71% in 2023. Such vulnerability helps normalize conversations about mental health in the workplace and encourages workers to seek support when needed.
“Normalizing mental health as a journey we are all on is a decades-long best practice in our world. Many leaders understand this and are positively impacting worker health by leading the charge and investing in their own mental wellness,” says Suzi Craig, vice president for workplace mental health at MHA. “It’s exciting to see employers adopting this, and several mental health best practices, into the strategic approach of their workplace wellness efforts.”
Most (93%) employers encouraged the development of employee resource groups to facilitate peer connection and provide an alternative to employees with mental health concerns seeking help. Meanwhile, 94% of employers support workers in recovery from substance use or mental health conditions return to work successfully by providing reasonable accommodations, such as career transition services, or alternative positions.
Other notable findings from the report include the following.
- Employers are ensuring equitable access to mental health care beyond the traditional means of providing support, with 65% of recipients verified parity between the physical and mental health services offered in their health plans, an increase from 63% in 2023.
- Employers are improving policies to support workers and their families, with 42% of recipients offered paid family leave for at least 12 weeks, an increase from 39% in 2023.
