World Mental Health Day | Global tech giants score lowest on workplace mental health finds CCLA research

As we celebrate World Mental Health Day today, CCLA Investment Management has released its Corporate Mental Health Benchmark Global 100+ research, which has some interesting findings for investors.

It seems that the IT and communications services sectors have a blind spot: despite their reputation for innovation and young, dynamic workforces, some of the world’s most valuable companies are falling short on workplace mental health management and disclosure.

Most striking are the Tier 5 laggards in the 2025 CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark Global 100+. Nearly 50% of the most valuable IT and communications services firms in the world sit at the bottom of the pile, including the likes of Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, NVIDIA, AT&T and Netflix.

These firms dominate many investment portfolios, yet evidence shows that they remain at the beginning of their journeys to manage workplace mental health. This underperformance is concentrated among the largest, most investible global companies, despite a compelling business case for action.

Mental ill-health costs the global economy an estimated US$1 trillion a year in lost productivity, with 12 billion working days lost annually. Deloitte however finds a $4.70 return for every $1 invested in employee mental health, showing that a relatively small investment can yield a positive return.

With so many mega-caps from all sectors in Tier 5 in the benchmark, even marginal improvements move the needle across millions of working lives and substantial productivity hours. Together, the 44 companies (of which 15 are in IT and communications services) in Tier 5 alone employ around six million people.

Commenting on the benchmark, Anil Soni, CEO, WHO Foundation, said:

“In a world marked by compounding crises, widening inequalities and accelerating change, the mental health of workers is both a moral imperative and a strategic priority. The WHO Foundation is proud to support efforts that advance mental health as a cornerstone of decent work.

“This benchmark, aligned with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and policy recommendations from the International Labour Organization, offers a clear-eyed view of how 120 of the world’s largest listed companies are responding. Employers, investors and policymakers can no longer afford to overlook employee mental health – action is urgent and accountability is overdue.”

Also sharing her comments, Sarah Hughes, CEO, Mind, said:

“Workplace mental health isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’ – it is central to employee wellbeing. Every person deserves a workplace where their mental health is safeguarded. Too many companies still overlook this crucial issue.

“This benchmark turns that omission into visibility and reveals where warm words have not translated into action. We urge all employers to step up and all investors to use their influence to demand better for workers everywhere.”

Dan Babington, Head of Responsible Investments, TAM Asset Management, also flags the importance of the benchmark and the need for investors to take note saying:

“Research shows that companies that don’t look after their employees’ mental health face higher absenteeism and staff turnover, difficulty recruiting and an increased risk of litigation. The resulting costs can pose a material financial risk. CCLA’s benchmark provides an effective and transparent way to identify and address this risk, and we are pleased to be one of the investor signatories supporting it.”

Flagging the need for the industry to sit up and take note, Amy Browne, Director of Stewardship, CCLA, said:

“We cannot ignore the fact that some of the world’s largest, most investible companies remain serious underperformers. Poor workplace mental health is not a soft issue – it is a material risk to productivity, reputation and long-term value. Our benchmark is designed to equip investors with the evidence they need to engage, escalate and drive change.

“We are seeing positive signs. Almost every company now acknowledges mental health as a business issue, and ten firms have moved up a performance tier this year, improving conditions for more than a million workers. However, nearly six million employees still work for companies in the lowest performance tier, who have yet to take meaningful action.

“As investors, our aim is to use our influence to bring this issue to the attention of senior leaders and incentivise these companies to improve.”

And last but not least, Peter Hugh Smith, CEO, CCLA, concludes that there are positives and negatives saying: “Poor workplace mental health costs the global economy over a trillion dollars each year. How companies seek to manage and minimise its economic costs is an issue of concern for a growing number of institutional investors.

“We are pleased that, since we first launched the benchmark, many companies have engaged constructively with us on employee mental health and have subsequently improved their performance and the experience of millions of employees. But too many are still failing both to seriously address the issue and to respond to calls from their shareholders to do so.”