“While these efforts are well intentioned and valuable in their own right, when implemented in isolation they risk overlooking the underlying work pressures and structural challenges that contribute to stress, anxiety and depression,” says Morgan MacDonald, Global Health Advisor, Mental Health and Wellbeing at International SOS.
“Over time, the consequences become impossible to ignore; productivity declines, absenteeism increases and burnout becomes increasingly prevalent. Without addressing the underlying psychosocial risks in how work is designed and managed, efforts can only go so far, and the gap between intent and impact highlights a growing need for organisations to move beyond surface-level interventions and confront the everyday realities shaping employee mental health.”
While global numbers paint the picture of how big of a challenge mental health is, they also highlight the urgency needed in addressing the challenge. Depression and anxiety still account for around 12 billion lost working days every year, costing the global economy close to $1 trillion. Additional data indicates that more than 40% of employees report feeling constantly exhausted or burned out at work due to high-pressure workloads and poor management practices.
This points to the fact that mental health at work is not only about how individuals cope, but also about how the working environment is structured and operates.
“Many organisations fall into what we refer to as the “iceberg problem,” Morgan MacDonald adds. “This is when surface-level interventions only address symptoms, while the deeply rooted issues unfortunately remain unaddressed.”
Factors such as overwhelming workloads, unclear expectations, poor management styles, and the lack of psychological safety continue to drive stress beneath the surface. However, a more effective approach aimed at mitigating this is gaining traction – embedding mental health directly into Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management systems.
Frameworks such as ISO 45001 and ISO 45003 are helping to guide this shift by encouraging organisations to treat psychosocial risks with the same seriousness as physical hazards. This means identifying risks, implementing controls, monitoring outcomes, and continuously improving, not running, separate wellbeing programs.
“Psychological health and safety should be managed like any other workplace risk and when it is embedded into the OHS system, it becomes measurable, auditable, and most importantly, actionable,” Morgan MacDonald explains.
“However, managing psychosocial risk requires coordinated action across the organisation, and should not be the sole responsibility of one department. From leadership setting the tone, to managers shaping day-to-day work, to Human Resources and risk teams embedding the right policies and governance; it must be a shared responsibility.”
This cross-functional approach ensures that interventions are not only designed effectively but also implemented consistently across regions, which is especially important for multinational organisations. For organisations who are interested in adopting this approach, this does not require starting from scratch, but instead, starts with reframing mental health as a core component of workplace safety.
Organisations can start by formally recognising psychological health in their OHS policies, then mapping key psychosocial risks, surveys, and operational insights. From there, targeted controls such as workload adjustments, clearer role definitions and leadership training can be introduced. Equally important is ongoing measurement. Tracking indicators like absenteeism, turnover, and incident reports helps organisations understand what is working and what needs to be improved.
“Mental health is not separate from business performance, it is fundamental to it,” concludes Morgan MacDonald. “When organisations address the root causes of stress through a structured system, they not only support employees, but also build resilience within the business.”