Taking Action on Mental Well Being
Incredibly lucky to be able to host breakfast for Professor Dame Carol Black (on her whirlwind visit to Hong Kong) and Edward Moncreiffe, CEO of HSBC Life at the China Club, Hong Kong this morning.
This breakfast was timely as local press recently reported from a survey of working women over the age of 18. While the survey covered only 600 women, the survey results were alarming as:
? nearly 80% suffer from stress related to work, finance and child care
? about 70% of women said they would not report mental health problems to their employers because they did not know how to express them, and are fearful of being discriminated against
? 40% also indicated that their companies do not have any mental health support system
Dame Carol shared many thought provoking statistics and insights from the UK and parts of Asia.
Visible senior leadership, board-level engagement and line managers are key to instilling the importance of mental well-being and to bring about a strain-reducing company culture. All this will help build resilience and engagement among employees and a good work place.
Otherwise fresh fruit, yoga and exercise bikes are just what she calls “sticking plasters,” which will not create long term positive effect.
I also moderated a lively conversation with Ed and Carol, during which Ed shared with us the vision of John Flint, Group Chief Executive of HSBC “to create the healthiest human system in financial services at HSBC”. He also shared his own personal journey to make mental and physical wellness a priority.
As Carol said “We are on a journey that has a short history, a rather buried past, and we hope a more transparent future.”
I couldn’t agree with her more. Employers, leaders and line managers taking action to encourage open conversations about mental as well as physical health will be a positive first step!
