Mental Health at Work Index: 2025 Fall Focal Brief – Communication
Workforce Mental Health Assessment Releases 2025 Fall Focal Brief: The Communication Gaps Undermining Workplace Mental Health Programs
Clear, consistent communication is the backbone of a mentally healthy workplace. When organizations share timely, relevant information, foster transparency, and engage stakeholders across all levels, employees feel valued, informed, and supported. On the other hand, fragmented or inconsistent communication can erode trust, fuel stigma, and overlook systemic risks to mental health. By shifting from a reactive approach to a proactive, transparent, and targeted communication strategy, organizations can build trust, reduce stigma, and cultivate a culture where mental health is prioritized.
Key Findings
- Fewer than half of organizations (48%) have a formal, consistently used mental health communication plan, and less than a third (28%) update it based on evolving risks and needs.
- Communication efforts remain heavily weighted toward individual-level messages (e.g., benefits and self-care tips), with far fewer organizations addressing team- and organizational-level factors, such as psychosocial hazards or crisis management plans.
- Employers with comprehensive communication practices that cover protection of mental health, promotion of well-being, and provision of benefits and resources report half the voluntary turnover compared to those with insufficient practices (9% vs. 18%).
“We gained a great deal of insight from the Index process and appreciate the opportunity to work with One Mind as we seek to better ourselves as an organization,” said Kellie Kaminski-Johnson, MS, Executive Director, Outreach Teen and Family Services. “We intend to share this information with our Board of Directors and look forward to implementing the recommendations to foster a mentally healthy working environment for our team.”
Download the 2025 Fall Focal Brief
View all reports from the Mental Health at work Index
About the Mental Health at Work Index
The Mental Health at Work Index is a self-assessment tool for business leaders who are committed to being data-driven when it comes to workforce mental health. Using the Index, organizations establish the baseline maturity of their mental health programs, pinpoint priority areas that will accelerate the impact of their efforts, and tap into evidence-based resources for optimizing their programs to achieve better outcomes, both for their employees and for their organization.
Developed collaboratively by One Mind at Work, Columbia University’s Mental Health + Work Design Lab and Ethisphere, the Mental Health at Work Index landed One Mind on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list and the winner in the workplace category for World Changing Ideas.
For more information about the Mental Health at Work Index, visit www.mentalhealthindex.org.
About One Mind at Work
One Mind at Work is a non-profit organization leading a global movement to improve workplace mental health. Our mission is to translate science to build workplace best practices that drive measurable impact on workforce mental health, leading to better outcomes for individuals and organizations. With science and data as our cornerstone, we partner with employers around the world who recognize that a healthy workforce is at the heart of a high-performing organization. We provide our members with guidance and recommendations built on decades of scientific, clinical, and translational mental health work on a global scale.