Employee mental health: What leaders need to prioritise now

Workplace mental health is not a niche concern. It is one of the most significant operational and people challenges senior leaders and line-managers face today — and the data makes it increasingly difficult to ignore.

According to the CIPD's 2025 Health and Wellbeing at Work survey, mental ill health now causes 41% of all long-term absence in UK workplaces. Average sickness absence has risen to 9.4 days per employee per year — the highest level in more than a decade. And the financial consequences are equally stark: Deloitte places the annual cost to UK employers at £51 billion (as of 2024) and The Mental Health Foundation reports a £5 return on every £1 invested in workplace mental health interventions.

For anyone responsible for leading people, the question is no longer whether employee mental health deserves attention. It is whether your organisation is doing enough — and whether your managers are equipped to lead the way.

The leadership gap at the heart of the problem

One of the most consistent findings in recent workplace research points directly to managers. Nearly 70% of employees say their manager affects their mental health as much as their partner — more than their doctor (51%) or therapist (41%). That is a striking level of influence, and it carries real responsibility.

Yet the support that managers receive rarely matches the expectations placed upon them. Only 45% of managers have been trained to have mental health conversations, and just 51% of employees believe their manager is equipped to offer support. Almost one in three workers say their employer raises awareness about mental health, but that managers lack the time, training and resources to provide meaningful support.

This is not a reflection of managers' willingness — it is a reflection of a system that promotes people into leadership roles without giving them the skills to navigate the human side of management. Most managers are not trained to lead people in the conventional sense. Fewer still are trained to support people who are struggling.

The consequences show up quickly. 35% of workers are not comfortable discussing high or extreme stress with their manager — a figure that has worsened year on year. When people feel they cannot speak up, problems go unaddressed. Performance suffers. Absence increases. And talented people leave.

Managers are under pressure too

It would be easy to frame this as a conversation purely about how people managers should lead and take responsibility. But the mental health of managers themselves deserves equal attention.

The leading causes of work-related stress cited by employees include workload pressures, tight deadlines, excessive responsibility, and lack of managerial support. These are the same pressures managers experience — often amplified. They are expected to manage upwards, deliver results, support their teams, and navigate complex people situations, frequently without adequate preparation or support from above.

According to Mental Health UK's Burnout Report 2026, the top drivers of workplace stress were high or increased workload (42%), regularly working unpaid overtime (33%), and fears around redundancy and job security (32%). For managers, these pressures compound: they carry their own workload whilst being the first point of contact for their team's concerns.

91% of UK adults experienced high or extreme levels of pressure and stress in the past year — a figure that has held constant for three consecutive years. Managers are not exempt from this. Organisations that treat managers as a delivery mechanism, rather than as people who also need support, will find their leadership pipeline quietly burning out.

6 ways leadership can support good mental health

Supporting employee mental health well does not require sweeping structural change. It requires consistent, informed leadership — embedded into day-to-day practice. Here are the areas that matter most.

1. Create genuine psychological safety. Employees need to feel that they can raise concerns without fear of judgement or career consequences. This comes from how leaders behave, not from policy documents. When managers are calm, consistent, and non-judgmental, people are far more likely to speak up early — before problems escalate. The most effective interventions start with culture, and culture starts with leadership.
2. Have regular, meaningful one-to-ones. Structured check-ins give people a reliable space to raise concerns. They also allow managers to notice changes in performance, mood or engagement before a crisis develops. The conversation does not need to be about mental health explicitly — it simply needs to be honest, attentive and free from distraction.
3. Lead by example on boundaries. Leaders set the tone for how boundaries are respected across the organisation. If senior leaders send emails at midnight, skip annual leave, or work visibly unwell, their teams draw conclusions about what is expected of them. Sustainable performance requires sustainable habits — and that starts at the top.
4. Support managers as well as employees. Equip your managers with training, not just responsibility. Managers' confidence rose by 53% after training on mental health conversations, and employee desire to quit fell from 35% to 18% when managers received that support. This is one of the highest-leverage investments an organisation can make.
5. Review your benefits and EAP provision. If you have an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), review uptake and utilisation. If your people do not know it exists, or do not trust it, it is not working. Communicate it clearly and regularly, and ensure managers can signpost confidently.
6. Build wellbeing into strategy, not just policy. Just one in four workers say mental health is genuinely prioritised and supported in their workplace through action and resources. The gap between policy and practice is where trust is lost. Wellbeing needs to sit alongside performance as a leadership metric — not beneath it.

Building leadership capability: where to start

If you recognise the gap between where your managers are and where they need to be, training and development is the most direct route forward. At Cornerstone Resources, we offer a range of practical, evidence-based programmes designed to build the leadership skills that directly support employee wellbeing.

Lead with Confidence is our flagship leadership development programme, designed for managers at all levels. It covers the fundamentals of people management — including communication, performance, trust-building and accountability — and gives managers the practical tools to lead with clarity and confidence, day to day.

Building Resilience Under Pressure focuses on helping leaders maintain performance and make sound decisions when the pressure is high. It equips managers with techniques for emotional regulation, boundary-setting and sustainable leadership — skills that protect both their own wellbeing and their team's.

Emotional Intelligence in Action develops self-awareness, empathy and communication skills — the qualities that allow managers to read their team accurately and respond with both confidence and care. Emotionally intelligent leadership is consistently linked to higher team engagement and lower absence.

Building Psychological Safety gives managers the practical tools to create team environments where people feel safe to speak, take risks and raise concerns without fear. Psychological safety is not a soft concept — it is the foundation of high-performing, healthy teams according to Google’s Project Aristotle.

All sessions are designed to be practical and immediately applicable. We run them interactively, and there is always the opportunity to explore real scenarios and ask questions.

The case for acting now

Employee mental health is not a problem that resolves itself over time. Mental health conditions now account for 52% of all work-related ill health cases in Great Britain — making them the primary driver of workplace illness. The organisations that will perform best in the years ahead are those that treat leadership capability and employee wellbeing as interconnected, not separate.

The good news is that the return on investment is clear, the evidence base is strong, and the steps are well understood. What most organisations need is not a new policy — it is leaders who are equipped, supported and confident enough to act on what they know.