As part of its commitment to promoting responsible and inclusive business practices, and in particular its focus on ensuring employee wellbeing, Community Business held a series of Stakeholder Engagement sessions on mental health in the workplace in Asia. Here we provide a summary of the first session held in partnership with City Mental Health Alliance in Hong Kong and kindly hosted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch on 27 March 2018.  

Overview 

The purpose of the session was to bring key stakeholders together – from both the NGO and corporate sector to share their focus on raising the profile of and reducing the stigma around mental health in Hong Kong and drive a collective effort moving forward. It was also an opportunity to introduce key NGOs dedicated to mental health and highlight the services they have to offer the corporate sector. 

Community Business, CEO, Fern Ngai opened the session saying: 

“We are here today to bring interested and committed stakeholders together to talk about mental health. As in other parts of the world, we know that mental health is a significant issue in Hong Kong – the facts surrounding the incidence of mental health show that the challenges are real and much work needs to be done to address. At Community Business, our tagline is ‘Harnessing the power of business to drive social change’.  We believe that that the corporate sector has a powerful role to play in overcoming these issues and our goal is to lead, inspire and support you in this endeavour.” 

City Mental Health Alliance, Zoe Fortune reinforced this messaging, highlighting: 

“City Mental Health Alliance Hong Kong was set up in November 2017 as a deliberate attempt to respond to a perceived need for mental health within Hong Kong. To respond to the stigma and to increase access to resources and support...The aim of the organisation is to ensure that people at all levels in the corporate sector in Hong Kong can talk about mental health issues without fear or stigma. We want firms in Hong Kong to recognise mental health as a boardroom issue and recognise that mental health is essential to maximising business performance, critical to managing risk and a vital responsibility for safeguarding people.” 

Simon Lucoq, Regional Head of Operations of Technology and Operations, APAC at Bank of America Merrill Lynch welcomed participants and highlighted why addressing mental health is so critical to their business:  

“It is becoming increasingly hard to work in the financial services industry - whether it be from a regulatory, business or customer perspective.  All organisations are expected to show higher returns, make cost savings, cut headcount.  This puts people in our industry under incredible pressure and strain.  At the same time there is a stigma about putting your hand up and saying that you are stressed or can’t cope with your workload.  In this culture, failure is not an option and people are concerned raising such issues may impact their job, promotion and compensation – and then ultimately their family.  We need to create the environment where it’s OK for people to seek help.  This is a business priority and a cultural issue that needs to be led from the top.” 

 

A Collective Focus on Mental Health in Hong Kong 

Representatives from the attending NGOs were invited to introduce their organisations and highlight the specific services they offer to the corporate sector.  The NGOs in the room included: 

  • Community Business  
  • City Mental Health Alliance Hong Kong (CMHA HK)  
  • MIND Hong Kong  
  • OCD and Anxiety Support HK  

 

Corporate Commitment 

Corporate representatives were invited to share why mental health was a priority issue for their company and what work, if any they had done to date in Hong Kong.  The companies represented in the room included: 

  • Aon 
  • Baker McKenzie 
  • Bank of America Merrill Lynch 
  • Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 
  • Goldman Sachs 
  • J.P. Morgan 
  • KPMG 
  • Linklaters 

 

Key Points: 

  • Many are in the initial stages of developing campaigns devoted to mental health and are keen to learn more and collaborate on tackling this issue.  
  • Cultural taboo is strong in Hong Kong and language can provide a significant barrier, with many not comfortable using the term ‘mental health. Several noted they market programmes and services under 'emotional wellbeing' or 'resilience' to avoid this additional barrier. CHMA encouraged this move and confirmed that we should be flexible around the language we use to ensure we do not bring about additional issues. 
  • Even when services are in place, such as Employee Assistance Programmes, there is some hesitation amongst employees to access them. 
  • Several referenced current wellness programmes in their organisations that offer physical health solutions, mindfulness or work-life balance assistance, but noted that there is a lack of direct focus on mental health services and they are keen to address this.  
  • Of those companies that have already rolled out mental health services, a broad spectrum of offerings is in place. These range from a confidential hotline through anti-stigma awareness campaigns and full access on-site psychology services.  

 

Overview of Existing Mental Health Campaigns 

Executive Director of Community Business, Kate Vernon, then gave a short presentation of key mental health campaigns designed to raise awareness and reduce the stigma in different markets around the world.  The objective was to highlight the campaigns that already exist, explore the opportunity to leverage ideas and resources, and spark conversation about an appropriate approach for Hong Kong.  Key campaigns that were highlighted include: 

Global 

 

Facilitated Dialogue 

With a good understanding of the collective focus and commitment to mental health in the room, as well as ideas of what is happening in other markets, Community Business’ CEO, Fern Ngai facilitated a discussion based on the question: 

How can we partner to help tackle the stigma and raise awareness of mental health in the workplace in Hong Kong – bearing in mind the local cultural context?  

  • There was agreement among all corporate representatives in the room that much needs to be done to bring mental health to the forefront of conversations in Hong Kong.  
  • All participants agreed that a joint effort to raise awareness across corporate partners in Hong Kong would be impactful and were keen to explore rolling out a coordinated effort later in the year to coincide with World Mental Health Day.  
  • Overall corporate partners were keen to explore leveraging the green ribbon campaign. OCD & Anxiety Support noted growing acceptance for the campaign in recent years – a positive step towards breaking down the stigma associated with mental health. This would be further reduced through a collective, synchronised effort across multiple stakeholders this year. 
  • Participants also discussed the idea of introducing some kind of pledge– to further highlight commitment of organisations to tackling mental health issues.  
  • Referencing cultural dynamics in Hong Kong, CMHA highlighted the importance of hierarchy and achieving buy-in from senior staff members on mental health awareness. 

  

Next Steps 

In wrapping up the session, CEO of Community Business, Fern Ngai, thanked the participants for their active engagement and contribution to this important topic and highlighted that Community Business would take the following next steps: 

  1. Promote Asia Employee Wellbeing Week from 8-12 October and encourage companies to use as a platform to raise awareness, educate and motivate action around employee wellbeing.
  2. Partner to promote the distribution of Green Ribbons on World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2018.
  3. Evaluate the opportunity of introducing some kind of Pledge that is specifically targeted at companies and their employees. 
  4. Continue to explore how we might be able to support companies looking to roll out the This is Me programme in their organisations. 

To find out more information and to get involved in Community Business’ wider work on mental health, both in Hong Kong and the wider Asia region, please contact: Kate Vernon, Executive Director, Community Business.

 

 

Participating NGOs

Community Business

Community Business’ commitment to increasing understanding and raising awareness of mental health in the workplace encompasses:  

  • Building Disability Confidence: This focus originally started a couple of years ago as part of its ‘Building Disability Confidence’ campaign.  With the goal of encouraging more companies to prioritise disability, Community Business identified the opportunity to broaden the focus of disability to include long-term mental health conditions, including mental health, and in so doing highlight that ‘disability impacts us all’. Download Community Business research: Disability Impacts Us All published in February 2018. 
  • Ensuring Employee Wellbeing: More recently mental health has become part Community Business’ work related to ‘Ensuring Employee Wellbeing’ and the recognition that companies have a responsibility to ensure that their employees are happy, healthy engaged.  As part of this agenda, Community Business is promoting 8-12 October 2018 as Asia Employee Wellbeing and encouraging organisations in Asia to use this platform to raise awareness, educate and motivate action around employee wellbeing – wherever they operate in Asia.  
  • Resources: Community Business has compiled a number of resources designed to support companies address mental health and is in the process of compiling pioneering research on Mental Health in the Workplace in Asia, due to be launched in July this year. 

 

City Mental Health Alliance Hong Kong 

Operating in Hong Kong since November 2017, CMHA HK was founded as an extension of City Mental Health Alliance in London. Since its inception, 10 companies in Hong Kong have signed up as members of the organization which hopes to respond to the stigma and needs surrounding mental health in Hong Kong and to bring resources to corporates in this city.  

  • CMHA HK envisions a city where people at all levels are able to talk openly about mental health without fear or stigma. With a particular focus on corporations, CMHA HK would like to ensure that mental health as a boardroom issue is brought to the table. Mental health is key to maximising business performance and mitigating risk and must be present on the corporate agenda at all levels in Hong Kong. 
  • As part of its campaign, CMHA HK is drawing attention to absenteeism caused by mental health issues, where employees are unable to come to work due to their illness, but also to presenteeism, where employees are physically present at the office, but unmotivated and unwell, and therefore unable to perform to their full capabilities. Both of these issues can have a negative impact on corporate performance, with absenteeism being, unsurprisingly, easier to spot - and therefore tackle - then presenteeism.   
  • CMHA HK also acknowledges the prevalence of under-reporting and unrecognition in Hong Kong and in fact suspect that the statistics used as a benchmark for the state of mental health may innaccurately low. CMHA hope to demonstrate that mental health is a spectrum rather than a binary concept and reaffirm recognition for the importance of prevention measures among the workforce, as well as treatment and support for those already in need. 
  • CMHA HK aims to: increase mental health literacy; provide appropriate language and skills; create a culture of openness; engage proactively with the media; and enable practical steps to be taken by employers. 

 

Mind HK

Mind are committed to bringing materials into Hong Kong and translating into Cantonese for a local audience. 

  • Mind HK work to bring global best practice to Hong Kong, develop anti-stigma campaigns and offer training and first-aid introductions.  
  • As part of their offering, Mind HK provide support and advice to anyone suffering from a mental illness.  
  • As an outcome of their awareness raising campaigns, Mind HK hope to affect change on a policy level in order to establish a comprehensive mental health policy in Hong Kong and ensure the necessary resources and information are available to those suffering.  

 

OCD & Anxiety Support HK 

OCD and Anxiety Support work to educate, support and council people struggling with mental disorders in Hong Kong.  

  • They provide group sharing sessions, psychiatric education to help pinpoint suffering, and help clients develop coping skills.  
  • OCD and Anxiety Support are working with schools and universities, as well as on the 'stamp out stigma' campaign to reduce the taboos associated with mental health.  
  • OCD and Anxiety Support worked to bring the green ribbon campaign to Hong Kong and have championed it with increasing success over the last few years.