Workforce Mental Health Assessment Releases 2026 Annual Report: “What Gets Measured Gets Better: How Strategy and Measurement Drive Workforce Mental Health Impact”
One Mind at Work, a signature program of One Mind dedicated to transforming workforce mental health and well-being, today released the latest insights from the Mental Health at Work Index™. The Index is a standardized assessment of organizational-level initiatives to address workforce mental health. The Index helps employers measure program maturity, identify priority areas for improvement, and strategically invest in evidence-based practices that lead to workforce well-being and strong business performance. The new annual report, “What Gets Measured Gets Better: How Strategy and Measurement Drive Workforce Mental Health Impact,” emphasizes the fundamental shift shaping workplaces today: workforce mental health is no longer a side conversation. It’s a business imperative.
From the Margins to Mainstream
More organizations than ever recognize that mental health is not a peripheral benefit but a strategic imperative that touches every dimension of organizational performance, from retention and engagement to productivity and reputation. But awareness alone is not enough. As the field matures, a critical question emerges: Are organizations actually measuring whether their mental health efforts are working?
Analyzing data from 149 organizations representing 2.75 million workers across 25 industries and 23 countries, the 2026 Mental Health at Work Index Annual Report examines what happens when organizations move beyond good intentions to build both strategy and measurement into their mental health programs. The findings are clear: organizations that pair formal strategy with systematic measurement see meaningfully better workforce mental health outcomes, including lower turnover, stronger engagement, and greater organizational impact.
This report reveals three key findings:
- Strategy is the starting line. Only 1 in 4 organizations has a formal mental health strategy, and those that do see significantly better outcomes, including 36% lower voluntary turnover.
- Measurement drives improvement. Three-quarters of organizations don’t systematically measure whether their mental health efforts are working. Those that do are less than half as likely to report declining engagement.
- Performance closes the loop. Organizations that connect mental health efforts to performance metrics see the strongest results. Those that don’t see nearly a quarter of their workforce turn over each year.
“What these data make clear is that good intentions are not a strategy,” said Dr. David Ballard, Vice President of One Mind at Work. “If you’re a leader who believes workforce mental health matters, the next question has to be: how do you know your investments are making a difference? The Mental Health at Work Index gives you both the evidence and a place to start.”
The Measurement Imperative
The data presented in the report reveal a consistent pattern: organizations that approach workforce mental health with intentionality, through formal strategy, systematic measurement, and explicit connection to organizational performance, see meaningfully better outcomes. The field’s biggest gap is not in resources or benefits. It is in knowing whether those resources and benefits are actually working. This is a call to action for the entire workplace mental health ecosystem: build in measurement from the start, connect it to what matters, and use it to get better.
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