ASX20 companies fall short on workplace mental health reporting

Most ASX20 companies recognise workplace mental health as a business priority, but few measure or publicly report whether their mental health initiatives improve outcomes for workers or organisations.

A review of the top 20 ASX-listed companies found that while 95 per cent acknowledged mental health as an important business issue, only 25 per cent disclosed clear day-to-day accountability for managing it, and just 5 per cent provided comprehensive details on their approach in their annual reports.

The gap between stated commitment and demonstrated practice ran through nearly every part of the assessment. Companies were strong on describing support services such as employee assistance programs, with 85 per cent disclosing multiple offerings, but weak on showing whether those services made any difference to staff wellbeing or business outcomes.

For OHS professionals, the findings matter because regulatory change is already underway. The 2022 amendments to the model WHS laws strengthened obligations around psychosocial hazards, meaning the disclosure gap identified in this review is becoming a compliance issue as well as a reputational one.

The research report, Establishing the Baseline: ASX20 Performance Against the CCLA Mental Health Benchmark, was published by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) in partnership with Chronos Sustainability. 

Between 15 and 30 September 2025, a team of four research analysts and quality assurance reviewers assessed each of the 20 companies against 27 criteria drawn from the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark, a UK-developed framework already applied to the UK 100 and Global 100+ indices. 

The assessment relied only on information published through formal channels such as company websites, annual reports and sustainability reports; no private or internal company data was used. Companies were given the chance to review their preliminary results in October and November, and 11 submitted feedback that was incorporated before scores were finalised.

Companies scored best on management commitment and policy, averaging 46 per cent, and worst on performance reporting and impact, averaging 26 per cent. Three-quarters of companies had published a mental health policy, though only 30 per cent were comprehensive enough to explain how it was actually implemented.

The report noted that “engagement with companies during the review indicates that public disclosure does not fully reflect the level of activity underway”, suggesting more work is happening internally than companies are prepared to put on the public record.

Line manager training emerged as a weak point. Only 15 per cent of companies reported providing mental health training to line managers, even though manager training “is highlighted as a strong recommendation in the WHO guidelines on mental health at work”. No company reported the proportion of line managers trained, one of the lowest-scoring questions in the entire assessment.

The ASX20 companies averaged a score of 35 per cent, matching the first-year average recorded by the UK 100 benchmark when it launched in 2022. One company reached Tier 1, the top performance band, while eight fell into Tier 4, described in the report as companies that “have begun to formalise their approach” to workplace mental health.

For employers, the report set out a short list of priorities: publish a mental health policy with a clearly defined scope and implementation plan, set measurable objectives and report against them regularly, and equip line managers with training to identify and respond to concerns within their teams. For investors, it is recommended to press companies on governance and accountability, and seek more consistent reporting on targets, uptake and outcomes.