Wellbeing | Facebook exec slams 'meaningless mental health policies'

Karandeep Anand, Head of Workplace at Facebook, has shared the belief that, as the UK ‘teeters on the brink’ of reopening, the onus is on employers to ‘scrap’ their ‘meaningless’ mental health policies, and instead have an open-door policy with staff.

Writing in the extensive opinion piece published on City A.M., Anand shared that as a result of the coronavirus crisis, “constant anxiety around job security, isolation pressures and the blurring of work and home boundaries,” have exacerbated mental illness within the workforce.

He noted that, whilst health and wellbeing have, as a result of the pandemic, increasingly become more of a leadership priority, many companies are in need of an ‘urgent reset’ on mental health governance, warning that empty commitments to mental health are counterproductive.

“It’s a tale as old as time. Leadership teams say mental health comes first, but then push employees to the point of burnout. Company-wide emails promote ‘Wellness Wednesdays’, but they continue to miss tell-tale signs of mental illness because they don’t listen to their people,” he wrote.