The tragic demise of a young professional at EY has put the spotlight on workplace mental health in India. As I’ve been saying for some time, there is much to be done. 

An incident at a mental health conference in New Delhi in October 2022 illustrates outdated management approaches. A young woman asked a question that made everyone sit up. “My former manager happened to find out about my mental health condition because I was going through a manic episode. I was made to sign an undertaking, share it with HR and write down the medications I was taking. Is there a protocol for this? Is this the right way go about managing mental health at work?” she asked.  No, was the definitive answer from the panelists. 

Raj Mariwala, director of the Mariwala Health Initiative, India’s largest mental health philanthropist, underlines the need to develop a vocabulary for workplace well-being. “So many people in the workforce are grappling with workplace-related stressors. What are how to deal with this stress? Line managers need to have policy guidance in how to act, how to respond, how to support that person to get their work done.” 

Physical and emotional health 

Some firms are focusing on physical health and a healthy work culture. For example, Gaurav Deepak, the co-founder and chief executive of Avendus, one of India’s largest financial service firms, is determined to build a work culture, “where the workload is intense but free of toxicity and politics. We have let go of high-performing toxic employees in the past,” he clarifies. 

Avendus is known for its energetic, hustle culture, where employees regularly clock in demanding hours. Physical and mental well-being are vital to sustain this demanding work life, but arguably hard to come by. “We take health very seriously. There’s a full calendar around physical health activities, and we’re seeing participation going up. My objective is for 30% of our people to participate regularly in our physical activities. And then momentum will take over,” explains Deepak. 

Having invested in an extensive purpose-built sporting facility for employees in the heart of Mumbai’s BKC financial district, Deepak is now keen to learn about what other companies are doing in the area of workplace mental health. 

Mental well-being@work

Such as HDFC Life, which has developed extensive workplace well-being practices. These include senior wellness officers, EAP services, company-wide sessions on topics such as mindfulness, employee resource groups on well-being and in-house apps.

“Earlier, workplace wellbeing was just associated to the physical health of employees. Now, organizations are focusing on the holistic well-being of employees covering their physical, mental, emotional and economic health. Mental well-being has gained significant attention. To address various personal needs of employees and to ensure their emotional health, organizations are moving towards providing customized solutions to employees,” says Vibhash Naik, chief human resources officer. 

The toxic Indian workplace 

The trouble is that there are not enough of these efforts when they are extrapolated nationwide. Data on Indian workplaces reveals that they are toxic, not thriving, that employees are burnt out, anxious and depressed, and that workforce aspirations are changing faster than in other parts of the world. 

Only “24% of employees in India are thriving at work,” which is close to the global average, according to a 2023 report by Forrester Consulting for job search company Indeed. Yet
“78% of surveyed employees in India (versus a global average of 47%) say their expectations around work wellbeing are the same or higher now versus just a year ago. However, employees don’t believe wellbeing is a priority for senior leaders or their company,” the report concludes.   

New mental health entrepreneurs 

As is often the case in India, a new generation of entrepreneurs is trying to solve the problem. They display varying degrees of optimism. 

UK-trained Amit Malik, a former consultant psychiatrist and clinical leader with the NHS, started Amaha, one of India’s largest workplace well-being services, in 2016 in Mumbai. The company offers comprehensive therapeutic services to educational institutions, corporate employers and insurers.  Its corporate clients hovered in single-digits before COVID-19; today Amaha works with approximately 100 employers. “I think the market is hugely under-penetrated and a shift has happened after Covid. There's a wider acceptance across the HR community around emotional health development and looking after people's mental health. There are more conversations around outcomes, differentiation, customisation, ways of working, pricing and ROI, rather than ‘why is this needed,’ he observes.

Richa Singh, co-founder of Bengaluru-based YourDost observes a mixed trend in an appetite for workplace wellbeing after the pandemic. Founded in 2015, YourDost offers counselling and workplace well-being training as part of a holistic suite of services to employers and educational institutions “It all depends on leadership. Some companies may not want to invest even Rs10-12 per person per month because of their business challenges, whereas there are organisations with massive downsizing who prioritize the wellness of their people, saying ‘this is the right thing to do’. It is important that leaders look at emotional wellness as an investment that can result in competitive advantage, rather than as an expense, and a cost addition to salaries,” she says. 

Ramakant Vempati is more sceptical than either Singh or Malik. The Bengaluru-based co-founder of Wysa, the AI-based “emotionally intelligent” chat service, runs a global business, serving direct users, employers and institutional partners, including public health organisations such as the NHS. He claims the platform has had over half a billion conversations across the world since its launch in 2017.  

“There’s a lot of rhetoric in India. The mainstream Indian employer is not ready to put their money where their mouth is. We realised that the addressable opportunity is overseas in terms of ability and willingness to pay. It’s an India-out strategy, where the product and IP are being built here and our go-to-market and clinical teams are in the US and UK,” he says.  

India is one of the fastest-growing and most exciting economies in the world for investors and entrepreneurs. Yet employers need to do much more to keep up with workforce aspirations if they want to sustain the country’s rapid expansion and create a truly healthy economy.