Once you’ve begun creating a psychologically healthy workplace culture and strengthening access to the mental health support your employees need, you should explore additional steps to sustain your momentum, level-up your mental health offerings, measure your progress and celebrate your wins along the way.

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Here are five steps to build on your journey:

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1. Become an official partner of Mental Health Action Day.
   
   Join more than 1,400 brands, nonprofits, government agencies and leaders from around the world to shift our mental health culture from awareness to action. Use our social media toolkit to amplify Mental Health Action Day (May 19, 2022) across your company’s employee and customer networks.

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2. Build relationships and expertise to support your initiative. 
   
   ‍Lean into peer and expert relationships to learn more about best practices across and within industries. Use opportunities to share your company’s learnings to advance the field of workplace mental health. There are many options to build or join a network that supports your company’s journey in workplace mental wellness.

• Rely on expert organizations to keep you updated on the latest workplace mental health breakthroughs and best practices. The Health Action Alliance, Center for Workplace Mental Health and NIOSH Total Worker Health® all offer regular newsletters for employers with content on workplace mental health.

• Encourage leaders across your organization to attend workplace mental health conferences and trainings.

• Commit your organization to a coalition of other like-minded companies that support workplace mental health. One Mind at Work is a global convener of progressive employers that are making meaningful progress in building and sustaining mentally healthy workplaces. 

• Encourage existing business networks, local chambers of commerce or industry associations to coalesce around mental health action and invite mental health experts to the table.
  
  ‍You can also apply these Tips for Business Leaders and Public Health to build relationships with mental health organizations in your community.

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3. Measure your work.
   
   ‍As you build your workplace mental health program, you’ll want to understand the impact on employee satisfaction and overall healthcare costs. You can assess changes in uptake of mental health support, employee satisfaction with benefits and EAP offerings, and the impact support has on health, productivity, engagement and equity. Track your progress by reviewing benefits claims and trends, conducting anonymous employee surveys, organizing focus groups and using other assessment tools to evaluate benefits and programs.
   
   ‍You may also want to know how your programs and outcomes compare to other businesses: 

• One Mind at Work’s mental health maturity assessment will allow you to benchmark your benefits and usage.
  
  
• The Healthy Work Survey, offered by the Healthy Work Campaign, helps employers measure sources of work stressors and provides companies with a free, confidential report with organizational recommendations.

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4. Seek accreditation or certification. 
   
   ‍Organizations like Mental Health America and URAC offer frameworks for employers to become certified or independently accredited for building and maintaining superior workplace mental health programs and strategies. SHRM, the SHRM Foundation and Psych Hub offer a Workplace Mental Health Ally Certification program that equips HR professionals and people managers to understand critical mental health topics and identify appropriate approaches to help. External training and validation through such programs is an important signal to employees, both new and prospective, that your organization takes this work seriously.

5. Celebrate your achievement and inspire others to follow your example.
   
   ‍Now that you’re doing good work, seek public acknowledgement for your workplace mental health efforts and inspire other companies to follow your lead. There are several programs that highlight best-in-class employer programs to support workplace mental health:

• Carolyn C. Mattingly Award for Mental Health in the Workplace: Jointly awarded by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Luv u Project, this award recognizes employers who demonstrate leadership in corporate social responsibility and adopt effective mental health practices in their own organizations. 

• This Can Happen Awards: Launched in 2019, This Can Happen Awards celebrate companies and individuals who have shown excellence in their approach towards positive mental health for their employees and colleagues.

• Ragan's Workplace Wellness Awards: Employers can apply in several categories, including outstanding wellness programs by company size, or an award for a specific workplace initiative. Employers can also nominate individuals or teams for their efforts to improve workplace mental wellness.