Companies are investing more than R $ 1 million per year in prevention and mental health promotion actions – cases of Nestlé and Vibra Energia. The idea is to attract, retain talent and avoid distress of work.
These actions anticipate the update of Regulatory Standard No. 1 (NR1) which, initially, would be valid on Monday (26), but then extended in another year to give time for companies to adapt.
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NR1 update makes it mandatory for companies to identify and eliminate possible psychosocial risks at work, as they already do with the risks to physical health. Thus, it will be necessary to identify excess of journey, harassment, excessive charge for results, lack of mental rest, among other factors.
According to the Ministry of Social Security, the number of work removal from mental disorders in Brazil and reached 472,328 licenses in 2024. Each removal lasted on average three months, with workers receiving about $ 1,900 per month. The estimated financial impact exceeds $ 3 billion.
Awareness and support
Attention to mental health was already present in some companies, but it has been evolving more focused since Covid-19 pandemic, when the impact of mental well-being extrapolated the personal environment and invaded labor relations. “There is no performance if people are not well,” says Fabrício Pavarin, director of Total Rewards and People Data Analytics from Nestlé.
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The company, which has about 22,000 employees across the country, develops in partnership with Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein a program that enables 600 employees to act as mental health agents. The budget for this and other actions on well-being and mental health is estimated at $ 1.5 million per year.
The training provides tools for employees to observe risk of mental health in nearby colleagues in order to welcome and direct to specialized care. “We want to have a psychological security environment so that in the future the person speaks [sobre saúde mental] With the boss as if he had a physical question, as if it were a broken arm, without stigma, ”says Pavarin.
At Vibra Energia, the area budget is over R $ 1 million, according to Aspen Andersen, vice president of people, technology and ESG. He says that care for people is based on the company’s strategic pillars, such as respect, safety and valorization of human capital.
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The company offers online psychological support with up to 30 free sessions per year, conversation wheels and awareness campaigns, as well as encouraging exercise, meditation and financial guidance. The results are measured through indicators such as absenteeism rate (absences) and health insurance. “The results already show significant reduction in remoteness for emotional reasons and greater balance in the use of the health plan,” says Andersen.
Balance
At the Brazilian Aluminum Company (CBA), mental health programs have existed for 8 years. According to Andressa Lamana, CBA’s Director of People & Digital, the employee’s well-being is worked on pillars such as emotional, physical and financial health. The company states that it promotes actions that encourage diversity, equity and inclusion of various social groups, which would make the environment more open to dialogue.
“Small changes can have great impacts when we talk about mental health at work. One of the main insights I had was to understand that genuine listening and reception make a difference. When people feel they can be themselves, climate improves, confidence grows and results appear,” says Lamana.
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In 2024, the company received the Great People Mental Health Seal, granted by consultancy Great Place to Work for companies that value employees’ emotional health. The CBA does not disclose investment numbers in the area.
In B3, which originates in a work environment where it was once common to see nervous men shouting on the phone to negotiate actions, the dynamics of everyday life has changed. Technology has taken over the flow of negotiations, while mental health programs were gaining space.
B3 does not disclose investment figures in the area, but states that there is an incentive to mindfulness, yoga, healthy habits, free online psychotherapy, legal and financial advice, among other benefits. According to the company, in the last three years there has been a 40% reduction in the claim of the health plan.
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“While before the main motivation was a high salary, today many value aspects such as well-being, balance between personal and professional life and a significant purpose at work. Creating an environment that prioritizes mental health not only attracts new talents, but also retains existing employees,” says Renata Caffaro, director of B3 people.
“In practice, investing in mental health results in fewer departures, a healthier organizational climate and a strengthening of the bond between employees and the company.”
Toxic and “mentalwashing” positivity
Amid the promotion of mental health, companies need to avoid dynamics that lead to a scenario of toxic positivity-that is, excessive charge for well-being or “camouflage” of cases.
Psychologist and postdoctoral in collective health Bruno Chapadeiro, a member of the National Observatory of Mental Health and Work, says that well-being in companies begins with worthy salaries and working hours, going through the fight against harassment. He cites the case of a company where the distribution of profits and results was linked to the absence of occupational accidents, which created an internal dynamics among employees of not reporting minor accidents to prevent financial losses.
“An employee burned with a chemical, a drop, and heard jokes like, ‘Beware of my PLR, huh? It won’t report it there,” he says. For him, the monitoring of mental health within companies undergoes the same risk if it is not accompanied by an effort to break stigmas.
Another problem linked to the theme is the “mentalwashing”. The term in English refers to low -effective mental health actions and programs, developed only to be included in business reports that are not reflected in the culture and daily life of relationships.
“You can’t charge a good work environment if culture charges hard results to achieve, leadership does not leave the functions clear and there is a harassment environment,” warns Izabella Camargo, Burnout Mental Health Consultant and psychological safety in the workplace.
Actions
For Darwin Grein, facilitator and founder of Juntxs – consulting firm specializing in people’s training and development in companies – the quality of employees’ mental health is mainly linked to the quality of leadership. He cites a survey by the Gallup Institute that points out that 50% of the resignation is the direct leadership.
“Working by responding directly to a rude person who changes his mind all the time, who is insecure, who does not make difficult decisions, who does not defend the team’s work to high management generates a lot of emotional wear and tear, because the feeling is to be constantly helpless,” he explains.
This means that if the quality of leadership is good, employees will be more protected from pressure and emotional wear. “That is, before doing a mental health program, it is necessary to take care of the quality of leaders at home, support and support for their development,” says Gain.
Attention points
Companies can be aware of work dynamics that can put employees at risk. To reach these results, Izabella Camargo and Darwin Grein suggest running anonymous research to identify the possible toxic dynamics in the daily life of work.
Companies of all sizes can observe if in the dynamics of everyday life there are cases of bullying (humiliations), psychological (destroying self -confidence) and institutional (when the company tolerates a hostile work environment).
Other dynamics that press employees’ mental health are the lack of clarity between functions, which can overload some employees, little flexibility, overwork and unrealistic deadlines, interpersonal conflicts, among other topics.
