“On mental health, companies must move from reaction to prevention”

Claire Mouchotte, ESG Analyst, Sycomore Asset Management

As part of the Think Tank “2030, Investing in Tomorrow,” Sycomore Asset Management leads the working group “Mental health: a responsibility for both companies and investors.” What observations led you to initiate this group?

Mental health has taken an increasingly prominent place in French society, particularly in the wake of the Covid crisis. It was designated a Grande Cause Nationale in 2025 and renewed in 2026. Within companies, it is now the leading cause of long-term sick leave, and one in four French employees reports being in poor mental health.

This phenomenon has direct consequences for companies’ social and economic performance. The annual study conducted by Deloitte in the UK on the link between mental health and employers highlights similar findings: employees’ mental health difficulties reduce motivation, increase presenteeism, contribute to burnout, and raise turnover. Mental health represents both a risk and an opportunity for companies if properly addressed. According to Deloitte’s 2024 study, for every £1 invested in supporting employee mental health and well-being, employers see an average return of £4.70 through productivity gains.

How is this topic already addressed at Sycomore AM?

As a mission-driven company, Sycomore AM is deeply engaged in social issues, with an approach that covers all stakeholders: employees, consumers, and local communities.

Regarding employees, we have developed over the past ten years a proprietary metric dedicated to effective human capital management: Happy@Work. We view this as a key driver of sustainable corporate performance.

Through our analytical methodology, we assess multiple aspects of employees’ experience: work-life balance, benefits, autonomy, career development, engagement levels, and inclusion. All these factors are linked to mental health, but we aim to refine our approach to question corporate practices in a more systematic and relevant way.

Are companies sufficiently addressing employees’ mental health?

We currently observe limited attention to this issue, with a few exceptions such as Orange and Saint-Gobain, both members of our working group.

Mental health is often addressed indirectly, through broader themes such as work-life balance, inclusion, or general notions like “well-being at work.” This is a first step, but the topic needs to be formalized and treated as a priority in its own right.

Companies that stand out combine a global approach with individualized support. We also noted that companies in sectors more exposed to health and safety risks, such as industrial firms, often show greater maturity. They can build on existing prevention frameworks for physical safety to integrate mental health into their strategies more easily.

Some companies have gone further, implementing structured policies, dedicated resources, monitoring tools, and preventive approaches rather than limiting themselves to reactive measures.

Companies influence employees’ mental health and must recognize that beyond individual issues, collective and organizational factors are at play. They need to assess whether their work organization contributes to mental health problems and be prepared to adapt it by fostering trust, open dialogue, and preventive action.

Ensuring consistency between corporate messaging and employees’ lived experience is essential, as are the resources allocated to address organizational root causes.

How can companies identify risk situations and early warning signals?

Working group participants recommend that companies learn to recognize both individual and collective early warning signals.

Individual signals include behavioral changes, reduced interaction, declining attendance, unusual mistakes, and expressions of negative feelings. Collective signals include changes in turnover, absenteeism, and sick leave rates.

Managers play a key role in this process. By maintaining close, regular contact with team members—without slipping into micromanagement—they can facilitate dialogue and detect early warning signs before severe issues or burnout arise. Management approaches must also adapt to remote work environments.

At a broader level, internal surveys can help identify trends, provided they are followed by concrete actions.

What do you expect from this working group on mental health?

Initially, we will focus on employee mental health through expert insights and testimonials from companies already engaged in this area. These discussions will help us improve our dialogue with portfolio companies, update our Happy@Work metric, and share recommendations and key indicators with the financial community.

In a second phase, we will examine the impact of products and services on consumers’ mental health, a topic that is rarely addressed. This will feed into our Tech & Mental Health initiative, which brings together several investors to promote more responsible uses of new technologies.

We have assembled a unique ecosystem of doctors, legal experts, corporate representatives, and investors. Our aim is to raise awareness of mental health within the financial sector and contribute to evolving analysis and engagement practices. A clearer understanding of what can be expected from companies is essential to encourage improvement and concrete action.

This content reflects discussions conducted within a think tank and does not constitute investment advice or a formal commitment.