To improve the collective mental health and well-being of the advertising industry, IPA President, Josh Krichefski, is asking agency leaders to demonstrate their commitment to their employees and sign up to the new People First Promise.

The People First Promise launched today (17 January) is also accompanied by a new AdLand Wellbeing Lab and IPA-commissioned data into mental health in the workplace.

The People First Promise asks agencies to provide evidence of activity that supports their people’s mental health and well-being under the categories of Empower, Support and Prevent.

Empower relates to empowering and educating individuals within the workplace to help them find their resilience and track their own mental health. Support relates to what the business can do to help their people, particularly those struggling with mental health problems. While Prevent seeks senior leader accountability and involvement by ensuring reliable processes, checks and action plans are in place and regularly monitored.

Underlining the importance of getting involved in the Promise, IPA data shows that 49% of all employees, and 78% of all adland employees, agree that their workplace should be doing more to support mental health and wellbeing at work.

Once an organisation gives sufficient evidence of the Empower, Support and Prevent criteria, the agency will earn a People First Promise badge of honour that demonstrates their duty of care to their current employees. The badge offers reassurance to current employees and will also help to draw in new talent who see mental wellbeing as increasingly important. 

Adland’s Wellbeing Lab 

To help agencies achieve the criteria, the IPA’s new Adland Wellbeing Lab acts as an online hub of resources, advice and training to support the mental health and wellbeing of employees. The site follows the same Empower, Support and Prevent structure.

A range of resources are on offer including the Mentalhealth-UK template, a wellbeing plan that individuals can print out to support their own mental wellbeing, and a training from Unmind which includes a step-by-step guide to recruiting and managing.

The Lab is easily accessible and will be continually updated to ensure the wellbeing and mental health advice is relevant. The IPA will also be hosting a series of workshops to further support agencies on their journies.

“If our people and our businesses are to thrive, it’s time to put their health and wellbeing at the forefront of everything we do, and prove we mean what we say,” explains Krichefski. He adds:“I am a firm believer that it is much easier to put in place guardrails to help prevent poor mental health and wellbeing than it is to treat it. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. But this takes commitment – demonstrable commitment - and investment from the top down.”

He continues: “It is one thing to launch a policy or initiative – and that’s a great start, but what’s crucial is to embed it into the culture and everyday workings of your organisation. We must integrate mental health and wellbeing and not view it as an add-on. This is why it is vital that agency leaders commit to and evidence their activity in this area, and in doing so can earn the IPA People First Promise badge of honour.”

Those agencies already fulfilling the relevant activity in these areas will be able to sign up to the People First Promise from today (15th Jan).