Eleven leading executives from London-based businesses have pledged their support for promoting mental wellbeing among employees.

The business leaders work across various sectors and have contributed to “Getting Ahead: Why Mental Health at Work Matters”, which is a revolutionary document stating how their organisations prioritise employees’ mental health.

They have also encouraged other companies to follow their example in being open about mental health, to help more workers across the UK reach their full potential.

The document gives summaries of what each senior leader is doing within their business to help boost staff wellbeing, and the content was discussed at City Hall earlier today.

The event, which was supported by Mind – the mental health charity – and the Mayor of London, took place following research carried out by YouGov.

In the survey, which collected responses from 1250 workers in England and Wales, 18 per cent said that they had developed depression due to workplace stress, while over one in four had developed anxiety.

The report, which was commissioned by Mind, revealed that stress has an even greater impact on employees than previously thought.

Workplace stress was responsible for 42 per cent of respondents considering handing in their resignation, while 40 per cent had looked for a new job at a different company.

Just under one in seven respondents had handed in their notice because of the stress they endured at work.

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, said:

“Encouragingly, in London, a revolution is taking place around the water cooler as more and more people talk openly about wellbeing at work.

“By fostering a mentally healthy workplace culture and putting in place the right support, businesses are able to achieve peak performance.

“We now need mental health at work to become a priority for every organisation across the UK, beyond the capital.”