October 10th marks World Mental Health Day, with many global employers struggling to understand the right blend of benefits to support their distributed workforce
Saturday, October 10th marks World Mental Health Day for 2026.
This year’s theme, set by The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), focuses on personal stories: ‘Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change.’ It hopes that “organizations around the world will organize events reflecting this theme.”
For employers, it is a reminder — repeated, but necessary — to focus on individual needs and experiences, and respond by providing personalized support.
Particularly for globally distributed organizations, and those with a remote workforce, this is a complicated task. But building benefits packages that are localized and tailored to specific needs is both possible and essential to deliver.
Supporting a distributed workforce
Several factors make tackling burnout and other mental health challenges particularly challenging for a distributed workforce, particularly those with a remote or hybrid workforce where in-person touch-points are less frequent.
Gallup data finds that remote and hybrid workers are more likely to report stress and loneliness than their on-site counterparts, with core drivers including a lack of physical or social interaction with colleagues, and the cognitive burden of added autonomy.
These issues are compounded further over international boundaries where cultural norms, legal requirements, and economic circumstances vary significantly.
For example, in the US, where there is no statutory right to disconnect and mental health care is generally tied to employer-sponsored health insurance plans, a firm’s policy may be to cover an employee’s access to six therapy sessions on a digital mental health platform; but if it tried to replicate this in a country such as France, where workers have a mandated right to disconnect, merely providing a wellness app subscription alone could amount to labor law violations punishable with fines.
Such issues also apply where on-site work is standard but specific teams or functions are geographically distributed.
‘Consistency doesn’t have to mean uniformity’
Keniro Miller is Global Chief People Officer at Ultimate Performance, a leading personal training business that operates across seven different jurisdictions. Speaking to The Exchange, he is clear about the need for locally adaptive benefits packages in global businesses.
“Putting the legal and regulatory complexities aside, fundamentally you have to consider two things: what helps your employees be at their best, both professionally and personally, and what genuinely matters to them in the market and culture they live in,” he explains. “That can look very different from one country to another.”
“Paid leave might be highly valued in one market, while elsewhere dedicated wellness days, where somebody can take time out, regroup and still receive their pay may have much greater impact,” Miller continues. “Across parts of APAC, for example, I’ve seen stronger interest in financial wellbeing, savings contributions and platforms that help employees manage and invest their money.”
The Global CPO emphasises that assuming something successful in London, for example, will automatically be valued in Los Angeles, Singapore or another market.
“Consistency doesn’t have to mean uniformity,” he notes.”For me, it’s about having consistent principles globally, while giving yourself enough flexibility to make the actual support relevant locally.”
Balancing consistency & complexity
For global employers, the challenge is to deliver a tailored set of benefits that meet staff wellbeing needs that differ across the markets, teams, and with individual requirements.
At the same time, while packages must be tailored, employers must be wary of creating inconsistencies or multi-tier experiences where workers in one location receive a lower ‘quality’ of support than counterparts in other regions.
Ultimate Performance works hard to strike the right balance.
“I always insist on a strong global baseline,” Miller says. “That will generally cover core areas such as healthcare, dental, pensions/401(k)s and employee perks, adapted according to what is already provided locally and where we can add meaningful value.”
Beyond that, regional variation is inevitable and desirable. “Platforms are often geographically restricted, healthcare systems differ, and employee priorities aren’t going to be identical everywhere,” the people leader explains.
On that point, as the 2026 WMHD theme suggests, effectively supporting staff requires employers to take an individual lens. Listening to lived experience, welcoming specific stories, and responding to individual needs and feedback is a vital area where HR teams often fall short.
Miller continues: “The important thing is not to assume you know what people want. Ask them. Employee surveys, engagement data and direct feedback should inform where you invest.”
“I’ve made the mistake myself in the past of introducing benefits I thought were fantastic, only to find there was very little take-up,” he admits. “ That’s an important lesson. A benefit isn’t valuable because the employer thinks it is; it’s valuable because employees actually use it and it makes a difference to them.”
Tips for effective benefits design
Whether dealing with an extensive, globally distributed, remote workforce, or a small, local team that meets regularly — or somewhere in between — the practices remain the same to deliver benefits that truly meet the needs of staff while also serving the business.
As Miller summarizes: “Know your budget and stick to it. Keep it simple. Do your research and, most importantly, speak to your people.”
“I would rather invest properly in four or five things employees genuinely value than have a catalogue of 30 benefits nobody can remember they have. Complexity can look impressive on paper but it doesn’t necessarily create value,” he continues. “I’d also be clear about what you’re trying to solve before introducing another benefit. Is it burnout? Financial wellbeing? Retention? Family support? Physical or mental health? Start with the problem, listen to your employees and then decide what will genuinely make a difference.”
And, to close the loop, measure its impact.
Miller’s advice is to study utilization, feedback, and engagement rather than simply announcing a benefit and assuming the job is done. Each benefit should be reviewed regularly — “People’s needs change, businesses change, and markets change” — identifying and understanding areas of low utilization before automatic renewal.
“For me, the principle is pretty straightforward,” the CPO asserts. “Create a strong global foundation, adapt it intelligently at a local level, and invest in fewer, more meaningful benefits that people will actually use.”
Support beyond benefits
While tailored benefits packages are an important component of an employer’s overall strategy to prevent and provide support around mental health , ‘perks’ alone are not the full picture.
Creating a workplace that is able to proactively resolve issues that may contribute to burnout, and reactively deliver the right support when individuals are struggling, requires a holistic approach.
“Benefits are only one part of preventing burnout,” Miller concludes. “You can have an exceptional benefits package, but it won’t compensate for poor management, unrealistic workloads or a culture where people don’t feel able to switch off.”
