Today we mark the 200th Time to Change organisational pledge, demonstrating an England-wide commitment from employers across a wide range of sectors - including corporates, government departments, local authorities, universities and student unions - to put an end to the stigma and discrimination that people with mental health problems face.

The Home Office will be the 200th organisation to sign the pledge and will also be the 11th government department, alongside others including the Department of Health, Ministry of Justice, Treasury and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The pledge is an aspirational statement that organisations make to show that they are taking action to reduce mental health discrimination.  

Before signing a pledge, organisations complete an action plan showing how they will put their commitment into practice.  The Home Office’s action plan includes running training sessions for staff to help them feel confident to share their experiences of mental health problems, facilitating a number of buddy networks for staff to support each other under the umbrella of the Home Office Disability Support Network (HODS), and the introduction of the Break the Stigma group. To find out more about the work of the Home Office read their case study.

Since the beginning of the organisational pledge we’ve seen some excellent examples of work happening across the country. E.ON, one of the UK’s leading energy companies, developed an engaging way of promoting mental health in the workplace. They ran roadshows across different office locations to reach staff across all sites and even transformed a garden shed into a ‘Head Shed’, which was set up in communal areas of E.ON's offices.

Close to sixty student unions, universities and colleges have shown their commitment with awareness raising days, campaigns, and support and training for staff and students. Sussex Student’s Union even ran a Time to Change flash mob.

Many local authorities have also taken proactive action. Croydon Council signed the pledge following a staff survey in 2011 showing that only 32% of people felt the authority cared about their wellbeing. The council wanted to change this view and have taken a holistic approach, running general health and wellbeing programmes in conjunction with mental health activities. Blackpool Council have a number of supportive initiatives in place for employees including an Employee Assistance Programme, access to face to face counselling, a ‘managing work related pressure (stress)’ policy, training for coping with and managing pressure, and an ‘Absence guide for Managers’ which provides information and recommendations for when an employee is absent with anxiety or depression.

In a different sector altogether, organisations from the media industry are also recognising the importance of tackling mental health stigma and discrimination in the workplace. Top Sante magazine signed the pledge following the launch of their ‘Let's Talk’ campaign to encourage people to speak up. They dedicated a whole issue to mental health and the message to their readers was one of hope - you can open up, you can get help, you can recover.

Find out about all of the organisations that have pledged and what you can do in your workplace in the ‘Get your workplace involved’ section of the website.