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ESG and mental health: What are we sustaining if our people are suffering?
Governance must turn these principles into enforceable practice. Boards should demand more than attractive employee welfare policies, writes Deo Kalikumutima
Deo Kalikumutima. (File)
By: Admin ., Journalist @New Vision
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OPINION
By Deo Kalikumutima
A company announces record profits. Its board celebrates another successful year. Its sustainability report showcases trees planted, scholarships awarded and communities transformed. Yet somewhere within that same organisation, an employee dreads Monday morning, another has not taken leave in years, and someone else has learnt that keeping quiet is safer than speaking up.
We must ask ourselves: can an institution truly call itself sustainable when the people sustaining it are quietly falling apart?
As we commemorate World Mental Health Day, the conversation must move beyond awareness campaigns and familiar assurances that mental health matters. We have said those words often enough. The harder question is whether we are prepared to change the conditions that make people unwell.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles offer an important starting point. Too often, however, sustainability is measured by what organisations report rather than what people experience. A company's greatest environmental achievement cannot excuse its failure to treat people with dignity.
Think of the security guard working consecutive night shifts to provide for his family, the nurse overwhelmed by patients, the teacher struggling to survive on a delayed salary, or the young lawyer whose commitment is measured by how late the office lights remain on. These are familiar Ugandan realities. Behind every job title is a human being with responsibilities, limitations and a life beyond work.
The World Health Organisation identifies excessive workloads, bullying, discrimination and job insecurity among workplace risks to mental health. Yet organisations sometimes respond with motivational speeches, wellness retreats and counselling sessions while leaving the underlying problems untouched. You cannot counsel someone into accepting conditions that should never have been tolerated in the first place.
The environmental pillar of ESG also has a human face. When wetlands are destroyed and homes flood, families lose more than property. They lose security, livelihoods and sometimes the little stability they have spent years building. When development projects displace communities without meaningful consultation or fair compensation processes, the resulting uncertainty can take a profound emotional toll. Environmental responsibility must therefore consider not only what happens to the land, but what happens to the people who depend on it.
The social pillar brings the conversation into our offices, schools, hospitals and businesses. Are salaries paid on time? Can employees report harassment without fearing dismissal? Do supervisors correct mistakes without humiliating people? Can someone admit they are struggling without becoming the subject of workplace gossip?
These questions are not peripheral to good management. They reveal the character of an institution.
A restaurant owner in Kampala who ensures reasonable working hours, a construction manager who prioritizes safety, or a headteacher in Gulu who addresses bullying with compassion is already practising responsible leadership. Sustainability is not always an expensive undertaking. Sometimes, it begins with treating people properly.
Think of the security guard working consecutive night shifts to provide for his family, the nurse overwhelmed by patients, the teacher struggling to survive on a delayed salary, or the young lawyer whose commitment is measured by how late the office lights remain on. These are familiar Ugandan realities. Behind every job title is a human being with responsibilities, limitations and a life beyond work.
The World Health Organisation identifies excessive workloads, bullying, discrimination and job insecurity among workplace risks to mental health. Yet organisations sometimes respond with motivational speeches, wellness retreats and counselling sessions while leaving the underlying problems untouched. You cannot counsel someone into accepting conditions that should never have been tolerated in the first place.
The environmental pillar of ESG also has a human face. When wetlands are destroyed and homes flood, families lose more than property. They lose security, livelihoods and sometimes the little stability they have spent years building. When development projects displace communities without meaningful consultation or fair compensation processes, the resulting uncertainty can take a profound emotional toll. Environmental responsibility must therefore consider not only what happens to the land, but what happens to the people who depend on it.
The social pillar brings the conversation into our offices, schools, hospitals and businesses. Are salaries paid on time? Can employees report harassment without fearing dismissal? Do supervisors correct mistakes without humiliating people? Can someone admit they are struggling without becoming the subject of workplace gossip?
These questions are not peripheral to good management. They reveal the character of an institution.
A restaurant owner in Kampala who ensures reasonable working hours, a construction manager who prioritizes safety, or a headteacher in Gulu who addresses bullying with compassion is already practising responsible leadership. Sustainability is not always an expensive undertaking. Sometimes, it begins with treating people properly.
Governance must turn these principles into enforceable practice. Boards should demand more than attractive employee welfare policies. They should examine staff turnover, excessive overtime, grievance resolution and whether employees genuinely trust internal reporting systems. Leadership must be accountable for the working environment it creates.
Mental health support must also reach beyond corporate headquarters. Casual workers, rural employees and people with disabilities deserve accessible, affordable and confidential assistance. Families, faith communities and professional counsellors each have a role, but compassion must never become a substitute for appropriate professional care.
This World Mental Health Day, I propose a simple challenge to every institution: listen to your people, identify one harmful workplace practice, correct it and communicate what has changed within ninety days.
Let employees speak without fear. Let management respond without defensiveness. Let boards recognize that protecting people's wellbeing is not an act of generosity; it is a responsibility of leadership.
Because the greatest measure of a successful institution is not simply how much it achieves, but what it costs its people to achieve it.
And perhaps that is where Uganda's most meaningful ESG conversation should begin.
The writer is the chief executive partner Kalikumutima & Co. Advocates
Mental health support must also reach beyond corporate headquarters. Casual workers, rural employees and people with disabilities deserve accessible, affordable and confidential assistance. Families, faith communities and professional counsellors each have a role, but compassion must never become a substitute for appropriate professional care.
This World Mental Health Day, I propose a simple challenge to every institution: listen to your people, identify one harmful workplace practice, correct it and communicate what has changed within ninety days.
Let employees speak without fear. Let management respond without defensiveness. Let boards recognize that protecting people's wellbeing is not an act of generosity; it is a responsibility of leadership.
Because the greatest measure of a successful institution is not simply how much it achieves, but what it costs its people to achieve it.
And perhaps that is where Uganda's most meaningful ESG conversation should begin.
The writer is the chief executive partner Kalikumutima & Co. Advocates