Loading…
Whitepaper · For People & Culture leaders
A People & Culture leader’s candid note on the quiet question employees never ask out loud: “Will this be used against me?” The real barrier to workplace mental health isn’t access — it’s trust. This paper is about how to build it.
PDF · POV paper · Saloni Dagly · People & Culture Leader
Get the whitepaper — freeThe awareness is there and companies are adding mental-health services, yet EAP utilisation sits at 5–10% in India. The paper unpacks why: people fear that seeking help will affect their performance review, their manager, or their record.
Independence has to be structural. The paper argues the psychologist should report functionally to an external clinical body, with HR walled off from anything clinical — handling logistics only, never the sessions themselves.
What guardrails stop disclosures becoming informal labels? No manager, HR partner or leader should know who is attending sessions, why, or how often — only anonymous, aggregated signals about systems should flow upward.
How neutral-sounding language (“she’s sensitive”, “he can’t handle pressure”) becomes a sticky label; why the psychologist’s role must stay out of ratings, promotions and calibration; and why some people need an external therapist they will never meet at the office.
Poor mental health costs Indian employers an estimated $14 billion a year. The paper closes with a call to leaders to make trust visible and measurable, offer multiple access paths, and go first themselves.
It is the question employees rarely ask out loud but carry with them: “Will HR use this to make decisions about me? What if my manager finds out I’m struggling? Will this affect my performance review?” The paper argues that answering this question — through structure, not reassurance — is the real work of workplace mental health.
Not on its own. As the paper puts it, having an in-house psychologist doesn’t solve anything if there’s no trust in the culture. Proximity can even be a barrier for some employees, which is why the paper recommends multiple access paths including an external therapist and an anonymous helpline.
Saloni Dagly, a People & Culture leader with 10+ years of experience scaling teams across D2C, global education and health-tech (Bewakoof.com, Leap Scholar and Onsurity).
Yes. Enter your name and work email to unlock the full PDF. We use your details only to share the resource and relevant Onsurity updates — no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Day-1 health cover, fast claim settlements and benefits your people actually use — built on the infrastructure this paper describes.