Project Healthy Minds and Harvard Business School launch Workforce Lab to address workplace mental health

NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2026, Project Healthy Minds, the leading mental health technology nonprofit, and Harvard Business School have joined forces to establish the Project Healthy Minds Workforce Lab, a pioneering initiative aimed at expanding the evidence base for workforce mental health. This coalition brings together a diverse group of blue-chip companies, top researchers, and thought leaders to address the growing need for robust mental health support in the workplace.

The Project Healthy Minds Workforce Lab is a unique research hub that will explore the intersection of business, economics, and public health. Its founding members include Acast, Apollo Global Management, AXIS Capital, KPMG, L'Oréal USA, ServiceNow, TD SYNNEX, Teneo, and Universal Music Group. The Lab is co-led by Jacqui Canney, Chief People and AI Enablement Officer at ServiceNow, and Stephanie Kramer, Chief Human Resources Officer of L'Oréal North America. Ryan W. Buell, CD Spangler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, serves as an academic collaborator, helping to develop a research agenda that engages both scholars and employers.

For years, workforce mental health has been discussed primarily in the context of benefits and wellness. However, the World Health Organization estimates that 12 billion working days are lost annually due to depression and anxiety, amounting to a global cost of approximately $1 trillion in lost productivity. In 2024, diminished employee productivity drained an additional $438 billion, according to Gallup. Despite these staggering figures, no standardized framework currently exists to measure the effectiveness of mental health interventions in the workplace.

The Project Healthy Minds Workforce Lab seeks to change this by reframing mental health as a critical operational and financial performance issue. The Lab will develop a blueprint for companies to support, measure, and ultimately improve mental health in the workplace, focusing on the sustained productivity of a retained, engaged, and healthy workforce in a dynamic business context.

"Too long has the conversation about workforce mental health been confined to the wellness aisle," said Phillip Schermer, Founder and CEO of Project Healthy Minds. "The Project Healthy Minds Workforce Lab founding members are asserting that mental health is a performance issue, a retention issue, and a key area of leadership focus. We are honored to collaborate with exceptional companies and Harvard Business School researchers to build the evidence and provide a playbook for all employers."

"At ServiceNow, we believe that the companies that outperform and outlast prioritize their people. Wellbeing is the foundation that supports the judgment, creativity, and resilience organizations need, especially during rapid change," said Canney. "The Project Healthy Minds Workforce Lab will bring together leading CHROs and Harvard Business School researchers to measure what works. We are proud to be part of this initiative."

"Prioritizing mental health is a fundamental leadership responsibility and essential for sustainable performance," said Kramer. "At L'Oréal, we believe that a company is not just walls and machines, but people. Through partnerships like the Project Healthy Minds Workforce Lab, we are elevating this dialogue, learning from data-driven research, and sharing best practices that create a ripple of positive change."

Buell, the academic collaborator, added, "The most substantive progress happens when leading organizations are willing to study themselves and each other with intellectual honesty. This coalition aims to generate an evidence base that will enable more employers to move from good intentions to proven practice."

The Project Healthy Minds Workforce Lab is designed as a long-term, ongoing research endeavor. Each member company will receive a private readout that includes peer benchmarking, custom recommendations, an ROI analysis, and an action plan, alongside aggregated findings shared with the field. Member company employees will also benefit directly through engagement campaigns, volunteering opportunities, and access to Project Healthy Minds' annual World Mental Health Day Festival in New York City.

The Lab will anchor its programming around two flagship moments: World Mental Health Day on October 10, with Project Healthy Minds' signature Festival in New York City, and Mental Health Awareness Month in May.

Project Healthy Minds, founded by Millennials and Gen Z, is committed to expanding access to mental health services across the United States. The nonprofit focuses on three key areas: destigmatizing mental health, expanding access to mental health services, and advocating for innovative workplace investments in employee mental health. Project Healthy Minds' initiatives have served more than 500,000 people.