Case study: How Pilipinas Shell promotes employees’ mental health
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation is an integrated fuel refining and marketing (R&M) company in the Philippines which produces, imports, blends, transports, distributes and markets a wide range of high-quality fuels, lubricants, bitumen, and other specialty oil-based products. For Pilipinas Shell, mental health is an advocacy and a wellness discipline. Tweet This! Accordingly, Pilipinas Shell established a mental health support programme in 2018, promoting access to mental health care and creating an enabling environment for persons affected by mental health conditions.
This case study is based on the 2019 Annual and Sustainability Report by Pilipinas Shell published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Implementing best practices on building and sustaining health and wellness in the workplace – including, most importantly, mental health – is a key priority for Pilipinas Shell. In order to promote employees’ mental health Pilipinas Shell took action to:
- promote a Speak Up culture
- encourage help-seeking behaviour among employees
- maintain an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- comply with the Mental Health Act
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Pilipinas Shell has identified;
- How Pilipinas Shell proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Pilipinas Shell to promote employees’ mental health
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Annual and Sustainability Report Pilipinas Shell identified a range of material issues, such as economic performance, corporate governance and transparency, asset integrity and process safety, product development and innovation. Among these, promoting employees’ mental health stands out as a key material issue for Pilipinas Shell.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Pilipinas Shell engages with:
To identify and prioritise material topics Pilipinas Shell engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Business Partners
| · Supplier Quality Assessments feedback · Business reviews · Day-to-Day operation logs |
| Customers
| · Customer feedback mechanisms (i.e. Voice of the Customer survey among other surveys, tenders, visits, research data) · 24/7 customer service call centre |
| Employees
| · Annual Shell People Survey · Voice of Territory Managers · Voice of District Managers · Voice of Retail Service Champions · Quarterly town hall meetings |
| Society
| · Community feedback register and mechanisms · Socio-economic profiling surveys · Community dialogue and town hall meetings (Ugnayan sa Barangay) · Community bulletins · Community programmes |
| Shareholders
| · Investors’ conferences · Quarterly analysts’ and investors’ briefings · Annual Stockholders’ Meeting · One-on-one meetings |
What actions were taken by Pilipinas Shell to promote employees’ mental health?
In its 2019 Annual and Sustainability Report Pilipinas Shell reports that it took the following actions for promoting employees’ mental health:
- Promoting a Speak Up culture
- Pilipinas Shell employees are encouraged to have open and honest conversations about their mental health. As part of the umbrella of human performance and care programme, Pilipinas Shell created a space where people are free to speak up and let their leaders know what they are going through. Venues include one-on-one dialogues with supervisors, mindfulness talks during team huddles, town hall sessions, and mental health awareness forums during Pilipinas Shell’s observance of World Mental Health Day.
- Encouraging help-seeking behaviour among employees
- Once an employee recognises that they need help, the next step is to find out what kind of help they need and draw up a menu of support services available. Pilipinas Shell employees may avail of professional counselling services through the company’s Wellness Hub. In addition to in-house counselling, the Health team also assists in matching the needs of the employee with the availability of external counsellors and psychiatrists, if needed.
- Maintaining an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- Pilipinas Shell has a network of 16 professional counsellors to help employees cope with anxiety, depression, and other psychological well-being concerns. On-site EAP services are offered once a month at the Finance Centre and twice a month at the Tabangao Refinery. Co-management with a psychiatrist ensures integrated and holistic management for those who need it. Pilipinas Shell also offers Team Resilience Coaching, to help employees reintegrate back to work and have an unbiased sounding board. During transition or organisational changes, staff are also provided with Career Planning sessions (with or by the counsellor) to help them maintain self-confidence and a positive mindset.
- Complying with the Mental Health Act
- Pilipinas Shell is fully compliant with the Mental Health Act (Republic Act 11036). By law, employers are required to:
- develop appropriate policies and programmes on mental health in the workplace to raise awareness on mental health issues,
- correct the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health conditions,
- identify and provide support for individuals at risk, and
- facilitate access of individuals with mental health conditions to treatment and psychosocial support.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 403-6 Promotion of worker health
Disclosure 403-6 Promotion of worker health corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
- Targets: 3.7, 3.8
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Pilipinas Shell, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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