José Sintra, Head of People Strategy at VdA and vice-executive director of the Pact for Mental Health in the Workplace, was interviewed by Human Resources magazine about the work carried out by this initiative.

Launched in 2022 by Católica Lisbon, through the Centre for Sustainable Business and Leadership, the Pact now brings together more than thirty companies committed to integrating mental health into their management strategies. The interview also featured Frederico Fezas Vital, Executive Director of the Pact, and Liliana Dias, Managing Partner at Bound.Health.

José Sintra explained that the Pact aims to create practical and collaborative tools to support organisations: “We wanted to develop a participative, dynamic resource that would provide a comprehensive guide to designing, implementing and evaluating mental health promotion programmes within organisations.”

VdA’s Head of People Strategy also highlighted the tangible benefits of investment in this area: “There is consistent evidence that investing in mental health delivers measurable gains in productivity, innovation and talent retention.”

Despite the progress achieved, José Sintra acknowledges that raising awareness among leaders remains the greatest challenge: “It is essential that leaders view mental health as a strategic priority, not merely as a cost or a ‘nice to have’. Without commitment from the top, initiatives tend to remain superficial.”

• Read the full interview here.