BRADFORD based Yorkshire Building Society has marked World Mental Health Day by signing a pledge to support its colleagues to be open about mental health problems.

In signing the pledge, with Time to Change, the company is committing itself to change the way its colleagues think and act about workplace mental health.

Time to Change is run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness which support people to open up to mental health problems.

Mike Regnier, Chief Executive at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “Our colleagues obviously have a key role to play in looking after our members day-to-day and helping us to achieve our longer-term plans. To support them, we have established a comprehensive wellbeing programme focusing on mental and physical health which aims to help our colleagues to stay well and to support them when they’re not.

“We are proud to sign the Time to Change Employer pledge as confirmation of what we’ve done so far and our commitment to the future wellbeing of all of our colleagues. As part of signing this pledge we have committed to providing mental health awareness training for all of our colleagues, as well as bespoke ‘managing mental health at work’ training programme for managers in conjunction with the Mental Health Foundation.”

Yorkshire Building Society joins the wider movement of more than 500 organisations that have signed the Time to Change pledge, which includes E.ON, British Gas, Ernst & Young, Transport for London, Royal Mail, Shell, and Marks and Spencer.