Transforming our approach to wellbeing

In January 2025, we launched an improved global Employee Assistance Programme through Unmind, to provide colleagues with both preventative and reactive care and services.

Unmind offers four key services:

• Therapy and Coaching – access to virtual appointments (12 sessions per year) with coaches, counsellors or clinical psychotherapists, delivering equitable access to care globally.
• Helpline – a 24/7, 365-day helpline providing access to legal or financial advice, plus acute, in-the-moment mental health support.
• Unmind Library and Unmind Manager – bitesize online learning for colleagues and line managers.

In 2025 we saw a 79 per cent increase in the numbers of colleagues actively using Unmind compared to 2024.

Thanks to our efforts to promote the importance of wellbeing to sustain high performance, 24 per cent of colleagues are now registered to use the platform (against a target of 17 per cent) with active usage at 13 per cent – a 429 per cent increase year on year.

We continue to support line managers to lead with empathy and create inclusive, psychologically safe teams in which everyone is respected.

We have also built a 4R model (using the re-centre, reshape, reconnect, recharge framework) which provides practical guidance to help leaders and teams build resilience in a proactive and deliberate way. It supports how people manage energy, reset focus, stay connected and navigate change, alongside wider efforts to create healthy, sustainable working environments.

Complementary to this is our new ‘Resilience by Design’ programme, aimed at developing resilience across the Group, with plans for advanced levels and certifications.

We evaluate various wellbeing metrics across the Group (including those related to mental health) to identify underlying causes and monitor progress. These findings
enable us to implement informed, data-driven initiatives to drive improvements.

Our Group Management Team members advocate for our wellbeing agenda, ensuring that it is central to our strategy for productivity, talent management, and performance.

They actively promote positive change at both internal and external forums, such as the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. This tone from the top is mirrored by all our senior leaders, who we expect to play an active and visible role in championing wellbeing and supporting the development and implementation of strategies which enable our colleagues to deliver high performance sustainably.

In January 2025, we launched an enhanced wellbeing service with Unmind, providing both preventative and reactive care, replacing our previous Employee Assistance Programme. Support for colleagues comes in multiple ways, including:

• The ability to access to coaches, counsellors, or clinical psychotherapists virtually in just a few clicks;
• A 24/7, 365-day telephone helpline offering immediate mental health, legal or financial support;
• Resources for People Leaders on topics such as navigating change, handling difficult conversations, and spotting the signs that another colleague might be struggling with their mental health; and
• A library of on-demand learning and self-help tools on a range of wellbeing topics, such as sleeping better, managing stress and overcoming burnout.

Standard Chartered has a suicide and self-harm protocol in place for colleagues to follow if another colleague mentions to them, or otherwise displays signs that, they are having suicidal thoughts or thinking about self-harming – whether this happens inside or outside of work. The protocol is designed to ensure that colleagues are equipped to deal with these challenging situations, should they come across them, and understand where to signpost for specialist help.

The protocol is seen as a short-term measure that will be replaced by a pathway for managing mental ill-health and sickness, currently being developed by the HR Governance, Employee Relations, Legal and Corporate Real Estate Services teams.

Resilience and adaptability – boosting personal energy, being able to adapt to change and uncertainty, turning challenges into growth opportunities – is considered as one of five skills that are foundational to our sharpened business strategy and our colleagues’ long-term success.

As such, wellbeing is a key theme of our overall learning programme and our annual Global Learning Week (GLW). Reinforcing our belief that sustained high performance is achieved through unity, shared purpose and collective wellbeing, during GLW colleagues engaged in learning that was centred on building the mindsets, habits and alliances that enable us to thrive.

Sessions highlighted the compound impact of small daily actions on long-term performance and personal wellbeing, offering practical tools for focus, productivity, resilience, and habit systems that support both professional and personal goals.

We offer increased support for colleagues moving markets, including pairing with a ‘buddy’ with similar lived experiences, so that they can quickly settle into life in their new location. The programme has been offered to nearly 900 relocating colleagues to date. Hear from colleagues in the UAE and Hong Kong about their buddying experience.

In December 2025 we announced a strategic partnership with Bupa Global, a leading International Private Medical Insurance (IPMI) provider and WHOOP, a market leader in fitness and health wearables, as part of our new health and wellness proposition for affluent clients.

This underscores our focus on proactive health and prevention, spanning disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, after-care, and health and wellness coaching, reinforcing the increasingly important roles of personal wellbeing and financial wellness in an individual’s overall wealth journey.

This first-of-its-kind collaboration among leading industry players is available to clients in Hong Kong, Singapore and India.