Riyadh — Saudi organizations are being called to highlight their achievements in mental health, workplace culture, and employee wellbeing at the upcoming Mentl Awards 2025, scheduled for November 21 at the Address Montgomerie in Dubai. The awards, now in their third year, have become a regional platform to celebrate leadership, innovation, and inclusion across more than 40 categories spanning finance, healthcare, technology, education, retail, hospitality, and government.
Last year, Saudi Arabia was recognized when the Sync Digital Wellbeing Program at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) won the national award for the Kingdom. Reflecting on that achievement, Dr. Justin Thomas, chartered psychologist and senior researcher in the program, emphasized that the existence of such an award ceremony signals the importance now placed on mental health initiatives across the region. He noted that not long ago, mental health was rarely even mentioned, but today it has become a central part of organizational strategy.
The urgency of this shift is underscored by Gallup’s Global State of the Workplace 2025, which reported that Saudi Arabia’s employee engagement rate stands at just 26 percent. The cost of disengagement is estimated at 85 billion dollars annually, equivalent to nearly 49 million dollars lost every hour due to reduced productivity and wellbeing challenges.
Scott Armstrong, founder of Mentl, described Saudi Arabia as being on a transformational journey, not only in business but also in how organizations care for their people. He stressed that there are powerful, untold stories of leadership and inclusion waiting to be shared, and the Mentl Awards provide the stage for those stories to reach the wider region.
Entries are reviewed by an independent panel of leaders, including Sir Ian Cheshire, chair of the King Charles III Charitable Fund; Dr. Nahida Nayaz Ahmed, chief medical officer at Sakina; Jen Fisher, former chief wellbeing officer at Deloitte; Jessica Smith OAM, Paralympian and inclusion campaigner; and several other prominent figures in governance, healthcare, and leadership. Each entry also includes a 12-month membership in the Mentl community, offering access to exclusive events, resources, and ongoing conversations around wellbeing.
The Mentl Awards 2025 are not only a recognition platform but also a catalyst for change, encouraging organizations to embed wellbeing into their culture and strategy. For Saudi companies, participation represents an opportunity to demonstrate alignment with the Kingdom’s broader transformation agenda, where human capital development and workplace culture are seen as essential drivers of sustainable growth.
