Employee health and wellbeing
Employee wellbeing is an integral component of a safe and healthy working environment. We aim to build a culture where everyone can perform at their best so that together we can solve the energy challenges of today and tomorrow.
Our objective is to empower our employees to create balance and operate in a safe working environment through access to programmes and initiatives which promote mental, social, and physical health.
Our Global Mental Wellbeing Programme (GMWP) is key to delivering on this goal and it is designed to be delivered over the next five years in Shell.
Creating a culture that supports good mental health
In 2023, we signed the Global Business Collaboration for Better Workplace Mental Health pledge, to further accelerate progress in workplace mental health by collaborating with a community of committed multinational organisations. By becoming a signatory, we have committed to make mental health a visible priority in every geography in which we operate.
The pledge aligns with our longstanding initiatives and commitments, and with our newly launched Global Mental Wellbeing Programme, which is now our key vehicle for operationalising the pledge action points.
"I am committed to ensuring a workplace culture that enables our greatest asset, our people, to thrive. To do this, we must break down all barriers when it comes to the enduring stigma surrounding mental health. We must promote awareness, offer the right support, and – as business leaders – we must lead by example through normalising mental health conversations. In joining the Global Business Collaboration for Better Workplace Mental Health, I make a personal commitment, along with my Executive Committee, to make positive workplace mental health a priority that is part of our DNA and an ongoing conversation, across the organisation."
Wael Sawan, CEO Shell
Global Mental Wellbeing Programme
Mental health is a key enabler of employee wellbeing. Shell’s evidence -based Global Mental Wellbeing Programme (GMWP) is a central component of Shell’s Health Strategy and aims to build a culture that:
1. promotes good mental health,
2. protects against mental ill health, and
3. provides timely access to quality support and care.
Employee involvement has been central to the development of the programme, which was piloted in 2021/22 with 6,500 participants. The voice, experience and feedback of these employees was recorded using qualitative and quantitative techniques as part of the pilot process, and informed improvements to programme design in advance of the launch of the global programme in November 2023. Since then, 77% of employees have registered in the programme and of these, 80% have participated in the survey.
The GMWP comprises a survey and toolkit designed to build mindsets and skillsets that reduce the risk of chronic stress and burnout and optimise mental health at work. The programme tools focus on building aspects of workplace culture that protect mental health, along with skills to proactively promote mental wellbeing.
Businesses are provided with tools that target the specific focus areas for improvement, which are identified through their survey data. This survey also enables our employees to voice their experience of wellbeing in Shell.
Professional mental health support services, including our global employee assistance programme (EAP) provision, are embedded into the programme to ensure timely access to quality care and support for those who need it. Shell’s EAP is now available to over 99% of Shell employees, offering professional counselling support to people with personal or work-related problems. Data from our GMWP survey show that in 2025, 90% of employees are aware of the EAP and 77% know how to contact their provider.
To optimise programme participation and adoption of healthy behaviours, the survey and toolkit are rolled out and scaled in lines of business by Programme Leads in both lines of business and country locations. These employees act as champions for the programme and for mental wellbeing within their businesses and facilitate employee feedback into the programme’s continuous improvement cycle.
Line Managers and Programme Leads, whose teams are entering the programme, are offered training in building psychological safety in their businesses and having conversations about mental health with their teams. This training aims to build a supportive workplace culture and reduce sigma around stress, burnout and mental ill health so that employees feel safe to ask for support and to access professional mental health services. Since the launch of the Global Mental Wellbeing Programme in 2023 over 21% of Shell Line Managers have elected to take this training.
Dr Femi Oduneye, VP Health, who has strategic and operational responsibility for mental health in Shell, welcomed the rollout of the new programme saying, “Employee mental health and wellbeing is integral to delivering our This Is Shell strategy. After a successful 18-month pilot, we have now started the rollout of the five-year Global Mental Wellbeing Programme, with the aim of optimising mental wellbeing across the organisation and tracking our progress as we do so.”
World Mental Health Day 2025
For World Mental Health Day 2025, Shell focused on how inclusion supports psychological safety and why this is essential for mental wellbeing; particularly during periods of change.
The campaign, a joint initiative between Shell Health and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), was centred around The Listening Booth. This video created a space where every voice could be heard and every story valued. It was followed by a series of conversations between six employees, who shared personal reflections and listened to one another on topics including uncertainty, mental health, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, self-care and inclusion.
The campaign was then scaled globally across teams and employee networks, supported by a set of Conversation Starter resources including short videos from mental wellbeing professionals that work with Shell on different dimensions of change including digital transformation, external shifts, and personal experiences, alongside themes of self-leadership and manager support. Together, these encouraged reflection and meaningful conversations, reinforcing the importance of inclusion and support in maintaining wellbeing during times of change.
More than 58,000 employees engaged with the campaign through reading, reacting or contributing to discussions online. Feedback highlighted appreciation for leaders and colleagues who foster trust and respect, as well as the importance of safe spaces where people feel able to be open and supported. Employees also recognised the value of resources that encourage seeking help and checking in on one another.
These insights continue to shape the evolution of Shell’s Global Mental Wellbeing Programme, helping to strengthen a culture built on care, connection and continuous improvement.
Care in Crisis
Major events such as earthquakes, tsunamis and conflicts can have far‑reaching impacts on employee health and wellbeing, particularly when affected communities are unable to cope using their own resources.
Shell’s Health function is equipped to respond through a dedicated Disaster Health Support Framework. Health managers are trained to deploy this framework in times of crisis, beginning with a rapid needs assessment to identify and prioritise those requiring urgent support. This enables the swift development and delivery of a targeted Disaster Health Plan.
The plan addresses a wide range of risks to employee health and wellbeing, including the effects of disruption to communities, impacts on employees and their dependants, and challenges related to infrastructure, transportation and financial stability.
Shell has successfully deployed this framework to provide rapid, targeted health support to employees during recent crises in Ukraine, Türkiye and the Middle East.
Caring for the wellbeing of our employees is critical to our success as individuals, as teams and as a company. Performing competitively in the evolving energy system requires healthy, capable people working safely to gather across Shell. See Our values.
Working together for a safer and healthier shipping industry
The shipping industry is vital for society, yet it has one of the poorest safety records of any industry in the world.
Since 2012, Shell introduced the Maritime Partners in Safety programme with the aim of improving safety across the sector by working with the world’s leading 500 shipping and maritime companies.
The programme shares best practice material in order to significantly improve our collective safety performance.
Shell also commissioned the UK-based Institute of Employment Studies to research the factors that influence psychological and physical health in the seafaring community, the difference well-being has on incidents and safety at sea, and what can be done to help seafarers at work.
This research informed the development of the Mental health and well-being resources that are available on Shell’s external portal for its contractors and the global shipping industry.
How technology is helping doctors to save lives in remote places
Keeping the people who work for us safe and well is our top priority. We have employees and contractors in some of the world’s remotest places. So what do we do in emergencies, when somebody falls ill in a remote location or suffers an injury offshore?
Teams are on standby to transport sick or injured colleagues to hospital from Shell’s platforms, vessels and remote bases anywhere on the planet within four hours. It can mean a long helicopter flight or turning a ship around.
Every minute counts in a medical emergency, and an accurate diagnosis is critical. Shell uses telemedicine technology to help doctors to reach better decisions in remote places, using systems that provide access to a wide range of expert medical expertise at any time through internet and satellite connections.
