Koskei wants firms to set aside budgets to deal with mental health challenges

Head of Public Service Felix Koskei has urged companies to allocate dedicated budgets for mental health interventions, citing a growing number of cases in workplaces.

Addressing over 1,000 Human Resource (HR) professionals during the closing ceremony of the 11th Annual National HR Congress, Koskei called on HR departments to take proactive steps in supporting employees struggling with mental health challenges.

“Mental health is a reality in the workplace. As HR professionals, you need to reorganise, restructure, and set aside a budget to manage the increasing incidence of mental health issues,” he said.

Koskei also pushed for the creation of policies that protect interns and contract workers from exploitation.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  How parents can raise mentally strong children
• 
  From backyard to business: How one cow led this couple into dairy farming success
• 
  Meet mental health coach 'Hummingbird,' healing hearts and saving one soul at a time
• 
  Exhibition looks at suicide, alcoholism

“Implement policies to ensure that interns are not taken advantage of, and that contract workers are not left in limbo. There should be no modern-day enslavement in the workforce,” he stated.

He further urged HR professionals to challenge exploitative company policies and stand against workplace cultures that demean employees or suppress innovation.

“You must resist policies that are harsh or degrading. Stand up to leaders who suppress talent and steal the innovations and research of junior employees,” Koskei added.

He emphasised the importance of embedding HR at the core of governance structures, tasking the profession with driving institutional transformation, catalysing innovation, and promoting people-centric service delivery.

As companies continue to embrace digital transformation, Koskei cautioned that technology should not replace human connection.

“Technology should be an enabler of inclusion, transparency, and performance—not a substitute for human relationships,” he said.

Koskei urged HR professionals to lead with intentionality, build ethical and adaptive workplace cultures, and institutionalise leadership that is both values-based and people-focused.

He said his office is working to create a policy and operational environment that promotes a high-performing, ethical, and citizen-responsive public service.

He also pledged to champion people-centred HR practices that place institutional reform on the foundation of each public servant’s dignity and potential.

“This commitment is reflected in the public-private development sector partnership framework on human capital development, which we aim to operationalise as a model for collaborative excellence,” he said.

Koskei also committed to accelerating the digitisation of HR functions, not merely for efficiency, but as a moral and strategic move towards greater transparency and real-time responsiveness.