Glossary terms

Definition of WHO 5 index:

‍The WHO-5 (World Health Organization Five Well-Being Index) is a short, clinically validated screening tool for recording subjective mental quality of life. It consists of five positively formulated questions that ask about the situation over the last two weeks. The result is shown on a scale from 0 (lowest well-being) to 100 (highest well-being).

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Significance and statistics

:In the modern world of work, the WHO-5 serves as an early warning system. A score below 50 indicates critical well-being, while scores below 28 suggest clinical screening for depression. For companies, the index is so valuable because it creates a direct correlation between well-being and individual performance. Statistically speaking, the absenteeism rate falls significantly when the average WHO-5 score of a department remains stable above 55.

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Impact on the organization:

‍A falling WHO-5 index in teams is often a harbinger of increasing absenteeism and a weakening commitment to the company. Without a standardized measurement such as the WHO-5, HR departments often “fly blind” and initiate measures whose success cannot be verified.

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The mentalPort approach:

‍mentalport uses the WHO-5 index as a central element of continuous effectiveness testing. Within the infrastructure, the index is regularly collected to close impact loops. This allows companies to see in real time how effective their prevention measures are to improve well-being and where action needs to be taken to ensure organizational stability.

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