Mental Health Leader Spotlight: Kate Fisher of Cummins

September 1, 2026

Twenty years ago, people came to work and were expected to leave their struggles at the door. And all that did was compound problems because you can’t do your best work when you’re struggling or caring for someone who is struggling. At Cummins, we’ve seen that the healthier our employees are, the stronger we are as a company.-Kate Fisher

This May, Cummins received Lyra’s Workforce Mental Health Company of the Year Award in recognition of its ongoing investment in employee well-being. What began as an effort to better support employees has evolved into a long-term strategy to build a healthier workforce. Today, it’s a foundational part of the company’s culture.

The best mental health strategies are built for complexity

Supporting 70,000 employees across roles, regions, and life experiences requires a mental health strategy built for a wide range of needs.

Some employees may need preventive support or coaching. Others may be navigating severe or complex mental health conditions. Cummins wanted a model flexible enough to support employees across the full spectrum of need.

“We have employees who just need preventive care. And then we have some who are really sick, maybe critically sick,” Kate says. “Lyra has helped us meet everybody wherever they are in their journey.”

For Cummins, that meant building a broader care ecosystem, not simply offering another EAP. 

“If somebody doesn’t need intensive therapy, maybe they can benefit from coaching. And we just added dialectical behavior therapy for people who have more severe mental health concerns,” she says. “Lyra brings all these benefits that we can use to build an entire care ecosystem, and we would not get that with a typical EAP.”

Culture changes when people start talking

Cummins’ global well-being campaign, It’s OK, was designed to reduce stigma and normalize conversations about mental health across the organization. More than 200 employees have shared their personal stories through the campaign. Managers have also received specialized  training to better support employees navigating challenges. Over time, Kate says, those efforts started changing everyday conversations.

“I hear from employees all the time who share their stories with me,” she says. One story in particular stayed with her. An employee said that she and her family were in "a very dark place” when she came across materials from the It’s OK campaign. She brought them to her manager, who responded by sharing their own experience using Lyra.

“The manager felt comfortable enough to say, ‘I, too, have had this struggle. I used the Lyra benefit and it’s helped me and I think you should do this too.’ And she was able to get the help she needed. That’s really the key to all of this,” Kate says.

For Kate, the breakthrough wasn’t the campaign itself. It was what happened next: an employee and manager having an honest conversation about mental health without fear or stigma.

Mental health support has to reach everyone

In 2026, Cummins launched a global Mental Health Ally Program to ensure every employee, from the corporate office to the manufacturing floor, has access to a supportive, informed, and clinically backed ecosystem of care.

“We have a big shop floor manufacturing population who are non-wired and hard to reach,” Kate says. “So we think having people on the ground who can talk to them—people they trust—is helpful.” 

The program trains employees to recognize signs of distress, have supportive conversations, and connect co-workers to the resources they need. They aren’t therapists, they’re trusted peers equipped to help guide employees toward support. “We’ve piloted it in the U.S. and we’re hoping to roll it out globally next year,” she says.

Employees stay where they feel supported

When asked what advice she’d give other benefits leaders, Kate points back to business impact.

“I would ask: Do they have any idea what they might be losing in productivity or absenteeism? Do they want to be able to attract great people and keep them? We know employees who feel genuinely cared for are much more likely to stay. If that’s what you want, then you have to create an atmosphere where people feel cared for.”

At Cummins, mental health support has evolved beyond a benefit offering. It has become part of how the company builds culture, earns trust, and supports employees through the moments that shape both work and life.