Employers becoming more strategic with mental health: Report

“If employers didn't know it before, they're certainly becoming more savvy now, and definitely taking proactive measures to mitigate that.”

So says Charmaine Alexander, senior advisor of best practice and innovation at Desjardins in Toronto, in discussing a report that finds many Canadian employers have become more strategic around their mental health and wellness initiatives.

“Even as things start to get normal, we still know that there are a lot of impacts, whether it be political, whether it be societal, there's a lot of outside factors that are influencing mental health,” she says. And younger workers have a different approach around mental health and stigma.

“Because of this, employers have become more knowledgeable about that trend, what they see, and are making it definitely more strategic because they've experienced loss — whether it be presenteeism, absenteeism — and mental health plays such a large role in what we do, day to day.”

More holistic, adaptive approach

Organizations have accelerated their efforts towards a more holistic and adaptive approach to employee health and well-being, says the Conference Board of Canada report Future-Proofing Investments in Workplace Mental Health, based on a survey of 141 employers along with focus groups and interviews with 29 people at 27 organizations.

It finds that most employers (72.5 per cent) participating in the study have or are developing a formalized strategy outside of their benefits plan to support employee mental health.

“A lot of these organizations have been implementing mental health strategies over the course of the past decade, but it has definitely become a lot more prominent and more talked about since the pandemic started,” says Lindsay Coffin, interim associate director of human capital at the Conference Board of Canada in Ottawa.

With many people isolated in their homes, lacking the usual social connections, amid financial uncertainty, massive job losses, and restrictions on travel, “it brought [mental health] to the forefront and reduced a lot of stigma around mental health because it was something that was impacting everyone,” she says.

Standard provides good place to start

In addition, 29.1 per cent of the participants have adopted or aligned with the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (though 30.4 per cent are unsure), finds the survey.

The standard clearly outlines practical steps that you can take, says Coffin.

“It's not an abstract concept, these are things that you can do, and you can do them as quickly or as slowly as your organization wants. So it's practical, it’s a step-by-step guide… And it's free and it's easily available,” she says. “The Mental Health Commission of Canada has done a really great job at promoting it and making it practical and easy to implement for organizations.”

While the standard has made workers more knowledgeable about mental health and has led to safer work settings, there are also many workers who are unaware it exists, according to a 2017 survey.

Certainly, when organizations are asking themselves where to start, the standard is a very good place, says Alexander.

“I've talked to a lot of clients who have said, ‘We got it and we didn't realize how easy it was to take stock of what our culture is now and start to think about how to change that.’ I think a lot of employers and organizations might have thought, ‘Oh, it's too difficult’ or ‘We don't have time for this right now’ or ‘It's too expensive.’ And once they delve into it… they realize that it's not an insurmountable task, and it's a lot more friendly than it might seem initially.”

Boosting psychological services

Encouragingly, 93 per cent of employers surveyed by the Conference Board say they provide coverage for psychological services. And one-third have increased coverage levels for these services while 16 per cent plan to do so in the next 12 months.

However, the maximum coverage per employee is roughly $2,400 and the Canadian Psychological Association recommends a stand-alone annual coverage maximum of $3,500 to $4,000 to cover 15 to 20 sessions, says the report.

But any help is better than none at all, says Coffin.

“And the fact that they are increasing it and offering other services that can help with mental health supports, like employee assistance plans, are positive steps. I don't think they should claw back these benefits because people are using them, and they are helping people.”

With a mental health disability, you really want to change behaviour, and that often doesn't happen without cognitive behavioural therapy or dialectical behaviour therapy, says Alexander.

“That doesn't usually happen unless it's with a psychologist, which we know is not covered under any provincial plan.”

If the costs are too prohibitive, people won't seek out those services, she says – plus many job candidates are looking for this kind of support.

“Having used those types of services myself, I know how it can be prohibitive out-of-pocket, and I was grateful for any percentage that I could build through my insurance plan and that my employer offered.”

Almost one-third of Canadians would consider switching employers for better mental health support and resources, according to a recent survey.

Connecting DEI to mental health

While some employers (43 per cent) audit health initiatives to ensure they are provided in a culturally sensitive way, most have not adopted their mental health strategy to reflect the needs of different demographic groups such as Indigenous, women, immigrants and people with disabilities (ranging from 13 per cent to 31 per cent), finds the Conference Board of Canada.

“There is a growing body of research that is starting to show that some diverse groups aren't well served by the traditional benefits plan,” says Coffin.

And you'd hate for an employee to be struggling and not know that help was there, and they didn't use it because [they didn’t know help was] there. So it's really important for employer organizations to not only communicate but understand their population.”

For example, some benefits may be more culturally appropriate for Indigenous workers versus older workers or younger workers, or women versus men or transgender people, she says.

“They all have very different needs and the one-size-fits-all approach doesn't necessarily meet all of these needs equally. So offering those customizable benefits would better serve more employees.”

Measuring success

The most popular types of initiatives directly related to mental health are workshops or training (62.2 per cent), wellness days (60.3 per cent), awareness training for leaders (58.1 per cent), and awareness training for employees (53.4 per cent).

And in looking for feedback on mental health initiatives, 43 per cent of employers use engagement surveys while 15 per cent use a separate survey, says the report.

However, many organizations are not evaluating the effectiveness of their health and wellness initiatives: 53.5 per cent said they do not measure the return on investment while 49.3 per cent do not measure the value on investment (and many others are uncertain).

“Employers aren't really checking in on their initiatives, or at least not checking in on how effective they are,” says Coffin, but “the more frequently you measure, the more responsive you can be to specific organizational needs.”

The first step is getting baseline data to understand which programs are being used, which ones are effective, which ones employees like and if there is anything else employees would like to see, she says.

“If you don't know what's working, it's really hard to improve on that, and it doesn't make sense to invest a lot of money into a program no one's using… getting that information from employees can be really beneficial for employers who want to improve the quality and usage rates of their services.”

Employers are facing plenty of economic challenges right now, so they have to be mindful of what they're spending in benefit plans, says Alexander.

“We're urging employer organizations to really… lean on their vendors, their partners who are looking after these products, for them to report on that return on investment and report on that value on investment — hold them to accountability as to ‘We've placed this benefit business with you, how is that looking for our populations?’” she says.

“As we are looking to get leaner in all organizations and there’s talk of recession, it's important that employers know what their employees want, and to know that they're spending their money wisely in the programs that are going to have the most impact.”

Recommendations to improve

The Conference Board makes five overall recommendations to help employers improve their mental health and wellness initiatives. These include re-evaluating the benefits plan by increasing communication and collaborating with employees.

“Getting employees’ feedback is really important because they're the people who are the end users of the benefits that they're receiving. And if you don't know what they want or what they need, it's really hard to develop programs,” says Coffin.

“Specifically for mental health, having that holistic approach to a communication plan helps to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health in the workplace, which is really important. But it also provides information on where people can go to get the supports they need, and having that in more consistent, more frequent communication about benefits is a lot more useful than organizations who [give new employees] a brochure, but they don't really go through what's offered.”

Many Canadian employees are uneasy about discussing their mental health, according to a 2021 report.

People don't use what they don't know they have, says Alexander.

“And you'd hate for an employee to be struggling and not know that help was there, and they didn't use it because help wasn't there. So it's really important for employer organizations to not only communicate but understand their population.”

Some employees may prefer the intranet or an email, in-person workshops or group texts, while others on night shift might want to see a recording of how to access a mental health session or mental health benefits, she says.

“You need to understand as an employer organization what's going to speak and resonate to your employees.”

The report also recommends that employers identify their best mental health and wellness initiatives, and build on those.

In speaking with organizations throughout this research, one said they were “doing great,” with “82 different things for mental health,” says Coffin.

But when asked about their best program, their most effective program or their most-used program, they didn’t know the answer, she says.

“Understanding what's being used and what's working helps you make strategic investments in your mental health strategy, instead of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. This is a more proactive and strategic approach to mental health-like strategies across organizations.”