More than one-half of Canadian firms identify stress as top health risk
Want to improve productivity? Employers should look beyond the fitness passes and in-house weight loss clinics, according to a new global wellness survey.
Working Well, the third annual global wellness survey conducted by Buck Consultants, suggests mental health issues are more powerful drivers of wellness strategies than those related to physical health. Forty-five per cent of companies surveyed in Canada identified stress as the top health risk that is driving wellness strategies in the workplace. Work-life balance (39 per cent) and depression (31 per cent) were other leading issues.
“It was the first year that it was that clear,” said Michele Bossi, Buck’s health and productivity practice leader in Canada.
“We’ve seen a gradual increase over 15 years in disability claims from mental illness. It’s been a continual increase, so it has probably reached that threshold of being on the radar.”
Yet, many companies are more likely to offer gym memberships, flu shots or other wellness initiatives aimed directly at improving physical health, rather than those targeted at improving stress, she said. Fewer than one-half of the 57 employers surveyed across Canada offered programs or wellness components aimed at the top three mental health issues.
“In so many things, we follow the U.S. lead,” said Bossi. “The U.S. has put a lot of money into technology to identify (physical) risk factors, targeted disease solutions, et cetera. A lot of Canadian companies are trying to piggyback off that. They’re not looking at the top driver in Canada — and that’s stress. Employers, by virtue of creating a healthy workplace, can have a lot of influence over employee stress.”
The reality for employers is physical health issues are easier to manage and don’t require systemic changes, said Gordon Davidson, a psychologist in Vernon, B.C., who specializes in workplace wellness.
“There’s still a stigma attached to mental health issues,” he says.
“And many organizations, by the very nature of their structure and processes, are making life more stressful. I think there’s some reticence for some organizations to take responsibility for their management structure.”
Workers “need more than lip service” when it comes to addressing issues such as burnout, work-life balance and depression, said Davidson. Companies need to consider structural changes, such as varied shifts or modified workweeks and, at the same time, commit to improving morale.
“Some companies do extravagant polls and research ideas from employees about how to run operations better,” he said. “But sometimes employees have discovered that while they go out of their way to express what their opinions are, in some cases it’s nothing more than window dressing.”
Employee assistance programs (EAPs) are not the answer in and of themselves either, he said. There’s a “tremendous amount of mistrust” on the part of employees who fear their personal information will get back to managers. Instead, employers should use an extended health program that allows workers to freely choose their own psychological assistance.
“The people they choose are often more highly trained and there’s nothing for (employees) to worry about,” he said. “In the long run, it’s better than providing an EAP.”
Open Text, a Waterloo, Ont.-based enterprise software company, allows employees some flexibility by reimbursing them up to US$300 a year for a range of fitness and wellness services, including gym memberships, weight loss clinics and stress-management courses.
“We approach it more from an individual aspect, rather than a defined strategy,” said Pam McMeekin, senior manager of global benefits at Open Text. The difficulty with providing a more specific initiative for mental health issues is “they’re more ambiguous” and not always visible, she said.
Instead, Open Text offers lunch-and-learn sessions on stress management, covers psychologist visits under its group plan and encourages employees to use the services of the EAP. The company also holds vendor road shows at its Waterloo and Richmond Hill, Ont., offices to make employees aware of the wellness services it offers.
Open Text’s wellness programs are strictly voluntary and there are no additional incentives to join them. That’s the case for most firms in Canada, as fewer than one in four companies offer incentive rewards, found the survey, such as employer-subsidized gym memberships (38 per cent), raffles (33 per cent) and gifts and merchandise (25 per cent).
“While we believe in encouraging wellness and healthy lifestyles, in a lot of case it’s really a personal choice whether you choose to take that on,” said McMeekin.
Open Text also follows the pack when it comes to measuring the success of its wellness strategy. In Canada, only eight per cent of companies have measured financial outcomes.
“It’s growing all of the time but I don’t think it’s always clear what falls in under ‘wellness,’” she said.
“We’ve gotten good feedback from employees on a number of the initiatives we’ve taken, but I wouldn’t know one way or the other whether we’ve seen concrete examples (of success).”
Companies should regularly take stock of their values and measure them against the reality of the environment the employees work in, said Bossi.
“If you look at the top companies in Canada, they’re focused on culture and creating a culture that engages employees — where they want to show up for work and they’re not just showing up and hating every minute of it,” she said.
“It’s not so much about saying, ‘I’m your employer. Here’s my contribution to your health.’ It’s about creating a healthy environment that automatically does that.”
Danielle Harder is a Whitby, Ont.-based freelance writer.
