TELUS Health's Paula Allen explains why employers need to maximize EAPs in the workplace
The height of the COVID-19 pandemic took a significant toll on the mental health of working Canadians. Since 2020, recovery towards improved wellbeing has been slow, according to the latest findings from the TELUS Mental Health Index report.
Paula Allen, global leader and vice-president of research and insights at TELUS Health highlights that mental wellbeing of the Canadian workforce has continued to decline, reaching levels even more compromised than during the initial upheaval of 2020. The Mental Health Index, which TELUS Health has been tracking since 2017, provides a comprehensive view of the mental health status of working Canadians. She highlights the report was initially created for employers because mental health is a critical component to the workplace.
“We looked at people's experience of work, along with productivity, and ultimately, how well an organization functions and costs. There’s a cost to illness and there's cost to turnover. But there wasn't a good way to measure that. We developed the Index as a simple, valid measure for organizations to understand where the working population is, by industry. It's become a significant body of knowledge, allowing us to monitor trends and identify the key factors impacting employee mental health,” she says.
According to findings, between 2019 and 2020, the Index saw a significant decline in mental health in Canada, the US and the UK. The proportion of workers facing a mental health risk has reached a new peak, with 37 per cent now in this category, nearly four per cent higher than the annual average in the last four years. Meanwhile, forty per cent of workers are frequently worried or anxious about their financial situation, with 48 per cent most concerned about the cost of living and 25 per cent about debt.
“We're below where we were in April of 2020, so our wellbeing is actually more compromised than it was when we had all the upheaval of the pandemic,” notes Allen. “If you think about it, the reason why we had so much of a decline is we had change, we had uncertainty, and we had isolation. Very oddly, we have all of those things now, but not necessarily due to the pandemic.”
She points to examples like changes in the workplace, highlighting layoffs as employers revise job positions, an accelerated AI age as well as political uncertainty. “Isolation has become more of an issue now more than ever, and that impacts our resilience to change uncertainty and other stressors. The risk right now seems more aligned with financial risk more than anything else.”
Allen is quick to point to the strong correlation between financial risk and the absence of emergency savings, which also links back to mental wellbeing, she says, as emergency savings provide a safety net and offer a sense of security and a feeling of resilience, should someone struggle mentally. “When you don't have emergency savings, regardless of your income, your mental wellbeing is compromised,” says Allen.
Despite the country narrowly avoiding a recession and burnout levels dropping, the data suggests a disconnect between top line economic numbers versus how workers are really feeling. Allen believes while Canadians’ individual experiences are shaped by several different things, she notes over the last 10 years, “we’ve increasingly adopted a comparison culture.” Consequently, at the beginning of 2020, Canadians also became more sensitive to stressors. That hasn’t changed, asserts Allen, as over forty per cent of Canadians are more stressed now than they were five years ago.
“When you're more sensitive to stress, people get more cynical. They're quicker to anger and we’re seeing more conflict. We’re also more easily frustrated. Mental health and wellbeing haven’t recovered over the past four and a half years, and we can attest to this as well. People are coming in with more entrenched issues.”
So what can employers do to support their workforce? Allen emphasizes the need to first maximize the resources already available, such as Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). “The satisfaction employers have when workers actually use their EAP is quite high but only a third of employees know what an EAP is and what it does,” she says.
Allen explains EAPs today go far beyond just counselling. They also provide financial, legal, and elder and childcare support. By integrating these holistic offerings with broader benefits plans, employers can create a more seamless, supportive experience for employees. Allen compares having an EAP to a one-stop-shop for employees.
“You don't get that by going directly to your benefit plan. Plan sponsors need to not only promote the EAP but talk to the EAP provider about any kind of extended services that might be available and bolster mental and physical health strategies,” she adds.
Employers should also focus on training managers and workplace leaders to be champions of mental health, asserts Allen. "We know there are five key behaviours that make a big difference - being inclusive, fostering team cohesion, being humane by showing empathy, demonstrating a sense of purpose, and making timely decisions," says Allen. Equipping leaders with these skills can have a measurable impact on employee wellbeing and productivity.
