A recent report from mental health platform Wysa found less than half of Canadian employers are taking proactive steps to address mental health in the workplace
Many Canadians are at risk of self-harm or suicide, yet several workplaces are failing to provide adequate support not only to those individuals but to all employees. Given most employees spend 8 to 10 hours a day online or in the office, this glaring gap in mental health assistance not only leaves employees vulnerable but also contributes to a culture of silence, where individuals may hesitate to seek help for fear of negative repercussions.
This comes from AI-guided mental health platform, Wysa’s Colleagues in Crisis report which found 23 per cent of Canadian workers have been bothered by thoughts of death or self-harm in the two weeks prior to being surveyed, rising to 36 per cent when looking over the past year. Additionally, only 43 per cent agree that their employer takes proactive steps to address employee mental health, while only 36 per cent feel their employer sees mental health as a personal or out-of-work matter.
These findings highlight a harsh reality. A concerning number of employees across the country are currently at risk, highlighting the urgent need for businesses to recognize and prioritize this pressing issue. Wysa’s chief psychologist Smriti Joshi believes there is a reluctance among employees to seek help from employer provided resources due to fear of privacy breaches or ineffective support.
“People should allow themselves to be vulnerable and talk about the concerns that they're facing, whether it's because of their workplace or whether it's because of other reasons impacting their mental health,” she says. “We've seen some of our partners who have been able to champion this where leaders [within the organization] or managers are coming up and talking about their own stressors. It normalizes the experience that everybody experiences anxiety, and there is help available for it.”
The Colleagues in Crisis report found only 43 per cent of employees agreed their employer takes proactive steps to address employee mental health while 31 per cent believe their workplace is overlooking serious mental health issues. Joshi highlights that while employees surveyed have a strong preference for using digital tools and occasional check-ins at workplace, employees are often very unsure of what to do when colleagues are feeling unsafe or in a mental health crisis. “It seems that they were expecting certain kinds of training or managers to be more equipped with skills to identify such individuals and be able to support them,” Joshi said.
There are almost 4,500 deaths by suicide each year in Canada, according to Statistics Canada –which averages to about 12 per day. Joshi noted employers can take actionable steps to decrease these numbers by creating a culture of openness of what’s available in employee benefits, providing flexible work arrangements, regular breaks, and allowing employees to take a mental health day, notably once per month. That one day can make all the difference, Joshi says, because employees can take that day to take a break or recharge from a hectic work routine.
Additionally, having a support network, like peers or colleagues that employees can go to confide in would also be welcome. “Employees have expressed themselves in the survey that they want to be more equipped to be able to address and help colleagues who may be experiencing crisis. Otherwise, it creates a very negative and a very dark space kind of work environment where it seems like there's so much stress and there's no help available,” said Joshi.
“These concerns [in the report] are manageable and treatable,” she added. Having mental health concerns does not mean that one has a mental illness. They are two very different things. We all have mental health needs, and we’re all on a spectrum.”
On one side of the spectrum, Joshi explained, employees “are feeling good and want to do things that will help become more productive and more focused versus being in the middle where we are just languishing and not thriving. On the other end, people are feeling unwell.”
“Knowing this can bring in a lot of acceptability for each other and our struggles together. I think as individuals, we need to build that awareness for ourselves,” Joshi added.
The report also shared several expectations employees are looking for from their employer when they address a mental health concern. Top priorities include offering professional support (53 per cent), getting paid time off to focus on wellbeing (47 per cent), a regular check-in (43 per cent) and having a safe space to talk (40 per cent).
At the end of the day, Joshi believes employers should be doing regular assessments on tracking outcomes. These can be important for workplaces because once employers invest a certain amount of the budget to see whether the service is being utilized in other services and being helpful for employees.
“Not everything may link directly to an ROI but if it's helping improve employee wellbeing, if it's showing the change, or if it's showing a reduction in crisis, then I think the services that they have in place are doing a good job,” Joshi said.
“The intention [of this report] is not to put the entire blame on the employers or workplaces because they're not solely responsible for individuals’ mental health, but they play a critical role in providing a supportive environment and providing a safe space where people can talk about the concerns they are facing.”
If you're looking for support, find out what benefits peer support workers bring to the workplace in this article.
