Mental health “moments” happen, with many of us fluctuating between optimal and poor mental health every day. The pandemic has forced employers to pay greater attention to the mental health challenges many workers face.
Before the pandemic, mental health needs often went unmet, and businesses were not equipped to deal with increases in depression, anxiety, and substance abuse among employees.1 Traditional health and wellness benefits have been evolving rapidly, using technology and innovation to migrate from sick care to self-care, to change perspectives on aging, to evolve personalized care and payment models, and most importantly, to improve access and integration of physical, mental, and virtual care.
You depend on your employees to deliver your products and services and to drive your business’s overall success. Creating a healthy, safe workplace that protects both the physical and mental health of employees is essential to achieving business objectives and shareholder returns. Clearly, investing in a mentally healthy workforce is required.
Mental illness, including addiction, is becoming a leading cause of disability worldwide – it prevents nearly 500,000 employed Canadians from attending work each week.2
A recent CTV report indicated that Saskatchewan surpassed 460 substance-related deaths in 2021 – a very troubling statistic.3 Substance use disorders represent 33 per cent of mental health concerns, and more than 90 per cent of people with substance use problems do not get help.4,5
The cost of disability leave for mental illness is about double the cost of leave for physical illness.6 Suicide is the leading cause of death in the workplace for construction and related industries. In fact, in the construction industry, the rate of death by suicide is five times the rate of death in workplace accidents.7
Workplace mental health programs are necessary, but if they are disconnected from the support your employees need, you may be missing the mark. Here are three trends that are helping employers support employee mental health and wellbeing.
1. Offering proactive, targeted solutions in your employee family assistance program (EFAP s)
Many EFAPs have already expanded the scope of mental health offerings to include telemedicine and virtual pharmacies. Now, some online platforms are providing targeted solutions, such as those for substance use management, sleep, anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Employees can even choose a therapist from profiles, based on their needs. This benefit can connect employees with behavioural coaches, therapists, and physicians who work as a team to deliver personalized care, right to the employee’s smartphone.
Regardless of the solution, EFAPs have shifted from a reactive generalized approach to a needs-based approach designed to address employees’ mental, physical, social, and financial health needs. In 2021, 42 per cent of employers redesigned their EFAPs.
2. Separating paramedical practitioners often bundled under traditional benefits plans
There is a growing trend to separate psychologists, social workers, and counsellors from the paramedical practitioner bundle under a traditional benefits plan. Employers are recognizing that a typical maximum of $500/year is not enough to support employees and family members who need psychological care: according to the Psychological Society of Saskatchewan, in 2022 the recommended fee for registered psychologists is $200 per hour. Having a separate maximum of $1,000 to $2,000+ for those practitioners provides additional support for ongoing care of mental health disorders.
3. Bringing in a Preventive Assistance Platform (Pre-AP )
Pre-APs are an emerging category in the workplace wellbeing space, led by Canadian technology company headversity. These proactive programs are relevant for every employee, as opposed to reactively serving employees experiencing specific problems. A pre-AP is designed to help organizations and individuals get ahead of mental health concerns through personalized and team-based skill-building. Our effectiveness at managing the way we think, feel, and behave through life’s highs and lows requires skills, which can be fostered by the culture of the organization where we work.
Additionally, pre-APs can remove the limitations of disconnected healthcare by offering integrated primary care that is immediately available and offers practical guidance. The integration of healthcare provides a seamless member experience and expands access to a superior care provider network, beyond the coverage limits of an EFAP.
Pre-Aps, like the one developed by headversity, offer access to training in resilience, behavioural health, and psychological safety to help the workforce proactively manage and build core skills related to mental wellbeing.
“When everyone across a workforce can build protective skills in the flow of their work, and through an intuitive platform have the right tools at the right time to prepare themselves for any challenge, we better protect our people, reduce costs, and improve performance,” says Jason Gotwalt, headversity’s vice-president of growth.
Balanced health and wellness programs can improve employee engagement as a collective measure of employees’ attitudes, attentiveness, and intensity of effort related to their work and workplace. The top–down approach of attraction and retention strategies needs to shift (and it is) to an employee-centric approach, where whole health, happiness, and productivity are high priorities.
Once you have decided to invest in workplace mental health, you will discover a huge array of options that will demonstrate positive financial and non-financial returns. If you are just beginning to explore investments in mental health programs, you may be overwhelmed or struggle with where to start. If you have already invested, you may also encounter common roadblocks along the way. If that sounds like you and you would like some help getting started, or if you need some help optimizing your plan, contact a benefits specialist.
First published in the November 2022 edition of The Potash Producer.
References
- Equitable Life of Canada. “COVID-19 Impacts on Disability” (slide deck). Equitable Life of Canada, 2022.
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. The crisis is real.
- Nicole Di Donato. “‘It’s right across the board’: Sask. reports record number of overdose deaths in 2021,” CTV News Saskatoon, Jan. 12, 2022.
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. (HHS Publication No. PEP21-07-01-003, NSDUH Series H-56). Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, SAMHSA, 2020.
- Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms Scientific Working Group. Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms, 2015–2017. Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, 2020.
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. The crisis is real.
- Grant Cameron. “Construction workers ‘have a perfect storm of suicide risk factors’.” Daily Commercial News, Sept. 7, 2022.
