By Luisa De Jesus, CHRP, CHRL

More than 6.7 million Canadians are living with a mental health problem or illness today. By comparison, 2.2 million people in Canada have type 2 diabetes (CAMH). We have long been aware that mental health is a pervasive global issue, but the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened this problem. On a personal and professional level, people are having difficulty coping with the negative effects that social isolation caused us all. Many argue that mental illness has become a pandemic of its own, with more cases emerging than ever before. As humans, our natural instinct is to connect with others, but necessary social distancing and lockdown measures have limited our ability to do so, resulting in increased cases of mental health issues.

It’s no secret this can have a negative financial and cultural impact on your organization. For example, presenteeism occurs when employees are physically present, but emotional or mental health issues take away from their ability to be productive. It is estimated that presenteeism costs Canadian businesses anywhere from 15 to 25 billion dollars per year (Workplace Strategies for Mental Health). It is important that employers know how to prevent mental illness in the workplace, recognize the signs, and support employees who may be facing mental health challenges. 

In response to an outpouring of employer requests for help, LD Human Resources has prepared 5 mental health strategies for organizations to support the wellbeing of their employees. Watch our recorded webinar for a more in-depth explanation of these strategies:

1. Create a long-term mental health strategy for your organization

A long-term, sustainable strategy will provide a vision and direction for how you will support your employees’ mental health. This requires the buy-in of your senior leadership team for it to be effective as they can have a direct impact on workplace culture. The strategy you create should aim to help employees achieve a better work-life balance, recognize and alleviate unnecessary job stress, and expose and address harmful workplace discrimination which negatively impacts mental health. 

2.    Implement mandatory mental health training for senior leaders 

Leaders are essential agents of change and will play a pivotal role in this process. By investing in their training on how to recognize and address mental health issues in the workplace, they can influence the teams’ attitude, behaviour and help to support best practices. Some mental health training will equip them to create organization-wide awareness and support the overall mandate of promoting wellbeing in the workplace.

3.     Develop tailored mental health supports

Every workplace has a unique corporate culture, and for this reason a one-size-fits-all solution for mental health does not exist. To create a tailored strategy, start with an assessment of your employees’ mental health needs and barriers. Once identified, ensure to implement Employee and Family Assistance programs that are both flexible and effective. The access and delivery of these supports should fit your workplace culture and industry. In addition, pay close attention to the inclusivity of each solution. Different cultures view mental health differently and as the employer it is important to remain sensitive to this reality.

4.      Prioritize and optimize your Return-to-Work process

Some best practices to consider implementing: 

• Plan and coordinate the Return-to-Work process carefully

• Ensure occupational health professionals meet weekly with the employee who is on sick leave

• Provide the employee with a few different options to accommodate their return to the workplace

• Conduct a formal capabilities assessment upon the employee’s return

• Train managers to support this tailored process 

As the employer, stay updated on what you can do to support employees returning to the workplace from sick leave, and do your best to accommodate them. Employees who push themselves to return too quickly, may regress and be off from work for an even longer period of time. It’s important to partner with the employee and their healthcare professional to ensure a successful return.

5.     Track your progress

 A few ways to track the progress of your workplace mental health strategy is to conduct performance reviews and pay attention to factors such as: 

• Absenteeism 

• Presenteeism

• Successful Return-to-Work cases

• Use of short- or long-term disabilites

• ROI of mental health plan 

If you experience an initial temporary spike in negative indicators, don’t worry! The goal is to see increased improvement over the long-term.

It is vital to a healthy business that employers know the signs and signals indicative of an employee suffering from mental health issues. It may be even more difficult to identify a struggling employee who is working from home. Reading body language and facial expressions, asking them about their workload and homelife, conducting weekly check-ins with video cameras on and paying attention to absences and lateness are all ways you can identify an employee who may need your support.

Overall, loneliness is a subjective experience resulting from a lack of social connection. Social isolation can cause other physical and mental health problems, but social connection is the cure. Encourage your employees to connect with family, friends, colleagues, mental health professionals and community members who can listen and give advice, even if virtually. 

The HR consultants at LD Human Resources are here to support employers and help them navigate through COVID-19 and beyond.  We welcome you to reach out to us for a complimentary consultation.

About the Author

As the Founder and President of LD Human Resources, Luisa is a highly motivated and results-driven human resources professional with over 20 years’ experience in HR. Luisa is a Certified Human Resources Professional and holds a BA from the University of Toronto. She also graduated with honours, obtaining her Human Resources Management certificate in 2010.

Luisa’s expertise spans professional and financial services, construction, travel and tourism, IT, not-for profit and retail. Her key strengths include: strategic consulting; performance management, succession planning; recruitment and employee relations; organizational development and learning; and, compensation and benefits. Luisa is committed to high professional standards that link HR best practices to business objectives, delivering results within changing environments. She is a proud mother of two strong-minded young girls, and an advocate for mental health and wellness.