The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan’s extensive benefits coverage and focus on cross-collaboration landed the company a win in the Mental Health Program category for employers with fewer than 1,000 employees at Benefits Canada’s 2024 Workplace Benefits Awards on Oct. 18.
The HOOPP’s mental-health strategy is designed to drive a program that educates and empowers employees and their leaders to have supportive conversations and leverage the available tools, says Dianna Ospina (pictured left), the organization’s senior benefits advisor. “The program has continued to evolve based on data from the disability management program, benefits and drug utilization numbers, psychological claims, employee assistance program usage and employee surveys.”
The company prioritizes ongoing messaging from leadership to help normalize the conversation on mental health and encourage use of the HOOPP’s resources, including stories from employee wellness champions. Wherever possible, wellness seminars and resources focus on the intersectionality between mental health and other areas like nutrition, physical wellness and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Read: Peel Region’s extensive collection of data leads to mental-health win
In 2018, the pension organization increased its annual psychological coverage from $500 to $2,500 per employee and dependant. “We were lucky because, pre-pandemic, we had already expanded our psychological benefits and we had a couple of [solid] programs in place,” notes Ospina. “So that really helped us to brace for the impacts of the pandemic and provide sufficient support. Since then, we’ve continued to improve and make sure we offer a reliable program for employees.”
In 2021, the HOOPP partnered with Ink Blot Therapy to address issues of access to mental-health care, diversity of practitioners and further stretch its psychological benefit by allowing access to practitioners at a reduced rate.
The evolution of the program has also led to more cross-functional collaboration with other areas in human resources to holistically support the mental health and psychological safety of employees, says Laura Carter, the organization’s associate director of benefits.
Read: Editorial: What’s next for improving workplace mental-health support?
“There are many factors that contribute to mental health, [so] we realized that to truly support mental health holistically, we needed to partner with our colleagues in DEI and learning and development. This collaboration has led to informative focus groups with our [employee resource groups and targeted] seminars on mental health and racism.”
The company also launched mental-health training for leaders in 2021 and, as of 2023, 38 managers had completed the training, with another 40 scheduled to complete it in 2024. Other programs planned for the rest of 2024 include employee seminars on managing mental-health conversations in the workplace and looking at the impact of social media on youth mental health.
According to its 2023 employee benefits survey, which had 788 respondents, 90 per cent of staff said they believe the HOOPP is supportive of their mental health and the health of their dependants. Also, 86 per cent indicated they understand the mental-health supports that are offered and 77 per cent said these mental-health supports are important/very important to them.
“One of the most notable changes has been a shift in the HOOPP workplace culture and perception of mental health,” says Ospina. “Increasingly, employees are talking about their experiences and normalizing the narrative on mental health and accessing support.”
Read: Survey finds perceptions of workplace culture impacting employees’ mental health