How 5 employers are designing mental-health benefits that cater to a diverse workforce

Read: Work still to be done to address mental-health risks in the workplace: 2024 BCHS report launch

Benefits Canada spoke to the finalists and winners of the 2024 Workplace Benefits Awards’ mental-health categories to learn more about the evolution of their strategies, the role of employee feedback and how they’re tailoring mental wellness supports to workforces with diverse roles.

The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan

The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan’s mental-health strategy — which was launched at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021 — has taken a data-driven approach from the outset.

“About six years ago, we started tracking the data really methodically, looking at drug data, [employee assistance program] data, usage of our psychological benefit and any trends in disability,” says Laura Carter, associate director of benefits at the HOOPP. “[The data] told us a story to guide our programming. While mental health has become more of a priority since the pandemic, we started working on it before it became a bit more of a buzzword.”

In 2018, the HOOPP increased its annual psychological coverage from $500 to $2,500 per employee and dependant. In the years since, the organization has partnered with a therapy provider to address issues of access to mental-health care and diversity of practitioners. In 2023, it introduced a seminar that was led by a child psychologist on supportive parenting for anxious children and youth, with a focus on evidence-based information and techniques to help parents support their children.

Read: HOOPP’s focus on cross-collaboration in mental health leads to award win

The seminar was in direct response to patterns in mental-health benefits usage data, which prompted an internal survey that gauged interest in support for employees’ children, says Carter. “We were seeing high utilization of psychological claims for dependants. It’s a good thing because people are using these preventative resources, but again, it tells us a story.”

The organization has also launched a mental-health training program for managers and brought on a mental-health consultant on a monthly retainer to provide coaching and resources to people leaders. In 2023, 38 managers completed the training, followed by 40 in 2024.

This training was also in response to feedback received during the pandemic, she adds. “People were under extreme amounts of stress and we were hearing from leaders that they didn’t quite know how to have certain conversations with employees who are struggling.”

Another key component of the HOOPP’s strategy is the normalization of mental-health conversations in the workplace. Chief executive officer Jeff Wendling endorses the strategy and the message continues to be communicated to employees via the benefits team, management and the HOOPP’s employee resource groups.

Read: Peel Region’s extensive collection of data leads to mental-health win

“We make sure we have our leadership show up at our mental-health seminars or introduce the speaker,” says Carter. “We also have a quarterly story that we do on wellness champions, where employees can share their wellness journey.”

Peel Region

Peel Region also relies on manager and employee feedback to shape its approach to supporting mental wellness, especially with its roughly 7,000 employees working in a wide range of capacities.

“The majority of our people aren’t in desk-bound positions,” says Carolyn Tong, the organization’s manager of corporate wellness. “We’re trying to build our relationships with the department leads themselves — they understand main pressure points they experience with-in their spaces [and] help us to understand what’s behind the data.”

An example of this strategy in action is the introduction of expedited access to psychological assessment services for the region’s paramedics. Launched in 2023, this initiative allows paramedics to receive a comprehensive evaluation by a psychologist within seven days of initial contact. Following the assessment, paramedics have the option to access a variety of treatment services, tailored to their individual needs.

“[Paramedics], of course, typically have a greater risk of trauma exposure and to have experienced trauma themselves,” says Tong. “The literature shows the psychological health impacts of that [profession] are typically different from the general population.”

Read: How 5 employers are broadening the scope of mental-health support

In 2019, Peel Region began developing its own psychological health and safety framework, aligned with the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. Launched officially in 2022, it includes a dashboard that provides employees with a visual representation of the psychological health and safety trends taking place within the organization. It’s updated quarterly and annually, depending on the data source, and is accessible to all employees. The framework, which aims to empower employees to take control and agency of their personal health and well-being and to help mitigate risks by identifying and removing hazards in the workplace — helped employees weather the pandemic, as well as the Ontario government’s May 2023 proposal to dissolve the region.

In response to the proposal, which was repealed in December 2023, Peel Region increased its psychological health benefits coverage to $2,500 for all eligible full-time employees and their dependants, along with a 40 per cent increase to the amount in the health-care spending account for eligible employees.

UAP

Like many other employers, the pandemic put employee mental health front and centre for UAP Inc.

“[Our mental-health strategy] was one of my first projects, looking at costs and onboarding executives,” says Geneviève Hébert, senior director of global compensation at the vehicle manufacturer. “As we were [about to] launch the program, we put it on hold because we had more urgent things to take care of.

“But I think, in the end, it was almost a blessing for us, in the sense that despite everything horrible the pandemic brought, everyone was more aware of their health and mental health.” This increased focus on employee mental health helped the company overcome communications challenges stemming from demographics and workforce distribution.

Read: 2023 Mental Health Summit: How First West Credit Union is supporting employee health, well-being

“The fact that it was everywhere in the news made it easier for us to start talking about mental health. We have two very different employee populations — our corporate employees are roughly half male, half female and work on computers, so they’re easier to reach. But in our stores and distribution centres, it’s nearly 80 per cent men and they don’t work in front of computers.”

While the strategy was communicated to office-based employees through a video campaign, UAP reached out to its frontline workers with monthly health discussions, posters and comic strips.

Since managers play a key role in the company’s strategy with UAP providing mental-health training for its people leaders. This training began at the top with the company’s executive team and has trickled down to all teams and departments, says Hébert.

“The executives reinforced the importance [of mental health] and, once we were done with that series of meetings, I think it became really natural to talk about mental health in general. We don’t expect our managers to be psychologists, but they’re able to detect when something isn’t right and direct employees towards the proper resources.”

Read: Canadian workers’ mental health on the decline, driven by financial anxiety: survey

Those resources include a virtual mental-health care portal, an EAP and coverage for various mental-health specialists, including psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists. The coverage amount varies from $400 to $1,000 per employee annually depending on the level of coverage.

York Region

While York Region had established its mental-health strategy prior to the pandemic, it prompted the organization to reframe its approach to supporting employees’ psychological needs. “I think COVID shone a light on the need to ensure the psychological safety and well-being of our people and just how vulnerable human beings are, especially with York Region being on the front line of the pandemic response,” says Brittany Dunlop, the region’s manager of wellness and benefits.

With the shift in strategy — which is built on five pillars, including human resources policy, employee training, education, workplace assessments and health benefits — the region increased its psychological support from $1,000 to $4,000 for paramedics and $1,000 to $2,000 for other employees. It also expanded access to a trauma assistance program — previously available only to paramedics — to all staff.

“We’ve now broadened the scope so all employees have access to this program, recognizing that regional employees have inherent psychological risks based on the populations we’re serving.”

Read: A look at the development, rationale behind York Region’s right-to-disconnect policy

In December 2022, the region rolled out its Mindful@Work program, which provides tools to help individuals know themselves better, reduce stress, achieve focus and connect authentically with others.

Following the launch, an internal survey found managers reported increased knowledge (87.2 per cent, up from 10.3 per cent) and comfort (84.6 per cent, up from 13.2 per cent) with mindfulness. Employees reported similar increases in knowledge (83.3 per cent, up from 13.1 per cent) and comfort (83.3 per cent, up from 18 per cent). A follow-up survey found a majority of managers (90.9 per cent) and employees (81.8 per cent) said they’ve increased the integration of mindfulness into their workday.

In 2024, York began including employee well-being as part of a common leadership objective, in order to foster a psychologically safe and healthy workplace. An assessment tool helps managers gauge how well their leadership strategies protect the psychological safety of workers, prioritizing open communication and supportive relationships within teams. The region’s approach is based on 17 factors detailed in the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, four of which focus on the mental health of paramedics and health-care workers.

“By recognizing the critical role that our leaders play, we saw an opportunity to tie it to our performance appraisal program, where leaders are required to support and promote psychologically safe workplaces every day,” says Dunlop.

Alcool NB Liquor

When New Brunswick’s provincial government deemed Alcool NB Liquor an essential service during the pandemic, the organization’s benefits and HR teams began increasing their focus on mental health amid growing concerns from front-line employees and managers.

Read: Expert panel: How employers can support managers to effectively champion employee mental health

“The pandemic brought a unique set of challenges — we remained operational throughout and I think it’s a double-edged sword,” says Erin Fullerton, vice-president of HR at ANBL. “We saw an increase in reported anxiety in some of our employees, especially our public-facing team members . . . and we could see the need for better mental-health supports.”

Armed with this knowledge, the organization formalized its mental-health and wellness strategies in 2022, including a focus on mental-health training for managers. It also provides a mental-health orientation for new leaders, detailing the available resources. As well, ANBL is launching a leadership development course that covers topics such as crisis intervention and suicide awareness via comprehensive in-person training. “As a manager, you have to look after your own mental health, but you also have to know how to deal with some of these issues that land in front of you,” says Fullerton.

With two distinct employee populations, the organization takes a variety of approaches to communicate its mental-health resources to workers. While electronic communications are directed at corporate staff, ANBL reaches front-line workers by channeling communications through onsite managers in a weekly newsletter. Brochures, cards and posters with information on resources are also updated regularly in all locations.

Read: Majority of Canadian employees recognize link between financial well-being, mental health: report

“It’s easier for managers to get that information and relay it to their [onsite] team members. We’ll have various information on different trainings that might be available, webinars that are coming up as well as wellness challenges with incentives or prizes.”

ANBL’s mental-health benefits include a virtual mental-health care portal, expanded practitioner coverage, online cognitive behavioural therapy and discounts on wellness services. It has also introduced paid volunteer days that allow employees to contribute their time to causes of their choice, supporting improved work-life balance.

“People are people. They’re their whole self and they’re not just what they bring to work,” says Fullerton. “Having that opportunity to give back to their communities . . . allows them to feel that connection to their true self [and] things that matter to them.”

Blake Wolfe is the managing editor of Benefits Canada and the Canadian Investment Review.