A third (33 per cent) of Canadians say their employer doesn’t offer workplace addiction support programs, according to LifeWorks Inc.’s latest mental-health index.
The survey, which polled 3,000 working Canadians, found the overall mental-health score rose very slightly in March to negative 10.5 points from negative 10.6 in February. However, those without workplace addiction support programs had a low mental-health score (negative 13.1), compared to the 36 per cent who were unsure if their workplace offers these programs (negative 12.3) and the 30 per cent whose workplace does offer them (negative 6.5).
Read: Employees unsure whether employer provides substance abuse resources
In addition, 16 per cent of survey respondents said they’re concerned about the substance use of someone in their household. This group also had a low mental-health score (negative 25.7), especially when compared to the 75 per cent who said they have no concerns (negative 5.7) and the nine per cent who said they’re unsure (negative 20.9).
More than a third (35 per cent) of respondents said they’re finding it increasingly difficult to be motivated to do their work. This group reported a mental-health score of negative 25.4, compared to a score of 1.7 among respondents who remain motivated to work.
About two-fifths (42 per cent) of workers said they end their workday feeling mentally and/or physically exhausted. This group reported the second-lowest mental-health score (negative 23.6) — 13 points below the national average. A similar percentage of respondents who felt the opposite reported the highest mental-health score (3.3), while the 15 per cent who were unsure had a score of negative 14.2. Notably, respondents aged 40 and younger were 50 per cent more likely than those aged 50 and older to feel mentally and/or physically exhausted at the end of their workday.
Read: 35% of working Canadians feeling burned out: survey
More than a quarter (28 per cent) of respondents said they’re unable to disconnect from work after their usual hours. This group reported one of the lowest mental-health scores (negative 19.3), compared to the 72 per cent who felt the opposite (negative 6.7). Managers were 35 per cent more likely than non-managers to be unable to disconnect from work and those aged 40 and younger were 70 per cent more likely than their counterparts aged 50 and older to be unable to disconnect.
In terms of the reasons for being unable to disconnect from work, respondents said they have too much work to do during their usual work hours (51 per cent), their manager contacts them (25 per cent), their co-workers contact them (23 per cent), their job requires them to be on-call (12 per cent), they’re self-employed (10 per cent) and other reasons (nine per cent).
“Concerns regarding disconnecting from work are not new,” said Stephen Liptrap, LifeWorks’ president and chief executive officer, in a press release. “However, work from home and hybrid work have brought the concern to a new level. Employers are starting to realize that the mental-health impact of pandemic disruption will be with us for quite some time. As the worksite is now overlapped with home, the benefits of flexibility can easily be countered by lack of separation from work.”