Lululemon Athletica Inc. is offering mental-health first-aid training to all employees, with a goal of training all of its workers by 2023.
While the training isn’t mandatory, more than 300 employees have already completed the program, said Angela Wright, vice-president of health and wealth and organization planning at Lululemon, in an emailed statement to Benefits Canada.
“Our mental-health first-aid training is a new program that builds on existing company programs that focus on well-being. This training will equip participants with the tools to identify signs of emotional distress and connect them with the appropriate resources, including our own mental-health benefits.”
Read: Lululemon supporting employee well-being amid pandemic
The mental-health training program is also helping Lululemon to attract and retain talent amid a challenging labour market. “While the workforce is facing new challenges, we take the well-being and viewpoints of our employees very seriously. We’ve made great strides in various areas, including pay equity, mental well-being and supporting working parents.”
And mental well-being appears to be improving around the world, according to Lululemon’s latest well-being report. Among 10,000 global respondents, it found mental well-being received a score of 68, up from 67 in 2021 and higher than the scores given to physical (66) and social (64) well-being.
“Our results from the report demonstrate that the world is learning to deal with the [coronavirus] pandemic in ways that support their own well-being, while leaving room for improvement across holistic well-being levels,” said Wright. “Holistic well-being continues to remain a challenge — with social well-being ranking the lowest amongst the three divisions.”
Read: How the City of Toronto is supporting employee mental health in 2022 and beyond