Fewer than half (45 per cent) of Canadian employees say they’re satisfied with their employer’s benefits plan, according to Telus Health’s latest mental-health index.
The survey, which polled roughly 3,000 employees, found the average mental-health score was 63.5 in December, virtually unchanged from November (63.4). Anxiety (56.8) continued to be the lowest mental-health sub-score, followed by isolation (59.1), depression (61.6), work productivity (62.7), optimism (65.9) and financial risk (66.7). General psychological health (71.5) remained the most favourable mental-health measure.
Read: Canadian workers’ mental health on the decline, driven by financial anxiety: survey
A tenth (12 per cent) of workers said they’re dissatisfied with their employer’s coverage for mental-health services and this group reported an average mental-health score more than 16 points lower than satisfied workers and nearly 13 points lower than the national average.
Notably, the survey found women are nearly twice as likely as men to be dissatisfied with their employer’s coverage for mental-health services.
Three-quarters (75 per cent) of employees said it’s important for their employer to provide generous/comprehensive mental-health benefits. The average mental-health score (62.9) of this group is nearly 12 points lower than workers who said it’s not important (74.6).
More than half (57 per cent) of workers said they’d be impacted by a reduction in mental-health benefits provided by their employer.
Read: 72% of Canadian workers prioritizing mental health: survey