Peel Region’s extensive collection of data and strong results led to a win in the Mental Health Program category for employers with more than 1,000 employees at Benefits Canada’s 2024 Workplace Benefits Awards on Oct. 18.
In 2019, Peel Region developed a psychological health and safety framework — the Me-We-Us Framework — and committed to adopting the Canadian National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace.
The goal of the framework was for employees to take control of their personal health and well-being and mitigate risks by identifying and removing hazards in the workplace that are within the organization’s control, says Melissa Binger (pictured second to right), Peel Region’s advisor for psychological health and wellness.
From 2022 to 2023, the organization saw a 63 per cent increase in the number of mental-health paramedical claims and a 27 per cent increase in the number of claimants. Binger notes the increased utilization suggested employees were prioritizing their mental health and proactively seeking support and managing their mental-health challenges before escalation.
The region also introduced a psychological health and safety dashboard for Peel employees, which consolidates more than 20 data sources and more than 160 data points, assigning low, medium and high-risk ratings to the 13 psychosocial factors. It tracks trends to help identify new areas of opportunity and where actions have been effective or require adjustment. Roughly 400 users access the dashboard quarterly.
“Developing a system for collecting and using data was vital to the effectiveness of Peel Region’s psychological health and safety strategy,” says Binger. “Integrating multiple data sources into a single cohesive system was a complex and significant challenge, as an environmental scan revealed a lack of existing templates for this task.”
Data collection is a continual challenge for all organizations, she adds, noting that’s why Peel Region’s psychological dashboard stands out. “The fact that we were able to collect and organize the information in accordance with the CSA [Group’s] psychological standard sets us apart. It also [allows us to] share it with our staff and we can continue to build on the data to further develop our program.”
In the past, mental-health claims were a top driver of the region’s long-term disability experience, representing roughly 38 per cent of all LTD approvals since 2019. But as of the first quarter of 2024, mental-health claims only represented 17 per cent of LTD approvals, marking the lowest percentage in the last seven years.
Average LTD leave durations are also steadily decreasing, with a higher percentage of employees returning to work compared to two years ago, notes Tian Yang (pictured far right), Peel Region’s manager of total compensation and benefits. “By removing stigma and barriers to early intervention services, employees are less likely to require disability-related leaves — and those who do are able to recover sooner.”
In the future, the organization plans to continue analyzing its data and examining how it’s surveying and getting information from employees to help better inform its strategies, says Binger. “A significant part of our strategy will focus on our leadership competencies and accountabilities as we recognize the crucial role our leaders play in creating psychologically safe spaces in the workplace.”
The region is also working on more collaboration with human resources and all of the different groups in the organization, adds Yang. “And focusing on physical wellness, psychological wellness, as well as professional wellness, which we heard a lot about today [at the 2024 Healthy Outcomes Conference].”
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