Telus Communications Inc.’s 2022 Workplace Benefits Awards win is encouraging the company to stay the course when enhancing employee well-being benefits.
“We’re not doing it necessarily just for the recognition — that’s kind of an added bonus,” says Janet Young, director of well-being and health services for people and culture at Telus. “It’s more just to confirm that we’re on the right track, because we really have a desire to be progressive and best in class when it comes to supporting employees’ well-being and mental health.”
The telecommunications company’s efforts to support employees’ holistic well-being led to a win in the Health/wellness program category for an employer with more than 1,000 employees. These initiatives include a redesigned wellness account that provides $750 for employees to spend on a variety of options, including private physical health training, education classes and tuition reimbursement, financial counselling, training equipment, dog training and charitable donations.
Read: Telus wins award for supporting employees’ holistic well-being
Telus also enhanced its extended health coverage for mental-health claims to $5,000 per eligible family member, which is unbundled from other paramedical practitioners. And it launched #wellbeingwednesday, a communications campaign that puts a spotlight on a well-being topic or idea every week. Employees receive the posts via Telus’ Go/Well-being Hub with engagement consistently exceeding targets.
Young says the win was communicated to Telus employees via the company’s intranet, where it received overwhelmingly positive feedback. “It boosts the credibility for those of us who are trying to build well-being and mental-health strategies [and] the credibility that comes with winning an award like this goes a long way in helping us keep the conversations going and show that we’re making really great progress.”
While employee awareness of these benefits is strong, the award gives Telus another opportunity to showcase these offerings. “It’s an opportunity for us to reinforce the resources we have,” she says. “We don’t just launch [a program] and then never talk about it again — we make a concerted effort to keep talking about it.”
Enter the 2023 Workplace Benefits Awards here. The deadline is July 7.