Jacques Goulet
Executive Chair, Sun Life Canada
“We need to do everything we can – as leaders – to empower our workforces in managing their well-being and creating healthier work environments. To accelerate meaningful and sustainable action, c-suite leaders need to make this a priority.”
It has been shown that organizations with comprehensive mental health strategies tend to outperform their peers across key measures, from health and safety to shareholder returns.
Results often don’t come overnight. Strategies that deliver significant results require commitment and time to mature. However, many employers we work with begin to see positive changes by just getting started with the right strategic approach to support their workplace environment.
If you are like many employers, you may not know where to start to build a mental health strategy. You may think your organization is too small, or that you don’t have the necessary resources. For many, developing a strategy can seem like a daunting task.
We’ve developed this toolkit to help employers like you. It is a practical guide to help you develop the fundamentals of a mental health strategy – something that your organization can grow and develop over time – a strategy that can deliver significant and lasting results1.
Five stages of building a workplace mental health strategy
1. Build the Foundation
Before building a mental health strategy, it's important to understand some of the foundational elements.
2. Identify Opportunities
Using data is critical to measuring your baseline and identifying your organization's unique approach.
3. Set Priorities and Objectives
Setting your priorities and objectives around the opportunities you identified from your baseline data.
4. Take Action
Targeting your solutions to your organization's unique needs and objectives.
5. Re-evaluate
The work doesn't stop the day you launch your strategy. There needs to be a continual review process.
1Deloitte. (2019). The ROI in workplace mental health programs: Good for people, good for business - A blueprint for workplace mental health programs. Deloitte Insights.