When it comes to taking action, target solutions to your organization’s own unique needs and objectives. Use data insights to help decide what products and solutions are the best fit.
We also recommend employers have:
Making resources available to your employees is also important. We’ve curated some content you can share directly with your employees.
Make mental health training mandatory for all people leaders across the organization. This includes all levels of leadership - from senior leaders to middle managers. Have your senior leader sponsor champion the training to set the tone and get the buy-in from all leaders.
We have free manager mental health training videos to help you build the foundation.
A safe and inclusive workplace is key when an employee returns to work after a mental health-related absence. It’s important for employees and managers to recognize that they need to treat and manage employees with mental health conditions like any other health condition. Support and understanding are critical for ensuring a successful return to work for these employees. When handled sensitively, return to work can aid in an employee’s recovery. Returning to work can help build self-esteem, confidence and social inclusion.
Duty to accommodate. Take accommodation seriously. Ensure you have best practices and various options in place
Conduct formal ability assessments for returning employees. Understanding these elements will help you recognize and measure any occupational functional gap. To prepare an employee for a return to their job, it’s important to fully understand:
It’s important that employees have adequate psychological services coverage for psychological services through their Extended Health Benefits.
A note about accommodation: In some cases, this could require the capacity for workplace mediation. For example, when the mental disorder was related to workplace bullying/harassment. This is especially important if the employee cannot move to another business unit/team.
Each organization, employee and situation is unique, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Determine what solutions best fit your organization’s and employee’s needs through analysis:
From pilot to launch: closing the gaps around access to mental health care. This Bright Paper outlines how online cognitive behavioural therapy and pharmacogenomics can improve mental health outcomes.
Be sure to think about the structures and workplace functions as well. For example, field workers and physical labourers can be hard to reach with typical wellness supports. This is in part because of their scattered and often remote locations.
Workers in remote locations may need to access programs and services virtually. Consider creating a private space where employees can use virtual services. For employees working in the field, you might let them sit in their car while they connect with a practitioner on a mobile device.
Work-from-home employees can also pose unique challenges for the delivery of mental health supports. These employees aren’t connected to the social resources of an in-person team. As a result, they may have unique needs.
1Dimoff/Kelloway (2013), Saint Mary’s University. 2Sun Life (2019) Sun Life barometer. 3Statistics Canada (2017). Health at a Glance.