On October 17, Dialogue, a virtual healthcare and well-being provider, held its annual conference, Sparking Dialogues, this year under the theme Championing mental health for workplace resilience.
During the last hour, Robert Allatt, Sales Director for Eastern Canada at Dialogue, moderated a panel discussion titled The Way Forward in Well-being Benefits. Albert Hippolyte, Health and Wellness Advisor at Héma-Québec, Rosalie Croteau, Health & Productivity Consultant at Hub International, and Martine Massarelli, Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) and Director at LG2, shared their insights.
Together, they discussed their perspectives and suggestions for maintaining the mental health of their human resources, in light of the results from two surveys commissioned by Dialogue in early 2023: Canadian perspectives on health, wellness, and employee benefits, and The state of workplace health and wellness in Canada.
Many efforts, but still much to achieve
These questions should resonate with Canadian managers, as the proportion of those willing to enhance their mental health benefits has nearly doubled (91% more) since last year. Hippolyte believes that the COVID-19 pandemic played a catalytic role in this discourse. "It is certain that the isolation we experienced due to restrictions really broke the mental health taboo", he stated.
An evolution? In very small steps, however, as nearly one-third (29%) feel that their current mental health support is insufficient. How can we explain that efforts and results converge so weakly? The consensus seems to be that employees are not always aware of the services available to them.
Moreover, as Croteau adds, it is necessary to know which care is suitable for us, even when we have not self-diagnosed a serious mental health problem beforehand: "It's difficult sometimes to see the full range of benefits, but also to say, 'In my situation, how does this apply? When can I use it? Is it only when someone is seriously ill that they have access to these benefits?' And, again, sometimes understanding the connections between financial health, social health, mental health, and physical health is not always obvious either."
This confusion does not only affect employees on the shop floor, as 76% of employees also notice that their employers lack training to recognize and support their mental health needs.
Closer and more comprehensive
Once employees become aware of the existence of these services, they need to feel that they have real access to them, at the right time. In this regard, Massarelli mentions a very positive reception of online care solutions, as well as self-treatment solutions through guides or advice: "because we know that the more care we receive when we need it, the better."
In addition to availability, the financial accessibility of self-treatments and the ability to continue treatments at one's own pace and in one's own way are also advantages reported by the panelists.
People who are not yet experiencing very serious problems or who feel the need for a different type of consultation than that of a therapist to support their mental health are also targets not to be neglected for Massarelli, as well as for Croteau: "If I have access to certain benefits, for example, for financial health, it will help me reduce some stress I might be thinking about."
This more comprehensive view of mental health, which includes several services other than traditional individual therapy, seems to be shared by each of the interviewees. For them, it also applies to maintaining a healthy and aware living environment in the workplace. In this regard, their experiments have touched on the creation of rest rooms, dedicated social well-being committees, Friday afternoons off, meeting-free hours, or dedicated time for physical activity or conferences.
Mental health à la carte
Another concern expressed by the panelists is to identify the right indicators to assess whether well-being adjustments and expenses are worth their weight in gold, beyond immediate satisfaction. Some traditional markers are mentioned, in addition to satisfaction surveys, such as absenteeism rates, the number of allocated vacation days that the main parties have actually been able to take. The importance of adapting them to the environment is also emphasized by Croteau, "if we are talking about a manufacturing environment versus a creative environment, probably the initiatives will be different. The measures and indicators will also be different," she says.
Hippolyte also draws attention to all the possible contributions of using algorithms, which could use available data in one's pocket or on one's wrist to analyze individual needs and act preventively: "Having an algorithm that allows us to see the tools that are suitable for our specific situation, adapted to our research."
Other panelists focus more on the alignment between the company's personality and the results of their discussions about the success of their initiatives than on individual data. Croteau reminds us that raw data that might leave a positive impression can be less satisfying on the ground: "It's important to explore our feelings. What works for us, sometimes, in human resources, in terms of finances, doesn't mean it will resonate with our employees."
Furthermore, she argues, the immediate impacts of an initiative that can be reflected in the data do not necessarily correspond to what is actually expected from a management initiative. Croteau argues that giving oneself 3 to 5 years to check the chemistry of a new well-being approach with one's company's dynamics often remains more reasonable: "We have to give ourselves time and readjust when we have the right indicators."
