Employee anxiety is costly for employers. It is also costly for insurers. Affecting both are disability claims: Sun Life’s latest figures suggest close to 40 per cent of all long-term disability claims are related to mental health. A relatively new twist on this is the emergence of eco-anxiety and climate anxiety.
Climate and severe weather is also increasingly being tied to physical health problems, as well, particularly among those with chronic health conditions.
“It’s our role, both insurers and plan sponsors, to understand what underlying factors might be impacting employee health. That understanding is really the first step in actually connecting employees with the supports they might need,” says Erin Crump, Sun Life’s vice president of market development for Sun Life Health. In an interview with the Insurance Portal, she insists that “really, the first step is understanding.”
To that end, insurers have begun commissioning research on the prevalence of eco-anxiety and climate anxiety as a first step towards understanding the phenomenon.
The problem
Sun Life’s research, along with recently published research on the same topic by Beneva shows that anxiety about climate concerns is notably prevalent among employees, younger employees in particular.
“What is absolutely, positively clear is that we have much higher rates of anxiety among younger workers compared to those who are a bit older,” agrees TELUS Health’s global leader of research and insights, Paula Allen. “Eco-anxiety is another layer on top of that.”
While speaking with the Insurance Portal, she adds that the anxiety is less related to employee roles and more related to demographics – a finding reflected in both reports published in recent months by Sun Life and Beneva.
Beneva’s research report, Eco-anxiety in the workplace: Shifting from helplessness to hope, found:
- 69 per cent of employees surveyed (2,020 were surveyed in total) reported having concerns and emotions about the climate – dubbed eco-anxiety in that report.
- 78 per cent of those between 16 and 25 say the climate crisis is affecting their mental health.
- 20 per cent of workers said eco-anxiety was having an impact on their performance – a moderate to severe impact on their daily functioning. Citing additional, existing research from 2023, the report also says 37 per cent of young Canadians feel that eco-anxiety affects their daily functioning.
- Only 17.7 per cent of employees surveyed felt their business (small and medium-sized enterprises were the focus of the study) had an environmental culture.
Sun Life similarly surveyed 2,000 Canadian employees and executives at 500 businesses. The research report, How climate and extreme weather are impacting workplace health in Canada, found:
- 77 per cent of Canadian employees have experienced an extreme weather event in the past three years.
- 59 per cent said extreme weather events had impacted their physical health. Employees living with one or more chronic health conditions were two times more likely to report physical and mental climate-related health impacts.
- 54 per cent said severe weather events have impacted their mental health. Common impacts reported included anxiety, stress and difficulty sleeping.
- 54 per cent of those reporting physical health impacts also report reduced productivity, increased absenteeism and lower engagement. This increases to 60 per cent among those reporting mental health impacts.
- 27 per cent of employees said they have experienced or are currently experiencing climate anxiety. This number jumps to almost 47 per cent among Gen Z respondents. By gender, 30 per cent of women reported experiencing climate anxiety while 24 per cent of men said the same.
- 21 per cent of employees reported experiencing fatigue or burnout because of climate or extreme weather.
- Only 61 per cent of employers agreed that the impact of climate-related events posed a risk to their organization; 50 per cent of employers don’t believe their workforce’s health has been impacted.
- Only 25 per cent of employers have a plan or strategy to address the short and long-term impacts of severe weather and climate-related events on employee health.
“Climate and extreme weather events are impacting employee health and amplifying health risks that are present in an organization, particularly mental health and chronic conditions,” Crump says. “Things that impact employee health are a workplace concern because these things don’t happen in isolation. It’s not this separate thing that happens to employees; it’s now becoming part of our lived experience. We’re seeing it show up in employee’s day-to-day lives.” She adds that climate anxiety is not a new and unique risk for employers, but it is decidedly influencing health risk that employers are already dealing with.
“This isn’t a theoretical thing or something that’s happening in the news. It’s already influencing how people feel about their health, how they bring that to work and how they perform, which is why employers are starting to pay closer attention.”
Beneva’s sustainability practice leader, Christelle Lim-Severe likens the stress that this anxiety causes to financial stress. “If you have it, you don’t leave it at home, you bring it to work, as well,” she says. “It’s good for employers to understand it.”
In a presentation made after the publication of Beneva’s research, she also says the company found a clear correlation between the functional impacts of eco-anxiety and burnout. “Burnout was associated in the data with increased presenteeism, lower self-reported performance and a higher intention to leave the company.”
Solutions
To help the situation, Beneva suggests culture change by way of small, highly visible actions and by giving employees the agency to make change happen within their organizations.
“For employers this marks an opportunity to take action and innovate. When employees feel that their values and those of their employer align, they tend to be more engaged and perform better at work,” the Beneva report states. “Prevention becomes possible through simple, gradual actions.” Lim-Severe adds: “If employees have hope, they want to take calming actions. If the culture doesn’t allow them to, that can translate into anxiety.”
Allen recommends companies make an effort to stay in touch with employees, particularly in the wake of severe events. “Show concern in the moment that people are the most scared and feeling the most vulnerable. That benefit wraps around the world twice in terms of loyalty and long-term productivity and reputation and things that are immeasurable in terms of their value. Not doing that has the opposite effect.”
She also recommends a review of employee assistance program (EAP) offerings, manager training (which should be repeated regularly) and critical incident support. She also recommends having a formal, written and feasibly executable crisis plan. “That crisis plan isn’t just about making sure that you’re protecting your server rooms and your physical equipment and your backup generators. That is the tip of the iceberg. Your crisis plan needs to include how you respond to and protect the well-being of your people. That’s an area I think employers should get a little bit deeper on because these eco risks are real. They’re not going to get better.”
Sun Life, meanwhile, recommends making existing supports better known to employees. Their research found that less than half of employees, 46 per cent, felt that their benefits plans could support their climate-related health challenges.
“Mental health issues remain the leading cause of long-term disability leaves and our research confirms that climate threats are negatively impacting the mental health of employees today,” the Sun Life report states. “It’s important to check that your plan offers adequate coverage for treatment. The Canadian Psychological Association recommends $3,500 to $4,000 per year in mental health coverage. This amount covers the average number of sessions required to achieve a therapeutic outcome for people experiencing depression or anxiety.”
Communication plans
Making employee resources better known is one communication opportunity for employers, according to Sun Life. “It’s not always about creating a new program, often it’s just about increasing the level of awareness and connecting the dots for employees. Bring these supports together in a moment of need and improve awareness so employees know what’s available to them.”
Beneva also points to the events and awareness dates already on the calendar – Earth Day in April, sustainable mobility month in September, and circular economy awareness efforts underway in October among them – that give employers the opportunity to discuss the topic. “We found that a lot of (survey) participants don’t know what’s happening, what the organization is doing. In many organizations there are things happening, but they are not necessarily well known to people. These kinds of initiatives can actually help relieve eco-anxiety.”
TELUS’ Allen also suggests not focusing too narrowly on eco-anxiety specifically. She instead suggests taking a broader view that will encompass climate concerns, as well. “If you have a focus on helping people’s mental health and well-being and general anxiety, you will be better off by orders of magnitude and you’ll also address the eco-anxiety piece,” she says. She adds that the exercise can be like following a checklist or organizations can embrace the effort and create meaningful support infrastructure. “The only way to have that meaningful infrastructure of support is ongoing communication. Not just once it’s launched or once a year.”
