Employers may feel as if they’ve been working to de-stigmatize mental health in their workplace, but a new report from the Conference Board of Canada shows that employees are not feeling more confident about disclosing their issues or that their organization openly discusses mental health issues.
Front-line reality
The report, titled Building Mentally Healthy Workplaces: Perspectives of Canadian Workers and Front-Line Managers and based on a survey of more than 1,000 Canadians, found that 82% of senior executives surveyed stated that their company promotes a mentally healthy work environment, and only 30% of employees who work in such occupations as service, labour and production agree.
Most survey respondents said they would feel uncomfortable speaking to their manager, union representative or a colleague if they experienced a mental health issue. Respondents fear that making such a disclosure would jeopardize their chances for promotion (54%) and future success (38%) in their organizations.
But managers play a critical role in supporting employees. A majority of the managers surveyed said they are informed about mental health, but 44% of them said they’ve had no training on how to manage employees with mental health issues.
The cost to business
Forty-four percent of the employees surveyed reported that they either were currently (12%) or had previously (32%) personally experienced a mental health issue, which, for this study, could include excessive stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, addictions and substance abuse, mania, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, among others.
In addition to the effects of mental health on individuals, organizations are also feeling the stress. In 2009/10, 78% of short-term disability claims and 67% of long-term disability claims in Canada were related to mental health issues.
The report identifies four areas in which organizations need to take more action:
- focusing on education and communication to reduce fear, stigma and discrimination in the workplace;
- ensuring the organizational culture is conducive to supporting employees’ mental health;
- encouraging senior executives to show demonstrable leadership around mental health; and
- building managers’ capacity to support employees by providing the tools and training required in their role.