More than half (55 per cent) of Canadian employees say their employer-sponsored health benefits don’t fully meet their needs and two-fifths (42 per cent) say a lack of timely access to their health-care provider may be negatively impacting their health, according to Telus Health’s latest mental-health index.
The survey, which polled 3,000 employees, found the average mental-health score among Canadians in March was 64.4, up slightly from 63.2 in February.
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All mental-health sub-scores improved from February to March, including anxiety (57.5), isolation (60.7), work productivity (62.5), depression (63.2), optimism (66.1), financial risk (67.8) and general psychological health (71.8).
A third (32 per cent) of workers reported a high mental-health risk, while 44 per cent have a moderate risk and 25 per cent are at low risk. Employees who are concerned about having timely access to their health-care provider reported an average mental-health score of 58, 16 points lower than workers who didn’t share their concern.
A fifth (22 per cent) of workers said they’re either unsure (14 per cent) or unclear (eight per cent) on the health-care coverage available to them through their employer. The average mental-health score of workers who are unclear on their health-care coverage was 53.4, nearly 13 points lower than workers who are clear on their coverage (66.1).
Roughly two-fifths (39 per cent) of managers said they’re finding it challenging to manage the emotional needs of one or more members of their team and the average mental-health score of these respondents (57.5) is 17 points lower than for those who disagreed with that sentiment and seven points lower than the national average.
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