The majority of Canadian employees (70 per cent) say their productivity has declined due to worsening mental health, according to a new report by Telus Health.
The report, which analyzed employee responses from the company’s 2024 and 2025 mental-health indexes, found 40 per cent of workers are living with constant stress, with those younger than age 40 most affected. A third of employees reported feeling anxious and isolated, with generation Z workers three times more likely than baby boomers to feel disconnected.
Financial stress was a major driver, with 49 per cent of employees citing money as their top source of stress and 40 per cent worrying often or always about their financial future. Roughly a third (31 per cent) said they lack emergency savings.
Read: Canadian workers’ mental health on the decline, driven by financial anxiety: survey
Women continue to report lower average mental-health scores than men, with a six-point gap at the start of 2025. They’re also 50 per cent more likely to say bullying, harassment or unhealthy conflict isn’t fairly resolved in their workplace.
Burnout is widespread, with 59 per cent of workers reporting they feel somewhat or extremely burnt out. Nearly a third (29 per cent) say their mental health is directly affecting their productivity, while 32 per cent report struggling to stay motivated. High workloads remain the leading cause of stress, cited by 30 per cent of employees.
Social connection and trust play an important role in mental health, the report noted. Employees without trusted workplace relationships are three-times more likely to feel isolated and those who rarely engage socially have mental-health scores 16 points lower than peers who connect more often. Workers under 40 are three times more likely than those over 50 to say financial stress has negatively affected their productivity in the past three months, while employees without emergency savings are five times more likely to report financial stress hurting their work.
Workplace culture was also a key factor. Employees in high-trust organizations were 76 per cent more engaged and reported lower rates of stress and burnout.
Read: 69% of Canadian workers experiencing symptoms related to burnout: survey
Nearly half (45 per cent) of workers said they’d prefer stronger well-being support over a 10 per cent pay increase and a third reported lacking trusted relationships at work. Sixty per cent of employees don’t know if their employer provides mental-health benefits or believe they don’t.
The survey also found workers in supportive environments lost an average of 27 days per year due to mental-health challenges, compared to 55 days in unsupportive workplaces.