Workplace stress a leading cause of mental health problems, study finds

It is estimated that one in five people in the job market experience some degree of mental health problem. Every week, 500,000 Canadians call because of mental health issues or mental illness. Mental illness affects the workplace by increasing the costs of sick leave, short and long-term disability, and workers' compensation claims. It also affects productivity through presenteeism – when people come to work but are not productive – and opportunities lost due to downtime.

According to the statistics of 2017, about 20 million Canadians are between 25 and 64 years old. 30 year career of an employee. In this population, 16 to 17 million people work full-time or part-time, suggesting that some 3.4 million workers may face a mental health problem.

It is worth stopping for a moment and thinking about this figure, rather than pbading it off as another statistic. That's more than double the total population of Nova Scotia (where I was born) and Prince Edward Island (where I grew up), so it m & # 39; It is difficult to determine the magnitude of this problem and its impact on the workplace. It is clear that on any day in Canada, millions of people are in the workplace with a mental health problem or illness. This leads to two questions:

· What is the experience of the average person who has or has had a mental health problem or illness at the workplace?

· What can we learn from their experience that we can share with employers to improve or better support employees with a mental health problem or illness?

These two questions framed the development of a study in partnership with The Globe and Mail in March 2017. The survey asked people who had or were currently experiencing a mental health problem or an occupational disease to respond. We wanted to create a safe way for employees to be honest and to share their experience confidentially.

What We Learned

The Study The L & # 39; experience in mental health in Canada has collected rich ideas. He collected 1,575 responses over a six-month period. The findings were compelling and made it clear that there was still a lot of work to be done to better support employees who have a mental health problem or illness in the workplace today.

The survey reveals that work-related stress (34%) causes mental health problems or mental illnesses, with depression and anxiety being the other major problems, with 37% and 32% respectively.

Another key finding for workplaces is that the majority of respondents (72%) felt that their mental health problem was or was going to hurt their careers. From a productivity perspective, 68% of employees said they could only maintain their peak performance for less than 70% of their work day.

Mental health problems were also the main reason for the absence of work, with 78% of respondents having missed work because of mental health problems – 34% having lost their job for two months or more.

Health Commission of Canada for their review. As a result of this process, a white paper entitled Understanding Mental Health, Mental Illness and its Impact on the Workplace published by Morneau Shepell and the Commission . (For the French version of the white paper, click on this link.) (For the French version of the press release, click on this link.)

first part of this The white paper summarizes the main results of the study . These results can serve as a point of reference for employers who survey their employees to evaluate how their mental health strategy and programs work.

The second part of the white paper explains how a psychological health and safety management system can help an organization promote continuous improvement by measuring and monitoring the impact and value of its strategy and its mental health programs. The white paper presents a five-step health framework that provides a two-way accountability model for employers to drive change and achieve results.

As all employees may be affected by mental health in the workplace, the white paper explains why it may be more effective to keep the focus on all workers. Any employee exposed to a life-altering event, or who experiences frequent, long periods of bad and unwanted stress, could develop a mental health problem. No one is safe from this risk

That is why this white paper suggests to employers not to focus solely on the mental health problem of one in five Canadians because their mental health is also important. Employers not only need to look at the services offered to people who have a mental health problem, but also consider the other four employees and the degree of support they receive.

Among the most important barriers to obtaining help for a mental health problem, there is stigma and lack of education. The white paper concludes with some specific steps that organizations can take to reduce the risk for employees with a mental health problem who has a negative work experience.

You can read the white paper by clicking on this link

Bill Howatt is Director of Research and Workforce Productivity Development at Morneau Shepell in Toronto.