CEOs Out of Touch with
Employee Mental Health Needs 

A survey of over 450 Canadian organizations conducted by Mercer in conjunction with The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) found that mental health issues are a growing concern for employers. Almost 80% reported that mental health issues have increased in importance compared to three to five years ago. Mental illness is estimated to result in 35 million workdays lost every year in Canada and low productivity related to mental illness adds significant cost to employers.

Respondents reported that only 13% of senior executives have a strong awareness of the impact of mental health on the organization. “The high ranking that mental health has on the HR priorities list combined with the lack of awareness at the top of the organization is cause for concern,” says Anne Nicoll, Mercer Principal. “Executive knowledge and commitment to action are critical in addressing this issue.”

Nearly half of the respondents with no or only some senior-executive awareness have no plans or don’t know what they will do to improve the awareness of the executive team. According to Ms. Nicoll, “One of the impediments to senior buy-in is the lack of measurement of the impact of mental health issues needed to make a business case for action. Only 22% of respondents reported that they measure the impact of mental health issues. Of those who do, the top two measures reported were disability claim statistics and EAP usage, which means that employees who do not access these programs are not being captured at all.”

Two-thirds of the survey respondents also appear to be underestimating the prevalence of mental illness in the workplace. A recent study by the Public Health Agency of Canada estimated that 13% of the adult population in Canada have either been diagnosed with a mental illness or are undiagnosed. However, 46% of respondents reported that they have 5% or fewer employees who experience mental illness in a year and another 22% estimated the prevalence to be between 5% and 10%.

A majority of respondents said not enough was being done to improve workload balance and work-based social supports. “Preventive measures are important in addressing the workplace factors affecting mental health, says Philip Upshall of CAMIMH. “Senior champions in the workplace are key to driving change, especially in an environment where 54% reported a lack of awareness by front-line managers and supervisors of mental health issues and 57% said that mental health issues are not treated equally to physical health issues by front-line managers.”  

SOURCE: Mercer/CAMIMH

Article originally published in Volume 10-5 of Your Workplace magazine