How to boost
mental health
What are the best ways to continue to promote, support, and boost employee mental health as we emerge into a new normal? We spoke with four industry experts on best practices
More
AS THE WORLD contemplates the aftermath of COVID-19, much attention has been paid to health outcomes for employees who now have to consider a new workday reality as workplaces open up.
Mental health has emerged as one of the defining topics of discussion among HR professionals and leaders, as they struggle to manage the new normal and what the workforce will look like as a return to work slowly reveals itself.
But there is some good news, according to experts.
“What we have seen is employers taking positive action. If there’s one good thing about this pandemic, its that the taboos around
Holistic well-being has emerged as one of the best ways to support employees, according to VanderSluis. VIU embraced this method just before the pandemic, and it has shown success ever since.
“We really doubled down on that in the pandemic because we recognized that employee wellness was [suffering] a significant negative impact due to the pandemic. We reinforced those elements even more strongly through a number of communication and institutional vehicles, and most of these offerings were not highly targeted or pronounced before the pandemic, so this really was something we concentrated on in a more significant way.”
The employer gathered a suite of areas under the wellness umbrella, including nutritional, spiritual, intellectual and professional development, among others, which proved to be really helpful for
Mental health support
How to boost spirits
Employers have been shown to matter greatly to workers' mental health. What are some of the best ways they can help to improve it?
The right work culture can have an enormous positive effect on employees, according to Dick, and it may be the best first step in successfully rethinking the workplace.
“Focusing on the work environment can be critical for staff, and that can be done by leadership training, frankly, around issues such as fostering resilience and promoting a better, inclusive workplace culture; setting employees up for success rather than for failure; [and] helping leaders and HR recognize people who have certain strengths and guiding them into positions that match those strengths," according to VanderSluis.
Besides culture refinement, flexibility is another way employers can show employees that the old way is no longer applicable in the new normal, says Moran.
“Employers should provide employees with different options for how and where they can work. Some people might work best in the office five days a week; some will be at their best working from home and avoiding a long commute; and others will want to adopt more of a hybrid model. Different workday structures should also be considered to help support employees.”
At Deloitte, they are piloting a four-day workweek, and with that, many new daily options are being explored, she says.
“We also offer personal flexibility arrangements, which allow employees to choose the work pattern that best suits their lifestyle, and allows them to manage the demands of their work and their personal priorities. That might look like working reduced hours, or a variable workload – so, working full-time most of the year, [but] working a three-day workweek over the summer. Those different structures really provide flexibility for different employees and what suits their lifestyle best.”
“We thought that the properties in the suburbs and exurbs have been better value on a dollar-per-square-foot, yield-type basis,” Romundt says. “They have certainly proved their value – not exactly in the way we expected during the pandemic, but they are where people want to go and be. If you are interested in the new-apartment business, which is what we are, that is primarily – not exclusively – a secondary markets phenomenon, or in more suburban markets. It is very expensive, risky and time-consuming to build apartments on the margins available in cities versus selling those buildings as condos. That is why shops like ours are doing plenty of new-construction development with partners almost all in the suburbs.”
The pandemic aside, a few other trends have led Romundt to remain
“Most players in this industry are looking at this and see why apartment values are going up, not down,” he says. “Most building owners are looking straight through [the pandemic]. Even if they own in an area where rents are soft today, this will come back when the borders open, students return and we are bringing 400,000 people in per year. We are not building enough housing for that many people.
“Pre-pandemic, the market was super tight almost everywhere, so I see that when the pandemic ends or at least the borders reopen, the demand for rental units will
“For some employees, there’s excitement about going back to the way things were pre-2020, and for others, there’s anxiety and hesitations about returning to the office”
Krystal Moran, Deloitte
Seeing effects at first-hand
As a clinical psychologist, Bruce Dick, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, has seen up close the impact of the pandemic on employees.
“It’s absolutely clear that many people are struggling as they return to the workplace; sometimes in different ways, sometimes in the same way as previously was done, having been through a very, very difficult time. The people that I work with in clinics, speaking with many employees and leaders, it’s been – this is rhetorical statement – a very stressful time for society broadly.”
But in addition to anecdotal evidence, some real numbers are showing the depth of despair that is out there.
“At the university, and on national bodies where we compare notes, everyone’s pretty much reporting the same thing – that the metrics you’d be looking at around high degrees of sick leave, both short- and long-term, the level of interpersonal conflict, those are up, sick leave is up, individual employee departures are up. The metrics are definitely indicating this is the sustained impact of the pandemic – plus, the international turmoil that’s taking place, it’s having a direct impact on employee mental health, absolutely,” says Dan VanderSluis, associate vice president of human resources at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in Nanaimo, BC.
This is also manifesting in health spending numbers, says Robin.
“What we’ve seen over the last year of the pandemic – and statistically we went from one in five Canadians with mental health issues to one in four Canadians with mental health issues – we’ve seen a rise in the cost of prescription drugs, for antidepressants and anti-anxiety medicine, by about 20 percent … now there’s more antidepressants than pills for blood pressure being used.”
Best ways to show support
“What we’ve learned is that employers play a key role in health care in general and in mental health in particular in their workforces”
Marc Robin
Dialogue
Industry experts
Dan VanderSluis
Vancouver Island University
Marc Robin
Dialogue
Krystal Moran
Deloitte
Bruce Dick
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Industry experts
Bruce Dick received his PhD in clinical psychology at Dalhousie University in the Pediatric Pain Research Laboratory. Dr. Dick is a registered clinical psychologist who provides clinical services in the Pediatric Chronic Pain Clinic at Stollery Children’s Hospital and in the Multidisciplinary Pain Centre at the University of Alberta Hospital.
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Bruce Dick
Passionate employee benefits professional with 14 years of consulting and group insurance experience. Committed to helping employers support the physical and financial well-being of their employees.
Deloitte
Krystal Moran
Dr. Marc Robin is the medical director at Dialogue, where he works as a telemedicine physician and leads a multidisciplinary team of physicians across Canada as they develop a patient-centered approach to virtual health care.
Dr. Robin obtained a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Laval University in 1989 and carried out research in pharmacology and experimental medicine. After completing his medical studies in 1997 at Université de Montréal, he completed a residency in family medicine at McGill University in 1999 as chief resident.
From 1999 to 2012, Dr. Robin worked at the Stamford Hospital in Connecticut, a major teaching affiliate of the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. Planetree Designated®, Stamford Hospital is one of only 17 acute-care hospitals in the US with this focus on patient-centered care. Dr. Robin was vice chair of the department of family medicine at Stamford Hospital and a member of Stamford Hospital’s medical board, as well as medical director of a centre for acute and long-term care.
A keen sailor, he was a member of the Canadian Sailing Team and is still actively involved in the sport and with youth athletes.
Dialogue
Marc Robin
Dan VanderSluis is the associate vice president, human resources at Vancouver Island University. In this role Dan will support the development and execution of university-wide human resources strategies and ensure that the high-quality human resources services at VIU continue to attract, retain, and motivate employees. During his five years at the university, Dan has led the development and implementation of VIU’s first ever People Plan and has been a key contributor to VIU being recognized as a BC Top Employer in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Before joining VIU Dan had a lengthy and successful career in the BC government as an executive director, regional manager, project manager, policy analyst, mediator, and court investigator. In his last role with the province, he held the position of executive director, Family Justice Services Division at the Ministry of Justice – the largest single provider of family law dispute resolution services in BC. During his tenure as executive director, his division had the highest employee engagement scores and was awarded the distinction of “Top 10 Best Places to Work” in the BC public service (2016).
Dan holds an MA in human and social development from the University of Victoria and a BA in sociology from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has completed certificates in conflict resolution from the Justice Institute of BC and in change management from ProSci, and he is a certified mediator. He is an experienced speaker who has presented at international, national, and provincial conferences.
Vancouver Island University
Dan VanderSluis
Dan VanderSluis
Vancouver Island University
Marc Robin
Dialogue
Krystal Moran
Deloitte
Bruce Dick
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Industry experts
Bruce Dick received his PhD in clinical psychology at Dalhousie University in the Pediatric Pain Research Laboratory. Dr. Dick is a registered clinical psychologist who provides clinical services in the Pediatric Chronic Pain Clinic at Stollery Children’s Hospital and in the Multidisciplinary Pain Centre at the University of Alberta Hospital.
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Bruce Dick
Passionate employee benefits professional with 14 years of consulting and group insurance experience. Committed to helping employers support the physical and financial well-being of their employees.
Deloitte
Krystal Moran
Dr. Marc Robin is the medical director at Dialogue, where he works as a telemedicine physician and leads a multidisciplinary team of physicians across Canada as they develop a patient-centered approach to virtual health care.
Dr. Robin obtained a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Laval University in 1989 and carried out research in pharmacology and experimental medicine. After completing his medical studies in 1997 at Université de Montréal, he completed a residency in family medicine at McGill University in 1999 as chief resident.
From 1999 to 2012, Dr. Robin worked at the Stamford Hospital in Connecticut, a major teaching affiliate of the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. Planetree Designated®, Stamford Hospital is one of only 17 acute-care hospitals in the US with this focus on patient-centered care. Dr. Robin was vice chair of the department of family medicine at Stamford Hospital and a member of Stamford Hospital’s medical board, as well as medical director of a centre for acute and long-term care.
A keen sailor, he was a member of the Canadian Sailing Team and is still actively involved in the sport and with youth athletes.
Dialogue
Marc Robin
Dan VanderSluis is the associate vice president, human resources at Vancouver Island University. In this role Dan will support the development and execution of university-wide human resources strategies and ensure that the high-quality human resources services at VIU continue to attract, retain, and motivate employees. During his five years at the university, Dan has led the development and implementation of VIU’s first ever People Plan and has been a key contributor to VIU being recognized as a BC Top Employer in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Before joining VIU Dan had a lengthy and successful career in the BC government as an executive director, regional manager, project manager, policy analyst, mediator, and court investigator. In his last role with the province, he held the position of executive director, Family Justice Services Division at the Ministry of Justice – the largest single provider of family law dispute resolution services in BC. During his tenure as executive director, his division had the highest employee engagement scores and was awarded the distinction of “Top 10 Best Places to Work” in the BC public service (2016).
Dan holds an MA in human and social development from the University of Victoria and a BA in sociology from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has completed certificates in conflict resolution from the Justice Institute of BC and in change management from ProSci, and he is a certified mediator. He is an experienced speaker who has presented at international, national, and provincial conferences.
Vancouver Island University
Dan VanderSluis
Share
Share
Share
Bruce Dick
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Krystal Moran
Deloitte
Marc Robin
Dialogue
Dan VanderSluis is the associate vice president, human resources at Vancouver Island University. In this role Dan will support the development and execution of university-wide human resources strategies and ensure that the high-quality human resources services at VIU continue to attract, retain, and motivate employees. During his five years at the university, Dan has led the development and implementation of VIU’s first ever People Plan and has been a key contributor to VIU being recognized as a BC Top Employer in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Before joining VIU Dan had a lengthy and successful career in the BC government as an executive director, regional manager, project manager, policy analyst, mediator, and court investigator. In his last role with the province, he held the position of executive director, Family Justice Services Division at the Ministry of Justice – the largest single provider of family law dispute resolution services in BC. During his tenure as executive director, his division had the highest employee engagement scores and was awarded the distinction of “Top 10 Best Places to Work” in the BC public service (2016).
Dan holds an MA in human and social development from the University of Victoria and a BA in sociology from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has completed certificates in conflict resolution from the Justice Institute of BC and in change management from ProSci, and he is a certified mediator. He is an experienced speaker who has presented at international, national, and provincial conferences.
Vancouver Island University
Dan VanderSluis
Dr. Marc Robin is the medical director at Dialogue, where he works as a telemedicine physician and leads a multidisciplinary team of physicians across Canada as they develop a patient-centered approach to virtual health care.
Dr. Robin obtained a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Laval University in 1989 and carried out research in pharmacology and experimental medicine. After completing his medical studies in 1997 at Université de Montréal, he completed a residency in family medicine at McGill University in 1999 as chief resident.
From 1999 to 2012, Dr. Robin worked at the Stamford Hospital in Connecticut, a major teaching affiliate of the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. Planetree Designated®, Stamford Hospital is one of only 17 acute-care hospitals in the US with this focus on patient-centered care. Dr. Robin was vice chair of the department of family medicine at Stamford Hospital and a member of Stamford Hospital’s medical board, as well as medical director of a centre for acute and long-term care.
A keen sailor, he was a member of the Canadian Sailing Team and is still actively involved in the sport and with youth athletes.
Dialogue
Marc Robin
Passionate employee benefits professional with 14 years of consulting and group insurance experience. Committed to helping employers support the physical and financial well-being of their employees.
Deloitte
Krystal Moran
Bruce Dick received his PhD in clinical psychology at Dalhousie University in the Pediatric Pain Research Laboratory. Dr. Dick is a registered clinical psychologist who provides clinical services in the Pediatric Chronic Pain Clinic at Stollery Children’s Hospital and in the Multidisciplinary Pain Centre at the University of Alberta Hospital.
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Bruce Dick
Dan VanderSluis
Vancouver Island University
mental health have decreased significantly,” says Marc Robin, medical director at Dialogue Technologies in Montreal.
“In the next year or so, we may have fewer waves [of COVID], hopefully, but the mental health impact, the collateral damage to the mental health of the population is still very present, and employers are much more proactive in trying to maintain the wellness of their human capital.”
So what are the best ways these workers can be made to feel confident, safe, and positive about that new reality?
Those organizations that are well into planning a full return to work must be aware that mental health problems remain ever-present, and they must be accounted for in any strategy.
“Burnout and isolation are certainly still issues across the workforce after more than two years of living and working through a pandemic, [but] things are finally starting to open up across Canada. Employees are starting to think about what that new normal looks like for them,” says Krystal Moran, senior manager of benefits and wellness at Deloitte, and there are many different reactions to what that means.
“For some employees, there’s excitement about going back to the way things were pre-2020, and for others, there’s anxiety and hesitations about returning to the office. Employees need to spend some time thinking about what works best for them in terms of where they work and how they work and what hours, and organizations need to provide options to their employees to support those needs,” she says.
61%
Percentage of workers who say their employer doesn’t provide resources
36%
68%
30%
Percentage of workers who claim mental health is a priority
Percentage of employers who have enhanced offerings
Percentage of workers who feel comfortable talking about mental health
33%
Percentage of employees who crave flexibility
34%
Percentage of employees who stay in their jobs because of benefits
Source: Capterra, LifeWorks
“Focusing on the work environment can be critical for staff, and that can be done by leadership training, frankly, around issues such as fostering resilience and promoting a better, inclusive workplace culture”
Bruce Dick
University of Alberta
workers, who were encouraged to design strategies that would benefit them the most.
“On the wellness lens, we’ve encouraged employees to develop their own personal wellness plans and identify elements of well-being, and each of the dimensions that they have in their lives and ways that they can enhance their self-care – so, from a pure wellness, well-being perspective, that’s been a high degree of focus,” VanderSluis says.
Employees can also provide their own mental-health improvements by “taking care of your body,” says Dick.
“Making sure that when you’re at work and outside of work, [you’re practicing] just good self-care. [It’s about] the things that our grandparents told us for generations: being physically active on a daily basis, ensuring adequate rest, enough sleep – nutrition, hydration, social connectedness at work and outside of work. And fostering those relations is huge.”
As well, he says, such things as practicing mindfulness and having outside hobbies or activities will help properly position one’s health.
“Self-compassion and learning more about self-compassion is a key area for employees, and … one of the keys is practicing these things all of the time, not just when we’re in a crisis, not just when we’re feeling poorly, but when life is good: sticking to these good self-care practices and engaging in regular maintenance, the same as people would take care of their vehicles regularly – we have to treat our bodies in the same kind of way,” says Dick.
HR advice
For HR leaders, the best advice might be first to open the wellness conversation, says Robin, and then “listen to employees,” and counsel senior leadership to practice empathetic behaviours.
“It’s a culture, it starts with the leaders in the company. Leaders need to show that ... it is okay not to be okay, and it’s okay to talk about it. What we’ve learned is that employers play a key role in healthcare in general, and in mental health in particular, in their workforces.”
“The metrics are definitely indicating this is the sustained impact of the pandemic – plus, the international turmoil that’s taking place, it’s having direct impact on employee mental health, absolutely,”
Dan Vandersluis, Vancouver Island University
Copyright © 2022 Key Media
Newsletter
Terms of Use
Advertise
About us
Contact us
Enquiry
Privacy
Authors
External contributors
Advisory board
RSS
News
Focus Areas
EMPLOYMENT LAW
LABOUR
Resources
Best in HR
Subscribe
“Focusing on the work environment can be critical for staff, and that can be done by leadership training, frankly, around issues such as fostering resilience and promoting a better, inclusive workplace culture”
Bruce Dick,
University of Alberta
“On the wellness lens, we’ve encouraged employees to develop their own personal wellness plans and identify elements of well-being, and each of the dimensions that they have in their lives and ways that they can enhance their self-care – so, from a pure wellness, well-being perspective, that’s been a high degree of focus,” he says.
Employees can also provide their own mental-health improvements by “taking care of your body,” says Dick.
“Making sure that when you’re at work and outside of work, [you’re practicing] just good self-care. [It’s about] the things that our grandparents told us for generations: being physically active on a daily basis, ensuring adequate rest, enough sleep – nutrition, hydration, social connectedness at work and outside of work. And fostering those relations is huge.”
As well, he says, such things as practicing mindfulness and having outside hobbies or activities will help properly position one’s health.
“The metrics are definitely indicating this is the sustained impact of the pandemic – plus, the international turmoil that’s taking place, it’s having direct impact on employee mental health, absolutely,”
Dan Vandersluis,
Vancouver Island University
Copyright © 2022 Key Media
RSS
Advisory board
Authors
Enquiry
About us
Terms of Use
External contributors
Privacy
Contact us
Advertise
Newsletter
Seeing effects at first-hand
As a clinical psychologist in a hospital, Bruce Dick, professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, has seen up close the impacts of the pandemic on employees.
“It’s absolutely clear that many people are struggling as they return to the workplace; sometimes in different ways, sometimes in the same way, as previously was done having been through a very, very difficult time. The people that I work with in clinics, speaking with many employees and leaders, it’s been – this is rhetorical statement – a very stressful time for society broadly.”
But in addition to anecdotal evidence, some real numbers are showing the depth of despair that is out there.
“At the university, and on national bodies where we compare notes, everyone’s pretty much reporting the same thing – that the metrics you’d be looking at around high degrees of sick leave, both short- and long-term, the level of interpersonal conflict, those are up, sick leave is up, individual employee departures are up. The metrics are definitely indicating this is the sustained impact of the pandemic, plus the international turmoil that’s taking place, it’s having a direct impact on employee mental health, absolutely,” says Dan VanderSluis, associate vice president of human resources at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in Nanaimo, B.C.
This is also manifesting in health spending numbers, says Robin.
“What we’ve seen over the last year of the pandemic – and statistically we went from one in five Canadians with mental health issues to one in four Canadians with mental health issues – we’ve seen a rise in the cost of prescription drugs, for antidepressants and anti-anxiety medicine, by about 20 percent … now there’s more antidepressants than pills for blood pressure being used.”
Seeing effects at first-hand
As a clinical psychologist in a hospital, Bruce Dick, professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, has seen up close the impacts of the pandemic on employees.
“It’s absolutely clear that many people are struggling as they return to the workplace; sometimes in different ways, sometimes in the same way, as previously was done having been through a very, very difficult time. The people that I work with in clinics, speaking with many employees and leaders, it’s been – this is rhetorical statement – a very stressful time for society broadly.”
But in addition to anecdotal evidence, some real numbers are showing the depth of despair that is out there.
“At the university, and on national bodies where we compare notes, everyone’s pretty much reporting the same thing – that the metrics you’d be looking at around high degrees of sick leave, both short- and long-term, the level of interpersonal conflict, those are up, sick leave is up, individual employee departures are up. The metrics are definitely indicating this is the sustained impact of the pandemic, plus the international turmoil that’s taking place, it’s having a direct impact on employee mental health, absolutely,” says Dan VanderSluis, associate vice president of human resources at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in Nanaimo, B.C.
This is also manifesting in health spending numbers, says Robin.
“What we’ve seen over the last year of the pandemic – and statistically we went from one in five Canadians with mental health issues to one in four Canadians with mental health issues – we’ve seen a rise in the cost of prescription drugs, for antidepressants and anti-anxiety medicine, by about 20 percent … now there’s more antidepressants than pills for blood pressure being used.”
Best ways to show support
“Focusing on the work environment can be critical for staff, and that can be done by leadership training, frankly, around issues such as fostering resilience and promoting a better, inclusive workplace culture”
Bruce Dick,
University of Alberta
“The metrics are definitely indicating this is the sustained impact of the pandemic – plus, the international turmoil that’s taking place, it’s having direct impact on employee mental health, absolutely,”
Dan Vandersluis,
Vancouver Island University
Copyright © 2022 Key Media
RSS
Advisory board
Authors
Enquiry
About us
Terms of Use
External contributors
Privacy
Contact us
Advertise
Newsletter
News
Focus Areas
EMPLOYMENT LAW
LABOUR
Resources
Best in HR
Subscribe
News
Focus Areas
EMPLOYMENT LAW
LABOUR
Resources
Best in HR
Subscribe