Prioritising mental health: On building a lasting plan for employee wellness
This fall, Purolator earned gold at the annual OHS Canada Awards celebration in the category of “psychological safety in the workplace”. Here, Chief Medical Director Dr. Shaan Chugh details what an effective mental health strategy looks like.
When it comes to supporting the mental wellness of employees, we are long past the time when it was reasonable to simply have an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) in place. Today, EAPs are table stakes.
Creating a needs-driven workplace mental health strategy is best directed by an organization willing to embed psychological well-being into its culture, leadership and daily operations. That culture should be anchored in a certain type of mindset: openness, respect, and genuine care for every individual’s well-being.
As I noted in my previous article, corporations have an important role to play in supporting the mental health of Canadians – contributing to a foundation for people to thrive both personally and professionally.
On building a mental health strategy
In 2022, we launched Purolator Health, an innovative program which included a focused Mental Health Strategy. We are proud to join an exclusive number of Canadian companies that have such a strategy: Mental Health Research Canada puts that the figure at just 30 per cent.
In developing the strategy, our team took cues from the National Standard of Canada for workplace psychological health and safety, as well as insights from a wellness survey open to all employees and their family members. It was important to ensure all work environments were supportive and balanced where all employees feel understood and valued. That support is key, because it reduces the drivers of poor mental health – namely stress, isolation and low autonomy.
Such a plan must not be laminated, but instead continually evolve as a framework through which a company can improve resources and access for everyone, particularly those vulnerable to feeling isolated.
At Purolator, we divided our initiatives into four key pillars that represented areas we felt would drive a genuinely successful plan.
To underpin the strategy, we developed new policies and established partnerships with agencies such as the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). We then decided what range of tactics would have the broadest impact: diverse workshops and training programs, expert informational sessions, digital support solutions and establishing a network of well-being champions and mental health first aid responders across the country.
In the spirit of having more great Canadian companies develop employee mental wellness strategies, I’d like to highlight the two biggest lessons we’ve learned on the Purolator journey.
➔ Get leaders actively involved
While “from the top down” is not an uncommon phrase in business, when it comes to a mental health strategy for employees, engaged leaders carry the torch. This means not only serving as symbols and role models, not only willing to approve resources, but being main players in driving the plan forward.
This doesn’t just apply to Purolator’s Senior Leaders, who have spearheaded the Purolator Health initiative, but to all leaders within the organization.
For us, that began with extensive training: hundreds of senior leaders earned a Workplace Mental Health Leadership certificate, and received “The Working Mind for Manager” training through the MHCC. As a physician, I’m especially thrilled that our leaders are open to ongoing training courtesy of a “Refresh” program taken every eight months informed by best practices and co-facilitated with a psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
Meanwhile, senior leaders connect directly with our nationwide staff by going on “roadshows” and visiting thousands of frontline staff in Purolator terminals. Joining these in-person experiences is the type of symbolic leadership necessary for employees to feel this area is being taken seriously.
➔ Reach employees wherever they are
For a mental health strategy to produce genuine change, it must reach the front lines of a company.
In medicine, empowering patients to be active members of their own care plans leads to better outcomes. In the same vein, empowering employees to build resilience is key to the outcomes of a mental health plan. At Purolator we wanted to make education as accessible as possible, and rolled out streams of workshops and self-care series – some of which were live events and recorded to make accessible and convenient to our diverse population.
We’ve had remarkable success engaging employees to get trained and provide an incredible layer of frontline support in their regions. It’s amazing that we now have 187 employees trained as mental health first aid responders serving as essential on-the-ground resources for their colleagues. We also have a network of well-being champions, 105 volunteers recognized and upskilled through training and education opportunities.
Finally, it’s most essential that the strategy be sustainable in both vision and execution. It means committing to provide equitable and inclusive access to mental health resources for employees at any life stage or geographic location.
Sustainability is best accomplished through continuous improvement – an aspect that all employees can be a part of, whether it’s continual feedback, becoming well-being champions, or joining new employee resource groups. Meanwhile, leaders can be expected to model behaviours that prioritize wellness and demonstrate in different ways a company’s commitment to mental health.
Let’s face it: 70 per cent of companies having no strategy in place isn’t good for workers and it isn’t good for business. We proudly call on all major Canadian employers to join us in making this aspect of employee wellness a priority and doing what we can for the communities in which we operate.
-Article by Dr. Shaan Chugh, Chief Medical Director, Purolator