More companies are focusing on improving the health and wellness of their staff including addressing issues such as mental health, fitness and sleep.Getty Images
In 2021, the human resources team at Annex Publishing, which owns 60 business media brands ranging from Bakers Journal to Canadian Manufacturing to Greenhouse Canada and operates an office in Toronto and another in Simcoe, Ont., began doubling down on employee support programs to deal with the new normal after pandemic lockdowns.
“It was a dark time. Some people handled it better than others,” recalls Michelle Snyder, the vice-president of people and culture, of that year, with most of the staff still working entirely from home and mental health issues cropping up in the company’s staff of 150.
Ms. Snyder and her HR colleague began by offering The Working Mind, a training program by the Mental Health Commission of Canada that helps employees recognize mental health issues, talk about them more effectively and reduce stigma. Staff loved it, Ms. Snyder says, appreciating that it improved already established lines of communication and helped everyone be more open.
It’s just one of the many new programs and changes Annex’s HR team has made to better support the overall wellness of employees.
Ill health is an expensive problem. Canadian statistics suggest that mental health issues cost the economy $50-billion annually, with employers shouldering $6-billion in lost productivity. As well, 30 per cent of disability claims relate to mental health.
Physical health problems also affect the economy. Inactivity alone, with its associated health risks, costs the health-care system $3.9-billion annually.
Many organizations are taking such statistics more seriously, as they saw the impact with their own eyes in recent years. One 2023 international study found that companies were putting well-being as their top priority, ahead of attracting and retaining talent and being profitable.
“There’s a pendulum swing right now,” says workplace mental health expert Bill Howatt, with more companies investing more in wellness on the job. What was once a nice-to-have has become essential.
Hybrid obstacles
Return to workplace mandates for many office-based companies have proved a challenge that intersects with wellness.
“Some organizations are turning to employee wellness programming as a way to make any form of return to office a little softer,” says Michelle Johnston, founder of WorkingWell, a workplace wellness company based in Toronto.
Lunch and learn sessions have been increasingly in demand, she’s finding. “Companies are doing it because they really want people to have that connection,” she says. If staff must commute a few days a week, at least there’s something fun or enriching happening to make it worth their while.
Many companies offer both virtual and in-person versions of wellness events, says Ms. Johnston, but many opt to join on video. “Virtual is still very, very strong,” she says, noting that her clients are from across the country, working in a range of industries, and not everyone is in the office on the same days.
At Annex, meanwhile, the return to in-person work stumbled a bit at first because the company asked people who lived close to one of its two offices to come back on days of their choosing – but they pivoted to have common in-office days, so there could be more collaboration.
As well, the company put in place common hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., so those who like to work early or late could count on overlap with colleagues any day of the week. Importantly, everyone at the company has worked hard at improving communication overall. “It’s made us become so much better at staying connected, regardless of where people are,” says Ms. Snyder.
Bigger picture wellness
Wellness programs in hybrid workplaces have become much more about individual choice. Ms. Johnston says wellness fairs have been popular. These events make massage therapists and other practitioners available to chat with employees, and people can choose later to engage their services if they want, with the support of the company’s employee assistance plan (EAP).
“It’s a meet-and-greet opportunity, but it also brings everyone together in a fun way,” she says.
At Annex, Ms. Snyder and her team recently moved to a new EAP service provider, as the old one wasn’t overly responsive. “This new service allows employees to choose how they want their support,” she says. It has more virtual services, including allowing people access to a doctor or nurse online, which is popular as many employees struggle to find a primary care provider.
Mr. Howatt worries that too few companies implement programs that lead to behavioural change. “Activity does not drive outcomes, habits drive outcomes,” he says. “How are we going to get people to create habits that they need to be able to take care of themselves?”
Offering more choice and fewer prescriptive approaches – such as building a gym and expecting everyone to find time to use it and enjoy it – can help.
The ROI debate
Mr. Howatt would like to see organizations approach wellness as they do many of their other projects, by building evaluation into programs from the start, pivoting based on data and trying to achieve a measurable outcome – basically calculating the return on investment as they would any other initiative. “Now, everyone’s an expert on workplace mental health,” he says. “So, we have all these programs. But a lot of programs have no evidence behind them.”
For him, improving wellness culture can have meaningful impact, especially around how it influences workplace culture. “You’ll never have diversity and equity if you don’t have psych safety. People need to feel safe to talk about biases.”
Ms. Johnston says the companies she works with have not been overly systematic. “It’s not always part of a bigger, formalized strategy. For most of them, it’s already a great place to work, so they’re adding to that.” These companies look at what programs are popular and do more of the same. Lunch and learn-style programs that address ways to improve sleep, for instance, often get raves, so they keep offering them.
She thinks planning around wellness is a good idea. “I think every company could benefit from taking some time and defining what their vision and mission is around employee wellness. It’s such a wonderful way to decide what to offer and align the program with the company’s direction.”
At Annex, Ms. Snyder often looks to the company’s values, set years ago, to direct HR planning. She’s got ideas for more ways to promote wellness at work, and she keeps it simple.
“We want overall happy employees who are just happy to come to work.”