The landscape of employee benefit design and what employees are looking for from their benefits package is changing significantly. The conventional insured programs still have their place, but areas such as mental health and overall wellness are becoming increasingly important.
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association one in five Canadians will personally experience a mental health problem or illness. Amidst COVID-19, public health actions, such as social distancing have further increased stress and anxiety. With heightened emotions, employers are recognizing the importance of mental health benefits in order to foster a healthy, supportive workplace. We have responded to our clients' demand for increasing mental health benefits during the pandemic.
One of the platforms that we work with is a new virtual health care program, Dialogue. Dialogue provides progressive, affordable and accessible mental health services that are on mobile and online. They reported a 30-35 per cent increase in usage of their mental health platform during COVID-19. We focus on tailoring employee health benefits in a preventive way through offering health spending and flex spending accounts and working with employers to implement services such as Dialogue into their employee benefit plans.
Prior to COVID-19 employers’ desire to provide mental health benefits to employees was on the rise. No different than an employer providing a benefits package for their employees’ physical health, such as drug and dental coverage, mental health is now an area that’s demanding attention. Research has shown that employees who are mentally well require less time off work and will be more productive.
These are a few things employers can do to provide for their employees’ mental health:
Look into adding an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to your benefits package. An EAP provides immediate access to mental health services free of charge.
Look into a virtual health care platform. Dialogue provides unlimited access to psychologists, therapists and social workers for a low monthly cost.
Add a health spending or wellness spending account. A health spending account gives funds to employees to access whatever they need to offset their mental health expenses.
As an employer, it is important to continually evaluate the changing needs and wants of what your employees are looking for. Finding ways through the help of your advisor to find out what is important to your staff can allow you to continually modify your benefits package and be help to support their overall mental health and wellness.