NATIONAL – An upcoming live webinar from the Conference Board of Canada (CBOC) will present new research on mental health in Canadian workplaces and tools that employers have been using to deal with it. Healthy Brains at Work: How Top Employers are Improving Mental Health, which will stream live online on Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. EST, will be presented by Greg Sutherland, principal economist with the Canadian Alliance for Sustainable Health Care, and Louise Chénier, manager of workplace health and wellness research with the CBOC’s Leadership and Human Resources Research Division. According to a Sept. 17 press release from the CBOC, the webinar will discuss the presence of mental illness in workplaces in terms of demographics, effective worker support, results of practices tried and opportunities and guidelines for employers to create psychologically healthy work environments. Chénier will also present results from a recent CBOC survey of employers nationwide on mental-health policies and practices. Employers and workers can register for the webinar at http://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=7269&utm_source=dm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ECBRAIN5&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonvqrOe%2B%2FhmjTEU5z16OssXKe%2FlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ARMZlMq%2BTFAwTG5toziV8R7DMKM1l3dMQXRLr.

A majority of Canadian employees have been inattentive while at work, findings from a recent Morneau Shepell report indicate.

The report, The True Picture of Workplace Absenteeism, found that 80 per cent of respondents self-reported experience with presenteeism – time spent at the workplace while not productively engaged in work. Meanwhile, 81 per cent indicated that they had gone into work while they could not perform as well as they would have liked.

The reasons for doing so included physical sickness (47 per cent), stress or anxiety (40 per cent) and workplace issues and/or problems with co-workers or managers (22 per cent). Alarmingly, depression was specified as the cause by 15 per cent of respondents.

The conclusions of the study – which interviewed more than 1,300 Canadians, including 1,005 employees, 100 employers and 104 physicians – were released on June 10. The margin of error for the survey was 3.09 per cent for employees, according to a statement from Morneau Shepell

“We’re hoping that it will be a bit of a wakeup call to employers,” said Paula Allen, vice president of resource and integrative solutions at Morneau Shepell. “It might not be easy for an employer to assess, but employees felt pretty clear that they could see when it was happening.” When measuring presenteeism, Allen said, accidents, errors, missed deadlines and having to redo things were all indicators of inattentive employees.

Both presenteeism and absenteeism can contribute to increased risk of accidents, noted Allen. With absenteeism, co-workers might be expected to do extra work to compensate for the missing employee, which can lead to fatigue, overtime hours or skipped breaks. Contract workers, who are generally less trained, may also be hired to replace absent workers. “All of those things, I think you can see, increase the possibility of accidents.”

Allen suggested that employers should not deal with absenteeism in a punitive manner. “In most situations, it really is an indication that there is something going on and that it makes sense for employers and employees to collaborate to improve the health of the workplace and, ultimately, absence.”

When it comes to workers going on prolonged absence or disability leave, the biggest barrier to employees returning to work could be that workplaces cannot accommodate employees; 76 per cent of the physicians surveyed indicated that a major barrier was workplaces not being able to accommodate their conditions, followed by their fear about returning at 62 per cent. Meanwhile, 49 per cent of physicians reported that they were not comfortable providing information on work-performance limitations due a medical condition, and 21 per cent said they were not comfortable providing medical notes for workplace duty restrictions.

Other key findings from the report included that 56 per cent of employees were not aware of their organization offering employee-assistance programs and 43 per cent indicated that their organizations did not create an environment that supported mental wellness on the job.

“Safety isn’t only about policy, it’s really about building a health and safety culture,” said Allen.

The True Picture of Workplace Absenteeism is available to read online at http://www.morneaushepell.com/sites/default/files/documents/3679-true-picture-workplace-absenteeism/9929/absencemanagementreport06-08-15.pdf.

The Conference Board of Canada (CBOC) recently published the first of a four-part series of reports on mental health and mental illness in Canadian workplaces. The Footprint of Mental Health Conditions: Healthy Brains at Work, released on May 22, is a 42-page document that profiles the state of mental health among the nation’s workers, reiterates the importance of addressing the issue and introduces practical tools, treatments and programs that employers can adopt to help employees. The report includes statistics and other data measuring mental illness in Canada and its prevalence among the working population, from historical trends to breakdowns of different disorders. “The prevalence of mental-health disorders is generally higher among employed Canadians than in the general population,” the report’s executive summary reads. “In fact, the workplace occurrence of mental-health disorders is more than 60 per cent higher than in the general Canadian population.” Healthy Brains at Work is available for free download from the CBOC’s website at http://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=7057; registration with the site is required.

The Conference Board of Canada is putting on its annual two-day conference focusing on mental-health issues and their effects on work environments. Workplace Wellness and Mental Health 2015 takes place at Toronto’s InterContinental Toronto Centre from June 2 to 3, and the guest speakers include The Atlantic senior editor Dr. James R. Hamblin, Sun Life Financial workplace-mental-health director Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier, Arthritis Society president and CEO Janet Yale and Walmart Canada benefits and HRIS director Joseph Chan. This year’s conference deals with issues such as absenteeism, presenteeism and how infrastructure, managers and corporate culture can contribute to better mental health in the workplace. The event includes onsite wellness initiatives such as yoga, massage and energizer breaks. There is also a post-conference optional workshop, hosted by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, on June 3. More information about the conference is available at http://www.conferenceboard.ca/conf/workwellness/default.aspx, and the agenda can be downloaded at http://www.conferenceboard.ca/Libraries/CONF_PDFS_PUBLIC/15-0055.sflb.

CORNWALL, Ont. – Employers and health professionals need to start working together to address mental-health issues in the workplace, according to a May 5 address from Scott Armstrong, Parliamentary Secretary to federal Labour Minister Dr. K. Kellie Leitch. Armstrong was one of the speakers at the Light the Way and Chemical Dependency Education and Rehabilitation Program National Conference, an event hosted by NAV Canada, aimed at health and safety experts as well as mental-health advocates, physicians, addiction experts and occupational-health nurses. “Workplace mental health is a rising concern, and the issue needs to be brought to the forefront,” said Armstrong, according to a press release from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). “Investing in employee well-being, both physical and psychological, can have a tremendous impact on reducing workplace injury and illness, while promoting positive workplace culture.” Armstrong added that it was essential for companies to adopt strategies to assist workers with their psychological health. Backgrounder info from ESDC noted that mental-health issues cost the Canadian economy more than $48 billion per year.