News Employee Wellness Mental Health
Workers believe full flexibility would work best for their teams

On Jan. 25, LifeWorks, a leading provider of digital and in-person total well-being solutions, released its monthly Mental Health Index, revealing a negative mental health score among Canadians for the 21st consecutive month.

The overall mental health score for Dec. 2021, was -10.2 compared to the pre-pandemic benchmark, a slight decline from the previous month (-10.0 in November 2021) and equal to the October 2021 score.

• Nearly two in five (38 per cent) Canadians indicate that having the option of full flexibility – regarding days, hours and location – for everyone would be the best working model for their team. This compares to 17 per cent preferring that all employees are together at the worksite and 15 per cent preferring that all employees work fully remote.
• Nearly one-third (29 per cent) of respondents report that the most important type of flexibility is having the ability to step away from work to attend to personal issues.
• When looking at other types of flexibility, 26 per cent of individuals report that hours of work is the most important and 24 per cent of individuals report that the location of work is the most important.
• Eighteen per cent indicate that the most important types of work flexibility are days of work (16 per cent) and work attire (two per cent).

“As workplace flexibility continues to grow in importance among Canadians, it is critical for employers to listen to their employees and determine how they can provide support – whether that means flexible hours for those working from home to allow time for childcare, or the ability to step away from work for an appointment or other personal matters among frontline workers,” said president and chief executive officer, Stephen Liptrap, in a press release.

“Ensuring that employees feel trusted and encouraged to balance their work and personal lives in a way that works for them is essential to fostering a workplace culture that prioritizes employee well-being.”

LifeWorks will be hosting Employers Connect virtually on Jan. 26 at 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Eastern. This year’s annual mental health summit will cover research from the Mental Health Index, uncover workplace trends from the past year and answer the question, “Now what?”