A Workplace Wellness Summit on mental health at Chatham's Capitol Theatre heard on Monday that 85% of employers rank stress as the top workforce risk.
Andrew Harkness, an organizational health strategy advisor with a provincial association called Workplace Safety and Prevention Services, says psychological health and safety standards in the workplace are constantly evolving and workplace environments and initiatives need to keep improving.
"Conversation, tackling stigma, looking for champions who are willing to share their story in the workplace. Putting training in place that may start with awareness. Anybody who's in leadership roles really needs to be equipped with the right tools to be able to better manage their people and support their people," says Harkness.
This week in Canada, 500,000 people will miss work due to challenges with mental health.
Only 42% of employers identify improving mental health as a top priority and Harkness says investing in workers will eventually help the bottom line.
"A happy worker is a productive worker. Well, guess what? The research backs that up. If you take care of your staff, they're going to take care of your customer and I don't know a business today that's not concerned about sustainability. This really is about supporting productive, efficient, happy workers and staff," Harkness says.
Only 23% of Canadians feel comfortable talking to their employer about their mental illness for fear of discrimination or dismissal. Harkness says seeking help is not a weakness.
"I'll bet you if you look at it, some of your strongest people are the people who are trying to live with the fear of stigma and trying to look normal and appear to be normal when what they're facing is quite challenging," says Harkness.
