Another month, and more worrying stats from the TELUS Mental Health Index:
Overall mental health declined for Canadian workers, nearly reaching levels of distress comparable to the pandemic period. More than of workers reported a high mental health risk, with anxiety and isolation being the lowest mental health sub-scores for 18 consecutive months.
Not surprisingly, workers with conditions such as anxiety, depression, and sleep issues, reported significant productivity losses. For instance, workers with diagnosed depression lose 56 working days in productivity per year, while those with diagnosed anxiety lose 53 days. This highlights a direct link between mental health and work productivity.
For construction company leaders in B.C. and Alberta, these findings underscore the importance of prioritizing mental health in the workplace. If you can help your workers be mentally healthy, productivity and morale will improve on site. We must keep pushing to have open discussions on mental health and implementing supportive policies to enhance our people’s wellbeing.
Each week, ICBA’s Jordan Bateman reflects on what we’ve learned as we participate in ICBA’s Workplace Wellness Program. ICBA’s Workplace Wellness Program is helping more than 100 companies and more than 10,000 construction professionals better understand mental health. This program is free for all ICBA members – check out icba.ca/wellness for details.
