Mental Health @Work

Just the Facts

These facts come from the CFO Framework for Mental Health and Productivity – An Executive Initiative of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addictions and Mental Health 2007 (link to PDF).

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Corporate Canada continues to under invest in mental health;

The single most important issue is the lack of adequate measurement of the costs of mental illness by individual companies.

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7.5 million Canadians suffer from depression, anxiety, substance abuse or other mental disorder each year;

The economic burden of mental illness in Canada exceeds $33 billion a year (2002 – Roundtable by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) and costs are much higher, if addiction is included;

43% of respondents to a 2006 Mercer/Marsh study reported that the frequency and cost of depression/ anxiety/related claims among employees is increasing

Over 21% of all drug claims are to treat mental illness – over 10% of general drug plan costs are for mental illness drugs;

When medical conditions co-occur with mental illness, specifically depression, total pharmacy costs related to mental illness increase by a factor of three;

The number of mental illness-related pharmacy claims increased 5.4% from 2004 to 2005, as compared to a total pharmacy claims increase of 3.8%.

A survey of 50% of FRCPC Occupational Medicine doctors suggests that mental health related issues account for 50% – 70% of issues seen in their medical practice.

A new dimension in occupational health and safety is emerging in Canada’s legal system:

• To prevent mental injury, it is the duty of employers to provide a “psychologically safe workplace” – a natural extension of the traditional healthy and physically safe workplace;
• Claims in this area tend to relate to the fact that there has been ongoing employer “bad behaviour” during the duration of the employment relationship;
• Employers may become liable if mental injuries are found to result from careless negligent, reckless or intentional acts and omissions – Financial awards are increasing as new precedents are being developed.

Ethical considerations are key drivers for many leading organizations:

• Ethical funds are looking for positive and innovative approaches in employee health and environment;
• Boards of Directors are increasingly providing direction to organizations on all aspects of risk management including health;
• Employees are expecting organizations to meet their needs with respect to key workplace health aspects – including those that impact on mental health;
• An ethical imperative exists to “do it right”.