Sun Life enhances mental wellbeing support amongst Canadian employers
Canadian financial services and insurance company Sun Life has built a toolkit to help employers support their workers’ mental health and wellbeing, no matter where they are in the world
Having identified that employees in Canada are in need of enhance mental health and wellbeing support (a recent Sun Life study found that two-thirds of Canadians (66 per cent) say their employer hasn’t provided additional mental, physical or financial wellness support during the pandemic), Sun Life has taken it upon itself to throw together a free, digital mental health strategy toolkit for companies of all sizes.
“At Sun Life, our purpose is to help Canadians achieve lifetime financial security, but also live healthier lives. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how we can support Canadians through this global pandemic,” said Marie-Chantal Cote, Vice-President of Market Development, Group Benefits, Sun Life Canada. “This toolkit is a result of that. It’s meant to be a framework or approach that helps employers think about the health of their organisations and the mental health of their workforce.”
Cote goes on to identify that the ‘gap’ in mental health support’ is not from a lack of wanting to help employees, but rather due to employers not knowing where to start. As such, Sun Life’s so-called ‘toolkit’ provides employers with the information and resources they need to get themselves setup with a winning strategy, including company assessments of provisions needed, what is available, and setting objectives and goals. “Continuous assessment is also something that we encourage because things like workplace culture, workplace health, and employee physical and mental health are not static; they’re always evolving,” added Cote.
Also in February, Bupa and Macmillan partnered in the UK to provide free mental health support to people living with cancer.