Employer mental health efforts lose ground, TELUS Health finds

Nearly a third of Canadian workers report elevated levels of mental health risk, with close to half sitting at moderate risk, according to the September 2026 TELUS Mental Health Index. For plan sponsors, the numbers paint a stark picture of a workforce under sustained pressure - and raise hard questions about whether their current support structures are keeping pace.

Paula Allen, global leader and VP of research, insights and strategic communications at TELUS Health in Toronto, said the Index reinforces what TELUS Health has tracked for some time: the tight connection between financial well-being and mental health. Particularly, the presence or absence of emergency savings has a measurable effect on how workers cope with day-to-day pressures.

“Even if it’s not top of mind, you might be thinking about things like cost of living and other things that are more here and now. There’s a low-level anxiety that can become a high-level anxiety when people don’t have that safety net,” she said. “The relationship between finances and well-being is pretty strong and probably getting stronger.”

Personal, workplace and social pressures collide

But finances are only one layer of a greater problem as Allen pointed to three distinct forces bearing down on workers: personal circumstances, workplace conditions and a broader social environment marked by rising anger, cynicism and comparison culture.

She cautioned against trying to isolate which matters most, since the pressures ultimately compound. A worker dealing with uncertainty at home and a toxic culture at the office will see the strain bleed into relationships and self-care alike. One workplace issue can be the tipping point for someone already carrying several personal burdens.

She also flagged caregiving as a growing pressure point for younger workers. Allen acknowledged smaller families and later parenthood are shifting elder care responsibilities onto people earlier in their careers, adding a financial and emotional load that previous generations typically faced in their 50s.

Consequently, physical health among younger Canadians is declining for the first time in years - with rising cancer rates and increased functional impairment - despite no shortage of wellness messaging.

Employer mental health investment is fading

While employer support for mental health has improved over the past few years, Allen acknowledged that progress has “waned” and in some cases, reversed. She noted the wave of awareness that peaked during and just after the pandemic has faded and some employers have pulled back investment, even as demands on workers has grown more complex. Where support still exists, it’s often getting lost in a crowded communications landscape, Allen said.

“Even if the support itself hasn't pulled back, we're in an increasingly complex communications environment. We know 100 per cent that the level of need in workplace is not being met by the number of people who go out and support and seek services and sometimes they seek things that are not the right thing for them,” said Allen.

“We’ve diluted some of the support that's available by not being clear enough in terms of where your first step really can be. You can go anywhere, but the advantage of that wraparound service, I think, is not as clear as it was. And how you communicate has become harder in every sphere so even if you have that vision or that message, we found that we need to work very specifically with individual clients to think about a communication program that actually matches their workforce,” she added.

Mental health stigma runs deeper than disclosure

She also warned that the productivity impact of poor mental health will only climb as cognitive demands increase. AI, she argued, is less likely to remove tasks than to raise the bar for speed and output - a strain workers aren’t necessarily prepared for, she noted.

Additional findings from the TELUS Mental Health Index found that 30 per cent see mental health negatively affecting productivity and their ability to meet goals at work, while 27 per cent wouldn’t feel comfortable telling their manager if they had a mental health issue, this being 14 percentage points higher than those who would feel comfortable speaking up.

Allen believes the problem runs deeper than stigma. Workers across the board are self-censoring, telling managers what they want to hear rather than flagging real concerns.

“Are people talking to their managers about anything? Do they feel safe bringing anything to the table? Do they think twice about how they're going to be viewed or whether they're aligning with what the company says or going to be seen as a rebel? People are fawning more now than they have been, which is basically just lying. They’re saying ‘Everything is perfect and your ideas are perfect and the company strategy couldn't be any better’ when they absolutely see warts, but they're afraid to say so,” said Allen.

She noted the contrast with younger workers, often assumed to be more open about mental health, are in fact quick to detect when a workplace culture won’t support that openness and they shut down accordingly.

Managers play outsized role in worker outcomes

To that end, Allen said managers and workplace culture play an outsized role in whether outside pressures tip a worker into crisis. When employees feel they have to mask who they are - how they speak, how they present or whether they’re struggling - the energy spent maintaining that front drains them and limits their contribution.

The problem is rarely isolated to mental health alone. Workplaces where people won’t disclose a mental health issue tend to be environments with multiple markers of psychological unsafety, noted Allen.

She framed the finding as “a wake-up call”. With one in three employees struggling in some form, employers can’t afford to treat mental health as the worker’s problem to solve alone.

The worst outcome, Allen argued, is a preventable disability leave. Once someone begins to see themselves as a patient or claimant, the belief that they can’t cope with work takes root and the fear of returning often does more lasting damage than the original issue. She suggests a manager who shows genuine concern and offers even a small accommodation can steer that trajectory in a different direction entirely.

Mental health support is a shared responsibility

Allen ultimately frames mental health support as a shared responsibility with shared consequences. When workers aren’t performing, it hurts their own security and anxiety levels just as much as it hurts the business. But she acknowledged that many workers are stuck, unable to see a path forward as roughly a quarter of the working population, reports a sense of helplessness, she noted, citing additional findings from the Index. She suggests employers need to cut through that paralysis with practical tools, clear information and relatable examples of people in similar situations who took action and saw results.

At a minimum, Allen argued, organizations have a duty to do no harm, which starts with psychological safety. But she pushed for more than a baseline, underscoring employers should actively work to improve workers’ quality of life.

After all, employees give more than task output. They bring discretionary effort, creativity and goodwill that no job description captures.

“People give us more than just the absolute task that they do. They give us their innovation. They give us that smile with the customer. They give us a lot more,” she said, adding employers should recognize that the obligation runs both ways.