SVP of people and culture at GroupHealth shares how he would rebrand ‘the saddest day of the year’ and why managers play a critical role in workplace well-being
Blue Monday, the so-called most depressing day of the year, has long been treated as a moment for employers to rally around mental health.
After all, the combination of limited sunlight, frigid temperatures, and reduced activity can fuel feelings of restlessness, disconnection and isolation.
But while Simon Blunden, SVP of people and culture at GroupHealth Benefit Solutions sees value in any initiative that draws attention to mental health, like Blue Monday, he believes confining that focus to a single day misses the larger opportunity. He emphasized the benefits provider has deliberately avoided building programs around Blue Monday, opting instead to embed mental health support into its year-round benefits and wellness strategy.
"Our strategy is actually to be more proactive around mental health awareness and treat that as something that is a year-round thing, not just a once-a-year event," he said, pointing to his own experience that reinforces this approach. Because he lives in the Pacific Northwest, he deals with seasonal affective disorder that begins well before January.
"For me, Blue Monday starts in October," he added.
Blue Monday was coined in 2005 by UK travel company Porter Novelli, which claimed to have calculated the year's most depressing day based on weather and seasonal factors. The concept is widely regarded as a marketing gimmick, but for Canadians enduring long, dark winters, the sentiment still resonates.
When asked how he would rebrand Blue Monday, Blunden suggests moving away from a narrow mental health focus toward something more engaging. He’d want to turn it into something fun built around a challenge for employees, rather than a gloomy, one‑off awareness day.
He noted that employees love time off and emphasized employers could begin implementing wellness campaigns where participation earns credits that can be redeemed as a wellness day. A rebranded Blue Monday could plug into that model - take part in the challenge, earn a wellness day.
"I would want to do it in a way that [employees] understand that wellness is more than just mental health. It's about your physical well-being, it's about your financial well-being," he said, highlighting GroupHealth's own existing wellness campaigns, where employees earn credit toward paid time off by participating in challenges, a model he believes could translate well to reimagining Blue Monday as something employees actually want to engage with.
He also highlights the importance of flexibility and choice in how employees access support, pointing to GroupHealth’s benefits plan that includes a flexible dollar component that staff can direct either into a health spending account or taxable wellness so employees can use it in the way that best matches their needs.
Alongside the core benefits, he oversees a broader wellness program spanning mental, physical, and financial health like regular lunch‑and‑learn sessions (including on topics like mental and financial health), weekly virtual meditation led by an in‑house yoga instructor, and heavily discounted personal training available both on‑site and online. He sees this mix of offerings as a holistic approach that goes well beyond simply having mental‑health practitioners on a plan.
Still, Blunden underscored employee motivation can’t be treated as a once‑a‑year activity tied to a single calendar date. Sustained performance and retention come from people feeling engaged, supported, and genuinely understood as human beings with real pressures and challenges beyond their job descriptions.
Additionally, Blunden underscored employees are at very different life stages, so a single, rigid benefits package won’t work. After all, younger staff may be focused on breaking into the workforce and managing rising living costs, while others are balancing careers with raising children, and more senior employees are often dealing with elder care and preparing for retirement.
“Employees need different things depending on where they are in life… it’s important that the benefit plan and the employer offer a number of products and services to their employees, to meet them where they're at,” noted Blunden. “I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all because not everyone, for example, is going to want to engage in counseling and not everyone is necessarily going to want to do a meditation class.”
To that end, he believes flexibility and variety in benefits offerings are crucial, while regular employee surveys help uncover what people actually need. Then, employers can adjust their offerings accordingly.
Beyond benefits, he believes “the key to having happy and motivated employees is good managers,” particularly those who are authentic, stay closely connected to their teams, and create psychological safety.
According to Blunden, leaders need to take the time to ask simple, human questions, simply asking “how are you doing?” - and being prepared for real answers, rather than only discussing tasks and targets. While he stressed managers shouldn’t have to act or become therapists, he feels they should be equipped to at least have meaningful conversations and recognize when someone is struggling.
He argues that leaders should actively build connections with their teams so they can see what people are dealing with and help them do their best work, and that employers should continually reassess their benefits to go further than basic coverage. In his mind, Blue Monday should be a prompt for organizations to think about how they can move from a reactive, mindset toward a more proactive approach that supports employees’ overall well‑being.
He also stresses that mental health affects everyone, including senior leaders. According to Blunden, open conversations are essential to reducing stigma, and that includes leaders willing to share their own experiences, so employees see they’re not alone.
“We all get busy in trying to achieve KPIs and meet revenue targets but at the end of the day, we're all humans and employees come to work and they want to do a good job. It's incumbent on us as leaders to really do what we can to help them be their best at work and recognize that not everyone comes to work and is going to be okay every day. And that's okay,” emphasized Blunden. “Building that trust and that authenticity to open the door for dialogue around challenges and struggles is better for you and makes you a more credible leader.”
Yet, he’s troubled by how much more compassion workplaces and society often show toward visible physical illnesses compared with mental health conditions, and he believes organizations need to home in on closing that gap so employees with psychological challenges receive the same understanding and support as those with serious physical diagnoses.
“We have to look at ways to normalize mental health so that as a society and as a workplace, we treat people no differently, whether it's physical or mental health concerns that they have. They're equally important,” said Blunden.
