'If you're not finding purpose at work, you're not engaging,' says Dialogue's Dr. Marc Robin
Canadian workers are struggling, and not just with stress or sleepless nights. Notably, Dialogue’s latest Well-being Score has revealed a critical new trend: employees are losing their sense of purpose and it's hitting the workplace harder than ever.
“This is the lowest wellbeing score we've measured in the last 18 months,” emphasized Dr. Marc Robin, medical director at Dialogue. Pointing to a standardized WHO measure known as the Wellbeing Index, Robin explains that the average Canadian’s wellbeing score has dropped from a pre-pandemic baseline of around 70 to 43.7.
The steepest decline, however, lies in an employee’s sense of purpose, which scored 15 per cent lower in the second half of 2024.
“A sense of purpose and a sense of community affects how you engage within your family, how you engage in your community, how you engage at work,” said Dr. Robin. “If you're not finding purpose in your community, if you're not finding purpose at work, you're not engaging. This correlates directly to productivity, to absences at work and so for an employer, this is a call to action.”
While the pandemic once dominated mental health concerns, economic pressures have taken over. Dr. Robin suggests the economic climate may be playing a role, pointing to data that found 42 per cent of Canadians cited that the economic downturn is affecting their mental health, with nearly half who go to bed worrying about finances.
Consequently, the weight of that anxiety, combined with years of cumulative strain, has left many employees exhausted and increasingly checked out. That’s why he emphasized the importance of cultural alignment in the workplace.
“Working for a company which has values that are aligned with yours drives productivity,” he said, adding when that alignment is missing, motivation for workplace engagement tanks.
Dr. Robin acknowledged the exact reasons behind the sudden drop in employees’ sense of purpose are difficult to pinpoint but the impact is critical for the workplace, emphasizing the quantifiable link between mental health and productivity. He highlighted that a five-point drop in a standard depression scale (PHQ-9) equates to a two-hour weekly decline in productivity.
For Dr. Robin, the fix isn’t just about offering support. It’s about offering the right kind of support in a way employees will actually use. He points to strategies that can help, such as building programs that create community through shared activities.
At Dialogue, for instance, wellness initiatives like monthly step challenges are often linked to causes employees care about. He argues that these aren’t just feel-good initiatives, but practical tools to foster engagement outside of traditional work tasks.
“It's one thing to not be physically active and not be motivated to go out and exercise. It's one thing to not sleep well but it's another thing not feeling like you should show up to work mentally,” he emphasized. “It's important for employers to take note and to try and understand how they can create a sense of community, how they how they can put back their mission and their values inside the company to try to align and create that sense of purpose.”
He also underscored the importance of offering support in formats people will actually use. Traditional EAPs, he noted, have notoriously low participation. That’s why he emphasized a virtual-first approach is more aligned with the habits of today’s workforce. And with four different generations now coexisting in the workplace, Robin believes customization is crucial.
“We found that virtual solutions decreased access barriers, and when done properly with accredited partners, you can get outcomes,” he said, highlighting the number of individuals who start by using the wellbeing score to check in on themselves, then transition to guided counseling or therapy, often more quickly than they would through traditional systems.
“80 per cent of people who took the wellbeing survey adopted a new healthy habit along the way,” Dr. Robin said. “The data shows that we need to double up on our efforts to make mental resources available and get them to be utilized a lot more than they are.”
That’s his business case for investing in smarter wellbeing strategies, underscoring when employers track aggregate wellbeing scores, they get clearer insight into the impact of their programs, which ultimately helps them allocate resources more effectively.
“You see a return on that investment,” he said, noting that studies consistently show at least $2 in return for every $1 spent.
