Retirement and pension support tops the wish list at 63%, ahead of investing and tax help
Six in 10 workers in Canada who pay into a workplace retirement or savings program cannot explain how it works.
The TELUS Mental Health Index for the second quarter of 2026 splits the 60 percent into 38 percent who have a general understanding but are unclear on some details, 16 percent with a limited understanding, and 6 percent who do not understand the program at all.
That last group scores 50.6, more than 19 points below the 69.9 recorded by workers who understand their program very well and more than 13 points below the national average of 63.9.
Retirement, pension, and savings support is the most requested category of financial help in the survey, at 63 percent.
Investing follows at 21 percent, tax planning at 18 percent, emergency savings and insurance or financial protection at 16 percent each, and debt management at 15 percent.
A further 24 percent want no employer support on any financial topic, and that group posts the highest score in the question set at 69.0.
Paula Allen, global leader of research and insights at TELUS Health, said in the company's release that 60 percent of employees contributing to a workplace pension or retirement plan "do not fully understand how it works."
Employers lose return on their total rewards spend as a result, according to Allen, who tied financial literacy resources and coaching to lower absenteeism.
Men are 40 percent more likely than women to report a very good understanding of their program.
Workers without emergency savings are two and a half times more likely than those with savings to report no understanding at all.
Sixty-nine percent of workers feel worried or anxious about their finances at least some of the time, and 12 percent feel that way always.
That 12 percent records a mental health score of 39.5, the lowest in the entire report and 24 points below the national average.
Cost of living drives financial anxiety for 63 percent of workers, ahead of a lack of retirement savings at 12 percent.
Financial stress has hurt work productivity for 20 percent of workers, who score 47.3 against 71.7 for those reporting no impact.
Five percent have missed work entirely, scoring 45.3.
Twenty-eight percent lack emergency savings to cover basic needs, scoring 49.1 against 69.7 for workers who have savings, and they are nearly three times more likely to report that their productivity has suffered.
Workers under 40 are three and a half times more likely than workers over 50 to report a productivity hit from financial stress.
Parents are 80 percent more likely than non-parents to report the same, and managers 50 percent more likely than non-managers.
More than a quarter of the workforce provides financial support or care to adult dependents, with 15 percent supporting adult children and 12 percent supporting aging parents.
Among them, 37 percent report a negative impact on their finances and 32 percent on their own mental health, the latter group scoring 48.2.
Forty-nine percent of workers would tell their manager about a mental health issue, 24 percent are unsure, and 27 percent would not, scoring 54.7 against 68.7 for those who would.
Fifty-two percent believe their employer cares about their wellbeing and not just their productivity, against 23 percent who believe productivity comes first, a 15-point score gap.
The national Index reads 63.9, up from 63.1 in February 2026, with anxiety the lowest sub-score at 56.1.
The survey polled 3,000 employed adults in Canada between June 5 and June 18, 2026.
