The Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace is launching Guarding Minds @ Work, an evidence-based tool developed by leading Canadian mental health researchers, Great-West said Monday.

The new tool provides Canadian employers with proactive, comprehensive ways to assess the psychological safety and health of their specific workplace, combined with information on appropriate solutions and a method of measuring the effectiveness of those solutions.

“Mental health issues pose a direct impact to the bottom line of Canadian businesses,” says Mike Schwartz, executive director of the Centre and senior vp, group benefits at Great-West Life. “Most employers have access to materials and resources on physical safety and health issues, but there are very few resources for employers to assess the psychological safety and health of their own workplace.”

Guarding Minds @ Work provides employers with practical tools to help assess their organization’s psychological safety and health, and recommends pro-active action steps. It includes:

> an explanation of the concept of psychological safety and health;

> business, legal and health considerations on why mental health in the workplace is important;

> assessment tools to measure psychological safety and health in the workplace;

> a risk “report card” with actions to help reduce psychological risks in the workplace; and

> evaluation tools to measure progress and outcomes.

“As a leading provider of group benefit plans, Great-West Life sees the effects of mental health issues on people and businesses every day,” said Schwartz. “Through the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, we are committed to increasing knowledge and awareness related to mental health issues and their impacts in the workplace, and to turning this knowledge into action. Guarding Minds @ Work is a great example of this at work.”

Research undertaken from March 19 to April 7, 2009 for the Consortium for Organizational Mental Healthcare (COMH), and conducted by Ipsos Reid supports the growing need for such tools. The survey of 6,800 employed Canadians is the largest and most significant Canadian study to evaluate risk levels of psychological safety and health in the workplace, by sector.

The research reveals that One in 19% Canadian employees feel their work environment is not psychologically safe or mentally healthy.

While 19% of employees perceive an issue, when research-based criteria are applied, the number climbs to 29% of employees may actually be experiencing a work environment with significant or serious psychological risk concerns.

Employees most at risk are involved in shift work; hold more junior level positions; are more likely to be union members; are male; work more than 50 hours per week; are middle aged; have a high school or less education; and/or work for medium-sized or larger companies.

Industries with employees most at risk include transportation and warehousing, manufacturing, health care and social services, and public administration.

Guarding Minds @ Work was developed by the Consortium for Organizational Mental Healthcare (COMH), a leading national research centre in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, B.C. COMH consulted with researchers and experts in Canada and internationally. Funded by Great-West Life through its corporate citizenship program as a uniquely Canadian endeavour, Guarding Minds @ Work is publicly available online to interested parties at no charge at www.guardingmindsatwork.ca and through the Centre’s website at www.gwlcentreformentalhealth.com.

IE