Employees reveal the one wellbeing initiative they want to see from HR
Employers across Canada have implemented a string of initiatives over the past years to support their employees' mental health – something that’s seen extreme deterioration thanks to the pandemic and the challenges it brought. But hidden amongst the webinars, expanded health care, and added benefits to keep mental health in check, employees said that the most important step from their employer in supporting mental health is flexibility.
The latest report from LifeWorks revealed that 33% of Canadian employees said that being offered flexibility is the most important action from their employees to support their mental health. Twenty per cent said the most important one was feeling more valued by the employers, while 17% said it was empathy. Fourteen per cent said getting access to resources and services was best initiative from the bosses, while 10% said it was when employers dealt with conflict in the workplace.
Flexibility in the workplace
One way for employers to offer flexibility is initiating a hybrid work scheme for employees — an initiative that Canadian employees now extremely value.
In fact, the LifeWorks report revealed that flexible work is so important that it trumps career progression. More than half or 55% of Canadian employees said hybrid work is more important, while only 24% said it was movement in the careers. Twenty-one per cent of the respondents answered neither.
According to the LifeWorks report, managers are 80% more likely than non-managers to put career progression above flexible or hybrid work. Interestingly, working parents are divided, with 50% of them more likely to indicate that career progression is more important than hybrid work, according to LifeWorks.
Read more: LifeWorks CEO: 'Our people are embracing this change'
Work schemes and their impact
However, working from home and reporting on-site still come with benefits and disadvantages for employees.
Majority of Canadian employees (36%) said that they do not face any challenges while working from home. However, 20% said that it is hard to focus on work because of distractions, while 18% said they feel lonely. Fifteen per cent said it was hard to ask for help when remote working, while feeling bored and getting less recognition were both answered by 14% of the respondents.
On the other hand, majority of Canadian employees (39%) reporting on-site said they do not face any challenges at all. However, 19% of them said people are more difficult to deal with or are less friendly in person.
Similar to remote work, Canadian employees (17%) said they still face the challenge of getting little recognition, and 16% said it was hard to maintain focus. Nine per cent admitted that they do not enjoy being with their co-workers, while nine per cent also said they feel bored on-site.
In addition, the report revealed that more remote work employees (38%) do not feel concerned about limited career opportunities while working from home. However, this is only slightly above the 36% who feel worried about career opportunities amid remote work.
Twenty-six per cent of the surveyed Canadian employees said they are unsure over the matter.
The report from LifeWorks sought the responses of 3,000 employed people in Canada, who were selected in consideration of age, gender, industry, and geographic distribution.
