'HR professionals want to offer the best to their people and often they're layering on programs… but one size doesn't fit all'
Canadian HR leaders are calling for a rethink of employee wellness, warning that one-size-fits-all programs and surface-level perks are less effective than data-driven, preventative health strategies tailored to the specific risks and needs of their people.
That was the dominant message from a panel discussion held at HRFutureFest in Toronto on June 3, where HR and healthcare executives said the stakes for workplace health have grown too high for symbolic gestures or generic programming.
“Prevention really does get to the heart of it — avoiding some of the long tail things emotionally, physically keeping us from doing and living our best lives,” said moderator Mallory O’Connor, practice lead, culture and transformation at Habanero Consulting.
The panel also featured Peter Nord, CMO at Medcan; Pascale Mapleston, founder and CEO of The Benefit Code; and Tammie Sergie, CHRO at EHN Canada.
Wellness without targeting is wasted investment
Mapleston opened the session “Beyond the perks: reprioritizing wellness in the workplace” by pointing to a common pitfall among well-intentioned HR teams: layering new wellness offerings without a clear understanding of employee needs.
“HR professionals, they really want to offer the best to their people, they care so much, and often what they're doing is layering on programs so that all of their people can have access to all of these amazing programs.
“But one size doesn't fit all,” she said, citing the importance of going beyond demographics such as age and location.
Mapleston urged HR leaders to study claims data to identify where employees are struggling and match support accordingly: “That really shows us where we should be applying programs so that we're addressing the risk… it’s not complicated.”
There are therapeutic classes within every group, she said, such as Type 2 diabetes, depression or sleep anxiety.
“[These are] very easy numbers for all of you to look at, and we should be looking at these on a monthly — minimum quarterly — basis, and redirecting our communications and our programs based on that,” said Mapleston
Even without expansive budgets, targeted interventions such as education and communication can drive cultural change, she said.
“It could be a lunch ‘n’ learn program on financial wellness. If people are up at night because they can't sleep, because they can't pay their bills, it could be about anxiety, depression,” she said. “Just talking about it, really, is moving that needle in terms of the culture within an organization.”
Nord emphasized the growing role employers must play as Canada’s primary care system becomes harder to access.
“We have six-and-a-half-million Canadians, without a family doctor... it's going to double the next few years,” he said. “In the past, an employer could rely on having that primary care doctor there. Now, even if they have a doctor, sometimes it's two or three weeks before they get in. During that time, they're not at work.”
As family physicians charge more often for uninsured services and waiting times increase, Nord suggested benefit plans may need to step in: “Employers have a really important role to play.”
He added that health-risk appraisals and basic surveys can substitute for claims data when needed, offering companies a low-barrier way to understand their workforce.
“A legal firm is going to be different from the mining firm... so one size doesn't fit all.”
It’s also important to look at evidence-based interventions, said Nord, instead of “throwing” stuff at people because it makes you feel good or sees great participation.
“It's important to think about ‘What are the outcome metrics that we're going to be able to leverage?’ If the evidence may or may not be there, it doesn't mean you don't do it. It just means you go in with eyes wide open and [know] the outcome measures that you might be measuring to say, ‘That was a good investment’; or if it isn't, then [you] could tweak that.”
Sergie pointed to another overlooked challenge: generational diversity in mental health needs and treatment preferences.
“The younger generation is very open to digital and telehealth services. They actually are very open to experimenting with AI therapy, which… is an opportunity for us that potentially may help close the gap with the shortage of medical practitioners,” she said.
Younger employees see that as a non-judgmental way for therapy and health, “as opposed to interacting with a human,” she said, whereas older employees tend to favour in-person care and building a rapport with clinicians.
Sergie said different health conditions are rising within each age group, such as anxiety conditions among the younger generation and depression-type conditions with the older generation.
The takeaway for employers? Look for meaningful programs for meaningful investments.
“Really dig into what the most value is in selecting what those great solutions may be to support employees,” she said.
“[If] we don't take the opportunity to dive into the data and look at the results of the data that we're collecting from a generational perspective, we actually might be missing the mark at each end.”
Nord also stressed the importance of preventative approach, saying this is not widespread in Canadian medicine.
“Our health system is designed for reactor... students are not taught in med school about prevention, nutrition, lifestyle management.”
Medcan’s preventative health model is centred on annual assessments designed to catch health issues before symptoms emerge, he said.
“All blood work is done on-site, all the results are in real time… so by the time a person leaves within that day, they have an aggregated [report] with their physician,” he said.
This approach may uncover life-threatening but manageable conditions such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, said Nord: “Obviously, ounce of prevention, pound of cure.”
For preventative wellness strategies to succeed, the panelists agreed that company leaders must model open, supportive behaviour around health.
“When it comes to mental health, a lot of it is really about awareness,” said Sergie, citing the challenge of continuing stigma, particularly in certain industries such as the first responder community.
“We're all just trying to do our best and normalizing that dialogue all the way from your executives... to really train your leadership, to know how to have a proper dialogue.”
That can mean asking probing questions to lead into conversations with direct reports, because frontline leadership is a strong force to help with preventative measures, she said.
“Pick up on some of those cues and be able to intervene with options and resources that your organization may offer employees [who are] afraid to ask.”
That’s especially important these days with so many people working from home and the office, said Sergie at the HR FutureFest event, “so an average manager is dealing with all of this complexity.”
Leaders establish the culture within the organization, said Mapleston.
“Once we start normalizing those conversations within leadership — and that means… being open, having those friendly but tough discussions about exactly what’s happening in the workplace — we're going to start seeing a shift in employee health.”
Post-pandemic, said Nord, expectations have shifted.
“Suddenly, employees are looking for employers to keep them safe... to step up and have a much more responsible type of interaction with them on an ongoing basis. So, it's a new world.”
He noted that loneliness — especially among younger workers who find more social connections at work — is now a recognized health risk.
“We now know these studies [show] that loneliness has a direct physical impact on individual health and actual ability to work.”
And while younger workers often look to work as their main source of connection, older workers face different forms of isolation.
“Trying to lean into that as employers,” Nord said, is now part of the wellness mandate.
Sergie concluded with a call to prepare leaders for this broader, more complex role.
“We as an HR community need to really invest in tools, resources and training to help our leaders understand the role they play in detection and to give them a handy toolkit so that they're able to grow and ask meaningful and deep questions, and build the relationships with employees.”
