Health and Well-Being Benefits for Employees

For business leaders, owners, managers, and human resources personnel.

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Looking for information and guidance on employee health? We collected data trends and ask our experts to explain what you should know in a wide range of special reports and articles.

Employee health—current trends and planning for the future

Check out what we learned from a survey of employees and organizations like yours. We’ll let you know where employee health is headed and how we can help tailor your benefits plan to employee needs.

Employee mental health outlook

Our data also shows a growing number of young Canadians are suffering with mental illness.1 Learn how mental health concerns can impact organizations and what your plan can do to help.

Employee guidance: Managing wellness in an era of inflation

We can’t control the economy or the rising cost of living, but there are ways to maintain health, wellness, and nutrition during tough economic times.

Employee health—current trends and planning for the future

Working Canadians face a myriad of health issues that affect their ability to perform their jobs effectively, resulting in absenteeism, lost productivity, and increased health care costs.

 

“Our data demonstrates that on average, about 48 days are lost per employee each year due to health-related absenteeism or presenteeism,” says Ashesh Desai, Head of Group Benefits at Manulife Canada.2

 

Our data also shows that 40 per cent of people aren’t doing the recommended amount of physical activity and that 46 per cent are experiencing at least one work-related mental health risk factor.2

View our yearly Wellness Report

Employee health is changing

When employees are unhealthy, they can’t bring their best to work. Their physical, mental, and financial struggles are likely costing your organization.

In this special report, our experts share their thoughts on how Manulife can provide data and insights so employers can tailor their benefit and wellness programs to the specific needs of their employees.

 View our special report on Health Insights

What is the future of health? We’re working on it.

Manulife, in collaboration with Communitech, sponsored a Call for Solutions to address some of the biggest challenges facing the country’s health care system. Check out the history behind our current challenges and where we see room for improvement.

Employee mental health outlook

We’re presenting insights and advice that you can use to shape your group benefits programs.

A stressed and strained workforce can reveal itself in absences, disability, lower productivity, or the challenge to find and keep the talented workers you need to run your business. Where should employers and insurers focus to better support employee mental health?

 

The median amount of coverage offered by Canadian employers for mental health services is $750.00, an amount that would likely only cover between 3 and 5 sessions of therapy.3

 

Most people will need between 8 and 20 sessions per year to get adequate treatment and support for a diagnosis of depression and/or anxiety. For this number of visits, employees would require between $2,000.00 and $4,000.00 worth of coverage per year.4

Download our special report on employee mental health

Does your plan foster mental health recovery?

“Support and therapy for mental health is an ongoing process. Beyond finding the right practitioner, building a successful therapeutic relationship takes time – as does the therapy itself. There can be a significant impact on the success of therapy if it is curtailed or terminated early due to a lack of access or financial resources.”

Dr. Claire Harrigan, Psychiatrist, Cleveland Clinic Canada
Manulife Medical Director

 Learn more

Build a workplace environment that supports mental well-being

Supporting mental health at every age

Which mental health professional is the right provider?

 

Mental Fitness: Can getting proactive reduce the risk of mental illness?

Short-term disability leaves for mental illness cost $18,000 on average.5 But what if we could help people prevent absences due to mental illness?

Learn more

 

An always-on approach to mental health programming

At any given time, in every organization, people are dealing with a range of issues. Some of those people will be grappling with their mental health: depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, addiction, substance abuse and others. Is your plan meeting their needs?

Download our report on mental health programming

Personalized Medicine: Getting you more for your money

There are many safe and effective medications used to treat mental health conditions but getting on the right medication can be a trial-and-error process.

These prescriptions typically take four to six weeks to start working. The first drug may not be the best fit for a member, and we’ve seen members go 14 months without optimal treatment.6

Manulife’s Personalized Medicine program can help get members on the right mental health medication quicker to help prevent productivity loss and ineffective drug spend.

Learn more

Holistic mental health: Benefits of covering counselling and medication

A roadmap for better mental health prescriptions. A young man’s journey to recovery

“Personalized Medicine literally saved my son’s life and brought him back to us.”

Lynn Oliver
Manulife employee

 Read the full article

Employee guidance: Managing wellness in an era of inflation

Share our “Wellness on a budget” article series with your plan members. We can’t control the economy or the rising cost of living, but there are ways to maintain health, wellness, and nutrition during tough economic times.

Yes, you can eat well for less

While you may feel powerless against rising prices, there are things you can do to take control of your food costs and still eat healthy.

January 27, 2023
Education and Wellness

Living your best life costs less than you think

There are lots of things you can do to live your best life. And the good news, it can cost less than you think.

February 09, 2023
Education and Wellness

3 easy ways to build muscle, not debt

Is the high cost of living making you rethink your gym membership? Here are 3 easy ways to exercise and stay in shape that are free, or almost free.

February 23, 2023
Managing your Group Benefits plan

Living your best life: clear out the cobwebs, spring is in the air

Living your best life means different things to different people, but many of us feel a little better when we have room, space, and time to breathe, relax, and recharge. Share this series of articles with your plan members to remind them how often less is more when it comes to clutter, stress, and demands on our time.

March 16, 2023
Education and Wellness

Summertime – the living is easy. Here’s how it can be low cost, too!

Here are some ideas to help you save money on this year’s vacation.

May 11, 2023
Education and Wellness

Living your best life: learn how to be mindful, not mind full

Living your best life means different things to different people, but many of us feel a little better when we have room, space, and time to breathe, relax, and recharge.

June 06, 2023
Education and Wellness

1 Manulife Group Benefits Aggregate Data: Canadians (18-34) on long-term disability for mental illness have increased 22% since 2019; Canadians (18-34) submitting claims for mental health reasons has increased 27% since 2021

2 Manulife’s 2022 Wellness Report, results of an online survey of plan sponsors and their employees: 47 participating Manulife group sponsors and 4,921 employees responded to the surveys conducted in February, May, and October 2022.

3 Employers enhancing mental-health benefits over next three years, finds survey | Benefits Canada.com, 2021.

4 Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Adults with Major Depressive Disorder, Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT), 2016 and Canadian Psychology Association, 2022.

5 Dewa CS, Chau N, Dermer S. Examining the comparative incidence and costs of physical and mental health-related disabilities in an employed population. J Occup Environ Med. 2010 Jul;52(7):758-62. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181e8cfb5. PMID: 20595909.

6 Manulife Drug Data, 2021.