January 25 marked Bell Let’s Talk day, a day many social media users may be familiar with. There is often a plethora of posts supporting mental health initiatives using the Bell Canada’s hashtag #BellLetsTalk.
For this year’s Bell Let’s Talk day, Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, wrote to Bell asking they turn the conversation towards themselves.
“Workers at Bell, across all units, experience workplace stress, mental health and illness, and workplace culture in vastly different ways,” reads a letter signed by Unifor National President Lana Payne, National Secretary-Treasurer Len Poirier and Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier.
The letter states that Unifor is “deeply connected” to Bell workers and other telecommunications workers. They said the 17,500 Unifor members work for Bell Canada or one of its subsidiaries.
“For these members, workplace stress and other elements that are within Bell’s control such as job security, management practices and disciplinary procedures have been primary bargaining priorities for many years,” the letter reads.
Mental health cannot be addressed through ad campaigns
Unifor said they want Bell Canada to collect data on mental health within their workplaces and set out a plan to improve mental wellness.
“The impact of mental illness on the job security and quality of so many Canadian worker’s lives cannot be addressed through advertising campaigns,” the union wrote.
Bell Canada is not the only workplace that needs to address worker mental wellbeing. A report released last year by Mental Health Research Canada shows that one third of Canadians are feeling burnt out at work.
Younger workers are feeling the stress most acutely, with 41 per cent of workers aged 18-34 experiencing burnout. As well, only 51 percent of workers feel the amount of work they are expected to do is often reasonable. Meaning almost half of workers who responded to the survey did not share this opinion.
Amidst high levels of burnout and stress among workers, there have been calls for governments to legislate coverage and support for people who suffer psychological injuries at work.
For the Manitoba Federation of Labour (MFL), discussions around supporting those whose mental health suffers due to work has just begun. In December, they called on the provincial government to expand Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba coverage to those who suffer mental health injuries at work.
In Ontario, workers are eligible for support from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) if you have experienced a mental stress injury that can be shown to have resulted either from a traumatic incident or series of incidents at work that are substantial stressors
However, the WSIB wrote on their website that they generally cannot provide benefits or services for mental stress caused by an employer’s management decisions or actions. These are the actions that affect job demands.
WorkSafeBC also offers benefits to those who suffer a psychological injury at work in B.C. However, workload and changes in working conditions are not covered.
MFL President Kevin Rebeck said that coverage for injured workers will help those who are suffering and that is why he is pushing for Manitoba to follow B.C. and Ontario’s example. However, there is another step that employers and governments must take. That step is prevention.
Prevention of work-related mental illness is possible
Protecting mental wellbeing in the workplace is not impossible. In 2013, the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace was launched. This standard lays out clear steps for workplaces to maintain wellbeing.
The National Standard explains that risks to mental health are more likely to arise in situations where job demands consistently exceed worker skill levels or exploit them beyond what would be considered reasonable.
“Employers aren’t providing adequate staffing levels,” Rebeck said in an interview with rabble.ca. “They’ve piled additional duties on top of workers. They’re asking them to do things that they haven’t had to do before. There isn’t proper training or support… All of these things are contributing factors that lead to people getting mental health injuries at work.”
Many employers have not implemented the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, according to Rebeck. He said that doing so can help push forward prevention efforts related to mental health issues.
“It’s something that we hope more employers will adopt and make sure that they’re living up to,” Rebeck said. “It’s something we’ve been pushing the government to make sure we implement across the public sector as a whole. We’re hopeful that by example, they can then help push it out to the private sector as well.”
Raising awareness about mental health can be beneficial, but the dialogue surrounding mental health has changed since Bell Let’s Talk day launched in 2010. As Unifor said, advertising campaigns are not the way to address workplace mental wellbeing. Mental wellbeing efforts will only go so far when motivated by corporate profit. Perhaps it is time for employers and governments to take action that prevents psychological injury and supports those who have already suffered harm.
“I think a smart employer or smart government realizes that it’s not an expense, it’s an investment,” Rebeck said. “Employers who adapt and create safer and healthier workplaces will recruit and retain good workers. For those that don’t, the opposite can happen.”
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Nick Seebruch, editor
