Mental health continues to seriously impact our friends, family, and colleagues. In this post-pandemic world, mental health issues are the leading cause of workplace disability claims. What’s more, these claims are the fastest growing type of claim that workplaces see.

Organizations can’t afford to ignore this trend. Yet business leaders often don’t know how to address it. After all, employees at risk for disability claims are unlikely to participate in a summer fitness challenge or an on-site meditation class.

From an organizational perspective, the goal is to reduce the duration of a disability leave or even eliminate it altogether. The optimal approach involves countering the disability risk with a wellbeing strategy. This strategy must support all employees – both those who are at risk of going out on disability and those who aren’t – and prioritizes the quality of the employee experience.

The connection between disability claims and wellbeing programs

• Fact: Roughly 1 in 10 Canadian workers are on disability at any given time.
• Fact: After one year of absence, only 20% will return to work.
• Fact: 1 in 3 Canadian workers would take a different job if it came with better mental health benefits.

What’s more, while many employers balk at the cost of a wellbeing program, the cost of disability claims is likely be much higher.

In fact, an integrated, strategic wellbeing program can have a huge impact on lessening disability claims. And while these programs can be a challenge to implement, they also build connections and trust within the organization that improves the employee experience and business outcomes.

Preventing problems before they start

While creating a new program from scratch can be daunting, a wellbeing strategy doesn’t have to be as complicated – or as expensive – as business leaders might think. It’s likely the organization already has a number of supports in place.

Get started with these four simple steps:

1. Prioritize the right goal. When considering return on investment (ROI), don’t forget to factor disability into the cost of benefits overall. Struggling employees need a level of support to overcome challenges. The right supports can actually keep employees off disability in the first place – a desirable outcome, given that a significant portion of disability claims will fall on the employer. Organizations that can keep their employees in the workplace will come out ahead every time.
2. Look for red flags. There are often warning signs when an employee is at risk. Fortunately, these signs are often visible in the workplace. Organizations that can take the time to pay attention to the details may be able to reach out to those at-risk employees before it’s too late. Some of these warning signs include a significant number of mental health claims, a tendency toward workplace accidents and overuse of medications.
3. Train the leadership. Often the data is there but no one was trained to recognize the warning signs. Train your leaders to recognize the red flags that indicate a struggle with mental health or a physical health issue. Educated people managers can be empowered to reach out to these employees to offer support or accommodation designed to keep people within the organization. Many times organizations offer supports that can facilitate navigating these challenges. Toolkits can help managers learn how to approach the situation and successfully reach out to a struggling employee.
4. Communicate effectively. Time and again, the biggest barrier to access is awareness. Struggling employees often have no idea what is available to them already. Business leaders should review their current offerings and consider other ways to get the information out to those who need it. This may mean offering the information in a different format (i.e., on-demand videos rather than a flyer) or even creating a mental health awareness day to bring attention to the issue in general. Normalizing reaching out for help can often make what’s already available even more accessible.

Laura Liden is a Client Strategist at top global insurance brokerage Hub International, leading work in the employee benefits space since 2014. Laura’s career started as a member of Benefits Consulting team, working with both small and complex clients from high tech to the municipal sector. Overtime her role transitioned to solely support clients in organizational health, and absence & disability management. She supported public and private clients with designing, implementing, and evaluating strategic health-related and disability programs to improve organizational and employee health and well-being, safety, performance, mitigate risk and enhance operational efficiency. Today, as HUB’s Client Strategist, Laura partners with Advisors to deliver an exceptional experience that is designed to make clients more successful in their strategy by being more knowledgeable of their people and making data informed decisions.