How the Pandemic Changed Our Approach to Well-Being at Work

Mental health: from stigma to priority

January 2023. We’ve now been navigating a rapidly changing work environment for almost three years. An evolution (or revolution?) accelerated by the pandemic; impacting our collective mental and physical health.?

While the shift to remote work is a prime example of this kind of transformation, there has been an equally growing need to address the well-being of our colleagues, the people who make up the lifeblood of our organization, in the face of tumultuous times. Mental health could no longer be taboo in the workplace. As an employer, we needed to be part of the solution, understand what practices worked well, where we needed to improve and adapt — fast.? And this was just the beginning.?

Two mental health days to address an unprecedented work situation

March 2020. We found ourselves confined to our homes almost overnight, grappling with many unanswered questions. The public broadcaster’s role as an essential service became more important than ever.

Working from home or at our stations, our staff stepped up their efforts to inform, enlighten and entertain Canadians. In the words of Sarah Turner , Executive Director, Total Rewards:

“Whether it was filing stories from a closet, braving the elements by shooting outdoors to maintain physical distancing or working through the early hours to make up for time spent homeschooling kids, these are just a few examples of what our work environment was like over the past few years. People just stepped in to make it seamless under extremely stressful conditions.”

It was those exceptional circumstances that prompted us to offer two paid mental-health days — in addition to our annual leave — so that employees could take time to step back and recharge.

It was an extraordinary measure to deal with extraordinary times.

Additional measures to take care of our people

As the pandemic dragged on, the mental health days were renewed for two more years in response to the pressure resulting from the COVID-19 waves. However, we also understand that mental health days alone, while a positive step in that context, are not the solution to any ongoing feelings of stress and burnout. We need to change the way we work in order to improve the overall employee experience on a more long-term basis. Consequently, our human resources team came up with other initiatives to help our colleagues succeed in difficult conditions, which include:

• Additional training sessions on well-being.
• A new mindfulness program.
• An extended offer to temporary staff and their families of our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services.
• Telemedicine services available to employees and their families.
• A temporary insurance coverage for social workers when psychologists were in short supply.
• Free access to online yoga and fitness courses during the lockdown period.

Although some of these measures may be temporary in nature, the broader awareness of the importance of well-being is here to stay.

Well-being is a priority

Promoting health in all its forms has become a key focus within the organization. It became instrumental for CBC/Radio-Canada as we aspire to be inclusive and a place where people can bring their best selves to work. That’s what allows us to fulfil our public broadcaster mandate and to improve ourselves, year after year.

Even as we write, our HR teams are hard at work on other well-being projects to continue to evolve the employee experience and remain a workplace where mental and physical health is not a stigma, but rather a priority.