'It's been a tough year - employees are calling for more mental wellbeing support'
As a family run business, cultivating personal connections is close to Brock Health’s heart. Specialising in private health services plans (PHSP), more popularly known as health spending accounts, they’re a leader in personalized insurance plans – something Fiona Wahl believes gives employers and employees some much needed flexibility.
“PHSPs aren’t like traditional insurance plans,” Wahl told HRD. “They allow companies to pay for employees’ medical expenses and claim it as a business expense. It’s an alternative employee benefit plan, as opposed to traditional policies. Our goal is to provide excellent customer service in an industry that's known for being very far removed from people.”
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PHSPs allow employees to take charge of their own wellbeing – giving them the flexibility to choose how they spend their coverage. As opposed to traditional insurance plans, which dictate and allocate budgets, workers can select how they spend their own allotment. This flexibility has been embraced by many employers, who’ve seen a rising demand for mental health services since the pandemic.
“It’s been a tough year,” added Wahl. “Employees are calling for more mental wellbeing support. With PHSPs, employees can choose to see a counsellor as many times as they like, rather than being told that they only have a certain budget for mental health. Their allotted dollar amount can cover flexibly what they need.”
And it seems like the ideal solution to the ongoing mental health crisis. In Canada, one in five employees suffered with ailing mental health last year – currently, 54% of workers are feeling depressed, with 29% suffering from ‘clinical’ depression. In the face of such startling data, it’s high time employers look for benefits plans which will authentically support their people – not ‘one-size-fits-all’ packages.
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As for Brock Health, they’ve adjusted their plans since the pandemic when they realised that workers were calling out for psychological wellbeing support.
“We had a lot of clients realise that their employees we’re going to be working from home, and that they might need some increased mental health support,” added Wahl. “As such, they increased coverage in the middle of the year – with our flexible plans all they had to do was make a phone call to us.”
As we move on into 2022, support for mental health should be high on the organizational agenda. If your current benefits plan isn’t up to par – if it’s being wasted on nonsensical perks – take a step back and consider what will really help your people thrive in the year to come.
