The Psychologically Safe Leaders Assessment
The Psychologically Safe Leader survey is a collaboration with Workplace Strategies for Mental Health, compliments of Canada Life, and Mental Health Research Canada to assess self-perception among managers on the management of workplace mental health.
Our second report compares these results with employee’s perceptions of how their leaders support mental health in the workplace.
Our manager’s online survey was conducted among a sample of 1,257 adult Canadians who are employed and who are directly responsible for managing other people in their current role.
Our non-manager’s online survey was conducted among a sample of 1,600 adult Canadian who are employed and who are not directly responsible for managing other people in their current role.
Key Findings:
Overall, people leaders in Canada feel they are doing a good job in supporting the mental health and wellness of their team members. This is relatively consistent across industry sectors and provinces. Older leaders and women rated themselves slightly higher than younger and male leaders.
Leadership is more difficult due to the pandemic. 43% of people leaders indicate their roles are harder now, 53% say it’s about the same, and only 4% say it has gotten easier. Those working on-site are more likely to say their leadership roles have gotten harder.
The areas that leaders found most challenging in supporting employees are:
discussing employee goals,
addressing fears in relation to information that must be kept confidential,
dealing with employee’s emotional reactions in times of stress for leaders and employees,
developing employees’ interpersonal skills in addition to technical skills.
While almost two thirds (67%) of employees agree that their leader effectively supports their mental health, the report shows there are a few key areas where employees feel their leaders are lacking:
Only 25% indicate their leader supports and encourages work/life balance
Only 27% say their leader requires them to take their required breaks and time off
Only 21% felt appreciated by their leader
Only 15% say their leader helps them manage their workload demands
Only 20% indicate their leader always communicates changes that may impact their work