TORONTO, O.N., October 9, 2015 –Although more than half of Canada’s largest financial sector firms have a published policy that prohibits harassment or bullying at work, investors have little information or assurance that they are adopting a more comprehensive approach to protecting mental health at work, according to a new report on mental health and the financial sector in Canada.
In advance of World Mental Health Day on October 10, the Shareholder Association for Research & Education (SHARE), a responsible investment advisor to Canadian institutional investors, issued the report, “Psychological Health and Safety and the Canadian Financial Sector.”
“Strong management of health and safety in the workplace can have short-term and long-term positive impacts on operational and therefore financial performance,” the report says. “For investors, that means attention to corporate mental health policies and practices can help drive long term shareholder value.”
“Better reporting on the management of psychological health and safety is also a way of opening up the conversation further and reducing the stigma attached to mental health in the workplace,” says one of report’s authors, Kevin Thomas, Director of Shareholder Engagement at SHARE. “We’ve had excellent leadership on mental health issues from a number of Canadian businesses, but the issue is still overlooked in most companies’ public reporting. Investors need to ask how companies manage human capital, and companies need to talk about it.”
