The Wellness Report survey results highlights key indicators to help organizations understand the overall health of their employees and how it impacts the organization’s health and its productivity. It’s a great tool to help plan sponsors get the data they need to measure the baseline of workplace wellness and act on what’s important for their organization.

“The new, and I think much more important, measure of your Group Benefits plan should be how well it helps your members attain and maintain their health.“ – Donna Carbell

In 2020, 70 Manulife groups sponsors participated to The Wellness Report and 7251 employees responded to the online surveys.

Workplace culture

A key differentiator of The Wellness Report is that, alongside the overall health indicators, it also looks at workplace culture and its impact on employees’ lifestyle choices.

The results suggest that creating a workplace environment and culture that promote and support healthy lifestyles can help improve employee’s overall health and positively impact productivity.

Among other things, 79% of respondents from top 3 organizations indicated their managers demonstrate healthy lifestyle choices in comparison to 59% from other organizations.

These top 3 organizations also reported a lower productivity loss due to health-related absences and presenteeism -- 10 days less in comparison to other participating organizations.

They also scored better for the Vitality Age gap. In comparison to the other organizations who have 80% of employees with a Vitality Age higher than their actual age; top 3 organizations have 74%.

The top 3 organizations are selected based on how they scored against a wide range of indicators. Their combined results give a good indication of where the healthiest organizations stand.

 

 

80% of employees have a Vitality AgeTM higher than their actual age.

 

 

10% of respondents are using marijuana (2% for medicinal purposes).

 

 

48% of people with 4 or more risk factors think they are in good or very good health.

 

 

#1 factor affecting employees sleep is work-related stress

  • 1/3 of employees get less than recommended 7 hours of sleep a night
  • 45% of people say their sleep is very poor to fair

 

 

40% are at risk due to low physical activity levels.

Research shows that even doing 120 minutes of at least moderate-intensity physical activity per week may reduce the risk of developing certain disease.

 

 

35% of employees are binge drinking at least once a month.

Consume 3 or more units of alcohol in one occasion for women, and 4 or more units in one occasion for men at least once a month.

 

 

Top 3 barriers for employees to adopt healthy choices:

  • lack of motivation (66%)
  • lack of time (50%)
  • work commitments (36%)


48% of employees are experiencing feelings of loneliness.

Numbers have peaked at 66% in the May survey.


56% of employees are experiencing at least one work-related mental health risk factor.

  • The top two factors are Balance and Involvement & Influence
  • According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, there are 13 factors that can impact the mental health of employees in the workplace


54% of employees worry about their financial situation.


1 in 4 said worrying about money distracts them at work.

Employees who are not comfortable discussing aspects of their health with their manager:

46%

Physical health

61%

Mental health

79%

Financial health

16% of working hours, which equates to 40.8 days per employee per year, lost due to health-related absences and presenteeism.

As a plan sponsor, you can be a true partner in your employees’ health and wellness.

You can also get these data for your organizations and see how you can help improve your employees’ health and the overall health of your organization.

Coming soon

70 Manulife group sponsors participated to The Wellness Report in 2020 and 7251 employees responded to the online surveys. The Wellness Report surveys were conducted in February, May and October 2020.