{"id":18340,"date":"2020-05-11T09:30:22","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T13:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benefitscanada.com\/news\/sick-leave-accommodation-mental-health-considerations-for-a-post-pandemic-return-to-work-145937"},"modified":"2020-05-11T09:30:22","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T13:30:22","slug":"sick-leave-accommodation-mental-health-considerations-for-a-post-pandemic-return-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2020\/05\/11\/sick-leave-accommodation-mental-health-considerations-for-a-post-pandemic-return-to-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Sick leave, accommodation, mental-health considerations for a post-pandemic return to work"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kelsey Rolfe<\/span> | May 11, 2020 <\/p>\n

As provincial governments start to lay out their plans for slowly reopening the economy, employers have a unique return-to-work scenario to handle.<\/p>\n

Appropriate sick leave and accommodation policies will be key pieces of the new normal, said Alex Boucher, principal and total health management leader at Mercer Canada, during a webinar on Friday.<\/p>\n

A second and possibly further waves of the pandemic are expected, so employers will need to have plans in place for situations where employees feel ill or have virus-like symptoms, he said. These include addressing questions around how long employees should isolate before it\u2019s safe to return to work, whether asymptomatic employees who\u2019ve come into contact with a coronavirus case should isolate and how long employees are paid or unpaid on virus-related sick leaves. Employers may also be required to consider how to handle an employee who lives with a frontline health-care worker and has the potential to be repeatedly exposed to the virus.<\/p>\n

Read: A refresher on Canada\u2019s leave policies as coronavirus escalates<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Older employees and those with chronic conditions may be particularly concerned about returning to work, noted Boucher, as well as staffers caring for children or an elderly or at-risk family member. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have an accommodation practice with clear steps to address accommodation fairly, investigate the situation, dictate timelines and support employees \u2014 it\u2019s going to be more important now than it ever has been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going forward, companies will also have to think more carefully about workplace health and safety policies, he added. If those plans include implementing screening or monitoring employees for the virus, employers will have to be aware of the rules that govern the management and collection of medical information and the responsibilities they assume by making decisions for employees based on that information.<\/p>\n

Exposure-management plans will also be necessary for a post-lockdown return to work, noted Boucher. \u201cThere are likely to be pockets of outbreaks that will continue until the vaccine has been widely distributed across the country. If your workplace or employees are exposed . . . what is your communication [plan]? What is your exposure management? How will you contain them and how can you continue to operate? The time to review and revisit policies and practices is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read: Considerations around employee safety, privacy, leave during the coronavirus crisis<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Employers will also have to consider more than just their physical workspaces. People returning to work will be facing a variety of new stressors and that\u2019s expected to have an impact on the benefits plan. \u201cBringing people back into a new environment in uncertain times is an additional stressor,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a result, it comes with a duty of care. You have to create a healthy workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

While employee mental-health expenses typically make up three per cent of an employer\u2019s payroll, that\u2019s expected to grow substantially this year, said Suresh Moorthy, national product leader at Mercer Canada, also speaking during the webinar. \u201cBased on some of the ideas we\u2019ve seen and some of the modelling we\u2019ve done so far, we expect that [number] to rise by 10 to 15 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Increased costs can come from additional time away from the office, longer durations of disability leave, the increased use of paramedical practitioners and different types of medications, he noted. \u201cYear over year, we\u2019re actually seeing an increasing drug usage for depression and anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read: Webinar: Coronavirus and workplace mental health<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The best way employers can prepare is by making sure employees can address their mental-health concerns preventatively with access to resources and advanced care if necessary. Boucher also suggested that companies consider manager training on early warning signs of mental-health challenges, building empathy skills and, for teams that continue some form of remote work, remote management skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis situation has brought to light that prevention, health, being well and having those all those tools for access to medical care and access to mental-health supports and financial well-being are important,\u201d he said. \u201cThat will continue into the future. It\u2019s essential that well-being and prevention is part of your future strategic planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelsey Rolfe | May 11, 2020 As provincial governments start to lay out their plans for slowly reopening the economy, employers have a unique return-to-work scenario to handle. Appropriate sick leave and accommodation policies will be key pieces...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}