Should Canada’s P&C firms bolster mental health supports?

P&C industry employees responding to Canadian Underwriter’s annual Mental Health Survey say company resources designed to help with mental health challenges sometimes fall short.

Twenty-eight percent responding to our 2025 survey cite a lack of company support, a feeling that employees are viewed as expendable, and a lack of trust in human resource functions. A further 27% fear negative career consequences — including firing — if they access mental health supports.

Just over a third (36%) of 2025 respondents say they’ve sought out workplace mental health resources at some point during their employment — a tick below 37% last year. And 64% say they never have (compared to 63% in 2024). There is little variation in numbers between younger or older industry employees, or job type.

Conducted in August, Canadian Underwriter’s annual mental health survey collected 532 responses from property and casualty insurance professionals representing a wide spectrum of the industry — including insurers, brokers, claims adjusters and risk management professionals.

When asked if it is either important or very important to them that their employers actively support mental wellness, a full 91% of survey respondents say ‘yes.’ Just 6% are neutral on the issue and 2% call it unimportant. There is no comparative data from our 2024 research, as this question was new to the 2025 survey.

Related: How companies can improve mental health in the workplace

In a verbatim response, a broker who’s newer to the business says “better benefits coverage for therapy [and] allowing time off during the day for health-related appointments without having to use vacation time, [and] training staff on how to create healthy boundaries with clients and colleagues.”

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In assessing the mental health resources available to them at their firms, 31% of respondents say they’re high or extremely high quality. Another 41% give a neutral rating, and 17% categorize them as low or extremely low quality. Newer industry employees (22%) most often give low ratings, as do people in customer-facing positions industry-wide (24%) and those in brokerage sales (23%).

One survey respondent raises concerns about employee assistance programs (EAP), which some firms offer. They note the EAPs’ emphasis on ‘quick fixes’ aren’t appropriate for issues as complex as mental health.

“That needs to change,” they say. “Leadership needs to treat employees as people…and not be ‘all about the work.’ The work always gets done in the end.”

Another respondent writes in the survey, “[The] cost of seeing a counsellor is prohibitive for more than one or two sessions and not covered by insurance.”

In recognition of World Mental Health Day on Friday, Oct. 10, Canadian Underwriter reminds those experiencing acute symptoms to call 988.

This article is excerpted from one that appeared in the October-November, 2025 print edition of Canadian Underwriter.

Phil Porado

Phil, an award-winning journalist with over 30 years of experience in financial topics, has been managing editor of Canadian Underwriter for more than three years.