Are Canadian P&C employees delaying action on mental health?

When it comes to addressing mental health concerns, those working in Canada’s property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry have a tendency to just stay at their desks, findings suggest in Canadian Underwriter’s 2025 Workplace Mental Health survey.

Asked how many days they’d taken off to address a mental health concern (either theirs or someone else’s), 54% said ‘none.’

That’s down from 58% giving the same answer in 2024’s survey.

Related: Can P&C workplace stress lead to physical manifestations?

Another 13% say they took ‘up to one day,’ statistically consistent with 14% in 2024. And 20% of 2025 respondents say they’ve taken off two to three days, up from 16% in 2024. Only 6% of those responding in 2025 say they took four or five days, and 8% say more than five days. Those percentages are statistically consistent with 2024’s results.

Brokers in sales roles are least likely to take time off (60%), followed by underwriters at insurance companies (51%), and those working in claims (46%).

That said, 14% of claims professionals in the survey report they have taken four or five days off to deal with a mental health concern (either their own or someone else’s). That’s in line with the 14% of administrators, or those doing operations work within insurance companies, who said the same.

Keeping quiet

The findings are consistent with CU’s inaugural mental health study in 2024: P&C insurance professionals continue to express reluctance to confide in their managers about mental health concerns, with 48% saying they’re either uncomfortable or very uncomfortable discussing their mental health with leaders in their organizations. The primary reason? Fear of stigma or even retribution.

Several industry employees call such discussions a barrier to promotion. More junior managers say they fear openness can make them appear weak. “They claim to understand, however their behaviours post-conversation strongly suggest otherwise,” says a verbatim response from a respondent who’s newer to the industry.

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

In that light, it’s not surprising 85% of P&C employees say they’ve never taken an extended leave of absence (either short or long-term disability) to deal their own or someone else’s mental health needs.

Of those who have, 24% indicate they work in claims at an insurance company, followed by brokerage workers in sales (16%) and insurance firm employees working as underwriters (15%). In terms of organizational roles, those in customer-facing roles are most likely (24%) to have taken a leave of absence for mental health reasons.

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.

Why innovative customer experience will define the future of personal auto insurance Image

Insights Paid Content

Why innovative customer experience will define the future of personal auto insurance

Technology is helping insurers reimagine how they support personal auto customers — and it starts the moment a collision is reported, say experts at Accident Support Services International.

By 

Sponsor Image

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.