Can P&C workplaces manage mental health distractions?

If P&C professionals doubt the impact mental health issues have on the workplace, a few statistics from Canadian Underwriter’s 2025 Mental Health Survey will provide serious food for thought.

Forty-eight percent of 2025 survey respondents say they are distracted at work once or twice a week due to either their own mental health concerns, or those of others. That’s up from 46% who gave the same answer last year.

And another 23% say they’re distracted by mental health concerns multiple times a day, up from 19% in 2024. A further 12% say there’s at least one distraction per day (tied with last year) and 2% say they’re distracted for ‘most of the day’ (up narrowly from 1% in 2024). Only 16% of respondents indicate they’re never distracted by mental health concerns — that’s down from 21% in the 2024 survey.

Things are most acute among those with 10 or fewer years of experience, with 3% saying mental health issues distract them from work for most of the day, compared with 2% for industry veterans with 20 or more years of experience and 1% for mid-career professionals with 11-to-20 years of experience.

Meanwhile, multiple daily distractions due to mental health concerns are most common (29%) for those at mid-career and less likely (20%) for industry vets and newer employees (19%). Likewise, 16% of newer industry employees, 12% of those at mid-career and 9% of veterans, say mental health related distractions happen at least once per day.

As for industry segment, those working in claims are most likely (30%) to face distractions from mental health concerns multiple times a day, compared with 29% in underwriting, 23% in sales, and 21% in brokerage administration or operations.

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Those in brokerage administration or operations are also most likely (51%) to face mental health distractions once or twice a week, compared to 49% for those in brokerage sales, 43% in insurer administration or operations, 41% of claims workers and 39% of people in underwriting.

One statistic sheds some light on these high rates of workplace distraction — 73% of survey respondents say they spend zero hours during the week consulting mental health resources, for either themselves or someone else. Another 21% say they spend one hour per week availing themselves of mental health services, and 6% say they spend two-to-five hours. Those statistics are largely consistent with data seen in 2024’s survey.

Verbatim comments from survey respondents show dissatisfaction with both the quality of mental health support companies provide and the time available to access them. One mid-career respondent implores firms to provide “appropriate time off to deal with mental health, offer weekly [work from home] days [and provide] more personal days to recoup from the stresses of work.”

And a broker who’s newer to the business suggests firms adopt scheduled quiet times to ensure people can finish tasks without interruption, as well as better benefits coverage for therapy and time off for health-related appointments.

Finally, an older worker in underwriting says, “All these resources seem to be geared to younger people. I’m in the older age category and I don’t see any resources geared toward my age group.”

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

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.