One in three Canadian workers remains at high mental health risk, with younger employees driving a worsening trend
Canadian workers have normalized at a mental health state that experts describe as “near crisis,” with the country’s overall Mental Health Index score holding at 63.1 in the first quarter of 2026, unchanged from September 2025 and well below pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest TELUS Health Mental Health Index report.
The report, based on an online survey of 3,000 employed Canadians conducted between February 25 and March 9, 2026, found that 34 per cent of workers now fall into the high mental health risk category – more than double the 14 per cent recorded in 2017–2019. Before the pandemic, that figure sat at 14 per cent.
“We have normalized at a state that we would consider near crisis, with over one third of the Canadian working population being high risk,” said Paula Allen, global leader of research and insights at TELUS Health. “We never recovered. We never got even close to where we were before. As a matter of fact, the trend line is actually getting a bit worse.”
Younger workers driving the risk
Allen identified younger cohorts as the primary force behind the deteriorating trend, noting that elevated risk levels are no longer resolving as workers age into their late 20s and 30s as they once did. Workers aged 20–29 recorded a Mental Health Index score of 54.4 in February 2026, the lowest of any age group. Workers aged 60–69, by contrast, scored 71.4.
“The pace of change is itself a destabilizer in terms of mental health. It increases lack of predictability, which the human mind really does not like,” Allen said. “We have a comparison culture in a way that we have not had before, exposed to us in such a technologically efficient way that it tends to be top of mind much more.”
The trend is also global. TELUS Health tracks mental health across Europe, Asia, Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and Allen said the pattern of increasing risk, particularly among younger cohorts, is consistent across regions.
Among the report’s key indicators: 35 per cent of workers feel anxious, 32 per cent feel isolated, 32 per cent lack emergency savings to cover basic needs, and 31 per cent say their mental health is negatively affecting their work productivity. Anxiety has been the lowest-scoring Mental Health Index sub-score for nearly four years, sitting at 55.5 in the first quarter of 2026.
Workplace culture and employer action
The report draws a direct line between supportive workplace culture and productivity. Workers who believe their organisation’s culture supports their wellbeing lose an average of 31.3 workdays per year to productivity loss, compared to 59.3 days for those who do not. Only 60 per cent of workers describe their workplace culture as supportive.
Allen called on employers to move beyond reactive responses and treat psychosocial health and safety with the same rigour applied to physical safety. She pointed to countries including Japan, Mexico, and Australia that have legislated psychosocial health and safety requirements in the workplace.
“Just because you don’t assess doesn’t absolve you from responsibility for unmanaged risk,” Allen said. “We don’t think about the day to day: how we manage change, how we design jobs, how we communicate. And this is going to be much more of an issue as we’re going through rapid change right now with new technologies.”
AI adoption adds to the pressure
The report also examined artificial intelligence adoption in the workplace. Four in 10 workers say their employer encourages the use of AI tools, while 47 per cent report using AI at least several times per month. More than half, 56 per cent, of those using AI say it has improved their efficiency.
Allen said she is an advocate for AI but cautioned that its rapid introduction carries mental health implications of its own. “Even if these tools and technology were completely benign in every respect, the rapid pace of their use and introduction is itself a risk factor,” she said. “Organizations need to communicate, structure, and be clear on their thinking, and help employees absorb this rapid pace of change and make it feel less random and less threatening.”
Workers whose employers discourage AI use scored 55.0 on the Mental Health Index, nearly eight points below the national average of 63.1.
Without intentional action from individuals, leaders, and organisations, Allen warned the proportion of high-risk workers could climb to 40–42 per cent within two years. “We don’t have to continue down this path,” she said. “We have to be more intentional as individuals and as organisations.”
