CSA Z1003 and building a program

The cost of psychological harm at work in Canada: numbers to bring to leadership

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The cost of mental health in the workplace in Canada is usually quoted from one national estimate: $48.7 billion a year, often cited as “at least $50 billion,” including more than $6 billion in lost productivity for business. Those figures rest on 2011 data, so pair them with newer Statistics Canada and WSIB numbers and, above all, with your own. This guide shows which numbers to bring to leadership, how to present them honestly, and how they lead into a psychological health and safety program built on CSA Z1003.

What mental health in the workplace costs Canada

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) report Making the Case for Investing in Mental Health in Canada summarizes a study by Risk Analytica that the Commission commissioned in 2010. Its key figures:

  • The study’s own estimate was $48.7 billion, or 2.8% of Canada’s 2011 gross domestic product. The report’s summary describes the cost as “at least $50 billion per year.”
  • Health care, social services and income support make up the biggest share. Business also lost “more than $6 billion in lost productivity (from absenteeism, presenteeism and turnover) in 2011.”
  • About 21.4% of the working-age population (20 to 64) was living with a mental health problem or illness in 2011.

The report calls its totals “likely an underestimate,” partly because some costs were outside the study’s scope. Its productivity figure used a conservative method that counts only the hours lost until another employee takes over. It cites another study that put the value of work loss closer to $18 billion.

Note. Quote these as “an MHCC-commissioned study, using 2011 data, estimated…” Do not present them as this year’s figures, and do not round them up.

Work-related stress and lost days: the 2023 survey

Statistics Canada asked workers aged 15 to 69 about stress in April 2023. Its release on work-related stress found:

  • Just over 4.1 million people, or 21.2% of all employed people, reported “high or very high” levels of work-related stress.
  • The most common causes were a heavy workload (23.7% of employed people) and balancing work and personal life (15.7%).
  • Health care and social assistance had the highest rate, at 27.3%.
  • 7.5% of employed people had taken time off because of stress or for mental health reasons in the previous 12 months. That came to 2.4 days lost on average across all employed people.

Statistics Canada’s newer Canadian Survey on Working Conditions, 2024-2025 measures exposure rather than stress. It found that 16.1% of workers frequently had to deal with angry or dissatisfied clients, patients or students (35.2% in health occupations), and 17.0% did unpaid work in their free time several times a month.

Workload management and balance are two of the 13 workplace factors in CSA Z1003, and CCOHS notes that when balance is lacking, costs can rise through “benefit payouts, absenteeism, disability, and turnover.” That link from hazard to cost is the heart of your case.

In Ontario: mental stress in WSIB premiums

The WSIB’s 2026 premium rate explanations name mental stress claims as the largest increase in claim costs for several classes, including Hospitals, Public Administration and parts of health care and social assistance. If your organization is in an affected class, say so. Our guide to WSIB chronic mental stress claims for employers explains how those claims are decided.

Build the case from your own numbers

National figures get attention. Your own data gets a decision. In the MHCC’s Case Study Research Project, more than 40 organizations implementing the Standard most often used employee assistance program use (73%), return-to-work and accommodation data (68%) and short- and long-term disability rates (66%). The same report lists “limited access to psychological health data” as a barrier, so start early.

  1. Gather 12 to 24 months of aggregate data. Absence days, disability claims and their causes (from your insurer, in summary form), EAP use by type of concern, WSIB mental stress claims, turnover in key roles, overtime, and harassment and violence incident counts.
  2. Protect privacy. Report only totals and trends. Leave out any group small enough that a person could be identified.
  3. Put a dollar figure where you can, and show the method. For example, a 250-person workplace could multiply its own stress-related absence days per employee by 250, then by its average daily wage cost. Use your own absence data: Statistics Canada’s 2.4 days is an average across all employed people for the 12 months before April 2023, not a benchmark for your workplace. State every assumption so finance can check it.
  4. Add one line of national context. Name the source and the year.
  5. Tie each number to a hazard. Rising overtime points to workload management. Repeat harassment complaints point to civility and respect. CSA Z1003, explained sets out how the Standard’s 13 factors work.
  6. Ask for one decision. For example, approval for a hazard assessment and a 90-day plan to build your program.
  7. Say what you will measure and when you will report back. See ways to measure whether your program is working.

Be careful with return-on-investment claims

Leaders will ask what they get back. The same MHCC report quotes an older UK estimate from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE): better management of workplace mental health could reduce productivity losses “by as much as 30%,” saving £250,607 ($397,713) a year in an organization of 1,000 employees. Present it as a UK estimate, not a promise for your workplace.

Money was also not the main reason organizations gave for acting. In the Case Study Research Project, 91% of organizations said implementing the Standard was the right thing to do, while 47% cited managing costs. Put cost, people and risk side by side.

The costs that do not fit a spreadsheet

Some harm cannot be priced. The Public Health Agency of Canada notes that suicide affects many people, including friends, family and co-workers. Suicide is a tragic outcome of many complex factors, and prevention is possible. If you are struggling, you are not alone, and help is available.

When you include suicide in a presentation, follow the agency’s Language Matters guidance: say “died by suicide,” speak of social and economic costs rather than a “burden,” and include where to get help. Do not describe any individual’s death, how it happened or where, even to make the case. If someone is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1. Anyone thinking about suicide can call or text 9-8-8, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Where training fits

Once leadership agrees, someone has to run the program. The Bedrock Minds Champion stream is for supervisors, HR, JHSC members and program leads. It covers finding hazards, building the plan and measuring results, and learners finish with a written 90-day plan for their own organization. The course is mapped to every normative clause of CSA Z1003, a voluntary standard. It builds the skills. It does not certify your organization’s conformance with the Standard.

Give your people a plan they have practised

Bedrock Minds combines online modules with one practical day where staff and leaders rehearse the conversations this article describes. Tell us about your team and we reply within one business day.

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This article is general information, not legal advice.

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