YOU'RE STRESSED, SKIPPING CARE AND IT COULD COST YOU — 67% OF CANADIANS USE BENEFITS, FEW ARE SATISFIED

More than a third of Canadians say their financial health got worse over the past year, and it isn’t happening on its own — mental health, physical health and sleep are all sliding, too. That’s according to new research from Léger, commissioned by virtual healthcare provider Dialogue Health Technologies Inc.

The survey, which polled 1,002 Canadian employees and 200 HR decision-makers, points to a pattern many working Canadians will recognize: pressure builds on several fronts at once, then shows up at work as burnout, lost productivity or, eventually, a bigger bill.

Here’s the part that should worry Canadians who assume their workplace benefits already have them covered — 67% of employees with health benefits used them in the past year, but only 20% said they were very satisfied with the experience. For a lot of Canadians, the coverage exists. Using it well is the harder part.

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What’s actually declining, and how fast

Compared with 2025, more Canadians say things are getting worse, not better:

• 35% say their mental health has worsened, up from 30%
• 30% say their physical health has worsened, up from 21%
• 38% say their sleep quality has worsened, up from 26%
• 35% say their financial health has worsened, up from 29%

Only 21% of employees feel energized and motivated most days, and 1 in 2 report some level of burnout. Nearly three-quarters (74%) say they’ve worked at reduced capacity because of health or stress challenges in the past year.

That’s not just a workplace problem. Reduced capacity at work can mean fewer hours, missed overtime or a harder case for a raise or promotion — all of which feed back into the same financial health numbers that are already declining.

Why having a benefits plan doesn’t mean you’re covered

The gap between having a plan and getting value from it is what researchers call access friction — long wait times, cost and confusing navigation push Canadians to delay or avoid care altogether, which then shows up as absenteeism or presenteeism instead.

“Employees are facing pressures on multiple fronts, and it’s showing up in how they function at work,” Dr. Robin, Medical Director at Dialogue said in a statement. “The problem is that by the time a health issue becomes a missed workday or a disability claim, it’s often been building for months.”

In practice, that means a Canadian dealing with a stressful few months at work may be sitting on a benefit that could help — a counselling session, a paramedical visit, a financial coaching call — but never gets around to using it because booking, cost-sharing or simply finding the right program feels like one more task.

Read more: 3 essential money moves to make once you’ve saved $50,000

The financial-wellness gap in your benefits package

Employers know engagement and retention are tied to how well their people are doing, yet the report found the programs that address everyday pressures — financial stress, weight management and caregiving — are among the least commonly offered. And only 31% of HR leaders say they get regular, useful data from their benefits providers, making it hard to know what’s working.

“What really stands out is how complex it can be to translate employee needs into the right mix of support,” Taline Karagopian, Human Resources Advisor at Léger, said in a statement. “Needs can vary considerably from one employee to another and evolve over time.”

For Canadians, that translates into a practical risk: a benefits plan built for a general employee, not for the specific pressure you’re actually under this year, whether that’s caregiving costs, debt stress or a health issue that’s draining your savings.

What Canadians can do now

Since most benefit dollars go unused rather than overspent, treating a workplace plan like an active account — not a set-and-forget perk — is the more useful mindset:

• Log into your benefits portal and check for categories you’ve never used, such as an employee and family assistance program (EFAP), financial counselling or mental health sessions
• Ask HR directly whether a financial wellness or coaching benefit exists — many employees don’t realize one does until they ask
• Use virtual or triage-based care options where available to cut wait times, since delayed care is often what turns a manageable issue into missed work or a bigger expense
• Track what resets each January, since unused counselling sessions, paramedical dollars and similar allowances are typically lost, not carried forward
• If money stress is the main driver, start with the EFAP’s financial counselling line before paying for outside advice — it’s often free and already included

Canadians don’t need a bigger benefits plan to get more value out of one. They need to know what’s already in it, and use it before pressure on one front — money, health or sleep — starts pulling down the others. That’s the real cost of a benefit nobody gets around to using.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

2026-09-01T18:08:15Z