Canadian employee well-being continues to decline as employers struggle to measure and improve outcomes

New Leger report finds rising burnout, worsening mental, physical and financial health and limited visibility into the impact of employee benefits programs.

MONTREAL, Aug. 31, 2026 /CNW/ -- A new report from Leger, commissioned by Dialogue Health Technologies Inc. ("Dialogue"), Canada's leading virtual healthcare and wellness platform, reveals that Canadian employees feel their overall well-being continues to decline, while employers say they don't have the proper tools and insights to respond effectively.

Dialogue X Leger

Dialogue's annual State of Workplace Well-Being report, developed in partnership with Leger, shows that factors like mental and physical health, sleep and financial health have all declined compared to 2025. According to the report, 35% of Canadians say their mental health has worsened, up from 30% last year, while 30% say their physical health has declined, up from 21%. More than one-third (38%) report their sleep quality has worsened, compared with 26% in 2025, and 35% say their financial health has worsened, up from 29% last year.

The report, which surveyed 1,002 employees and 200 HR decision-makers across Canada, shows that this decrease in well-being is impacting how Canadians are showing up in the workplace. Only 21% of employees feel energized and motivated most days, while 1 in 2 are experiencing some level of burnout. This contributes to reduced productivity as 74% of employees report working at reduced capacity due to health or stress challenges in the past year.

"Employees are facing pressures on multiple fronts, and it's showing up in how they function at work. Nearly three-quarters told us they've worked at reduced capacity this year. 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," said Dr. Robin, Medical Director at Dialogue. "The real opportunity is to provide support earlier, when issues are easier to address, and outcomes can be improved. That requires care that is easy to access, clinically grounded, and continuous rather than one-time interactions that leave people to manage the next steps on their own."

While employers understand that employee well-being is closely tied to productivity, engagement and retention, many struggle to ensure employees get the support they need and to measure the impact of the benefits they provide. The report identifies three key challenges:

• Access friction: Among employees with workplace health benefits, 67% used them in the last year, but only 20% were very satisfied. Long wait times, cost, and navigation challenges drive employees to delay or avoid care, showing up instead as presenteeism and absenteeism.
• Portfolio mismatch: HR leaders rank engagement and retention as top priorities, yet the programs that address daily employee pressures, including financial stress, weight management, and caregiving, are the least commonly offered.
• Measurement gap: Only 31% of HR leaders receive regular, actionable insights from their providers, making it nearly impossible to prove Return On Investment (ROI) or build a business case for benefits.

"The year-over-year decline we're seeing across several dimensions of employee well-being is significant, and honestly, also quite concerning. And seeing just how interconnected all of these pressures are, while not a huge surprise, is eye-opening in how very interwoven these things are. Employees, people, really, can face pressures on all fronts, mental, physical and financial, that carry over into the workplace, where other pressures usually exist as well, making for quite the interplay of forces shaping how people feel, function and show up at work. For employers, understanding where employees are struggling, and not just at work, is such an important and human first step toward responding effectively and truly helping," said Luc Dumont, Senior Vice-President at Léger.

"From an HR perspective, what really stands out is how complex it can be to translate employee needs into the right mix of support. Many employers are already investing in a wide range of benefits and resources, but more doesn't necessarily mean better, and needs can vary considerably from one employee to another and evolve over time. The more we understand what employees are experiencing, how they engage with available supports and what they find most helpful, the better positioned organizations are to make informed decisions that are both practical for the business and meaningful for their people," added Taline Karagopian, Human Resources Advisor at Léger. 

Access, portfolio fit, and measurement are not three separate problems, rather they are symptoms of the same one: benefits built on individual programs rather than a connected system of care. The path forward is to move from offering benefits to delivering integrated care: one entry point, fast triage, and support that spans physical health, mental health, prevention, nutrition, and financial well-being. Paired with reporting that connects health outcomes to business results, this allows employers to both improve employee health and prove it.

The full report is available here.

About Dialogue 

Dialogue is Canada's leading virtual healthcare and wellness provider, providing timely, on-demand access to quality care. Through its team of in-house health professionals, it serves employers and organizations who prioritize the health and well-being of their employees, members, and their families. Dialogue's Integrated Health Platform is a one-stop healthcare hub that centralizes all programs in a single, user-friendly application, providing access to services 24 hours per day, 365 days per year from the convenience of a smartphone, computer, or tablet. Dialogue is the first and only virtual care provider to receive Accreditation with Exemplary Standing from Accreditation Canada, a third-party validation of the highest levels of safety, quality, and member experience. In October 2023, Sun Life acquired Dialogue, which now operates as a standalone entity as part of Sun Life Canada. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.dialogue.co. 

About Leger

Leger is Canada's largest Canadian-owned polling, market research, and analytics firm, with more than 300 employees across Canada and the United States. Founded in 1986, Leger also owns LEO, its online research panel, and LEA, its analytics division. For more information, visit leger360.com.

SOURCE Dialogue Health Technologies Inc.

For further information: Katherine Hackett, Specialist, Public Policy and Communications, [email protected], 819-574-3503