What is Guarding Minds at Work?
Guarding Minds at Work (2009-2020) (Guarding Minds) helps assess and address psychosocial factors that impact psychological health and safety. It can also help address the impact on the financial bottom line. It was used as a reference for the National Standard of Canada on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. You can learn more about implementing the Standard and see how Guarding Minds is an important part of this process.
Guarding Minds is available to all employers – large or small, in the public or private sector – for free. You'll only have to consider the cost of time and effort to take action on the results.
Set yourself up for success: Read Using Guarding Minds at Work effectively before doing the survey.
Mental Health Research Canada provides an online dashboard to explore the results of their 2023 survey. of 5505 working Canadians. It surveyed 5505 working Canadians who used Guarding Minds at Work.
What tools are included?
Use these tools to measure and improve psychological health and safety at work:
- The employee survey. This 61-statement survey asks all employees about varied work situations. It then creates a detailed report that highlights the psychosocial factors, hazards and indicators of inclusion, stress and trauma. There are many tools and resources to help take action on the results.
- The organizational review. This survey asks the same questions as the employee survey but is for senior leadership. It's recommended to do this step before the employee survey to have the results available in the report for comparison.
- The stress satisfaction scan. This 6-question scan is ideal for teams who don’t have the resources to do the full employee survey. It will provide insight to the levels of stress and satisfaction at work. For more information, visit Understanding the Stress satisfaction scan.
- Many tools and resources to help you take action on your results and measure outcomes.
Sample reports
- Sample employee survey report (including organizational review comparison data). An example of the report generated after the surveys are complete.
- Sample segmented employee survey report. This version of the sample employee survey report shows how results can be divided by demographic.
- Sample stress satisfaction scan report | PDF. An example of the report generated if you used the stress satisfaction scan.
What time and resources do I need to implement Guarding Minds successfully?
Setting up the survey should take less than 30 minutes if you're familiar with your organization. The survey itself takes only 15 to 20 minutes for each employee to complete. When you’re ready to close the Guarding Minds employee survey and see the results, it can be done in 5 minutes.
Guarding Minds is designed to be efficient. But the work before and after completing the surveys is an ongoing time commitment. Psychological health and safety is not a single project. It is an ongoing process of continual improvement, and should be part of your annual strategic planning.
Why is it free?
In the early 2000s, the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health and Addiction challenged the corporate executive members to commit to improving the mental health and well-being employees.
Then, in 2007, Canada Life took on that challenge and launched Workplace Strategies for Mental Health. Those resources we're developed and made available to all Canadians at no cost.
But, researchers at the time asked, “How do employers know where and how to start addressing psychological health and safety at work?” The answer was found in the development of Guarding Minds at Work.
Over the years, there has been an ongoing commitment to continual improvement and investment by Canada Life’s Workplace Strategies for Mental Health and this includes tools like Guarding Minds at Work, the Psychologically Safe Leader Assessment, workshop materials and much more.
Are results confidential?
Many steps are taken to protect confidentiality. Employee names are not collected when the survey is completed. Only aggregate results are available to the organizational administrator, not individual survey responses.
Organizational data is also protected. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety hosts Guarding Minds at Work and protects all data on their secure server. For the sole purpose of improving this resource, Workplace Strategies for Mental Health will receive a monthly report of Guarding Minds usage without any identification of individual users or specific organizations. Analysis of Guarding Minds at Work employee survey data is intended only for quality improvement purposes in order to enhance the validity and utility of this survey for user organizations. Quality improvement activities are not defined as research. Any formal research study would require additional and specific permissions from users.
What does it measure?
Guarding Minds measures employee perception of psychological health and safety in your organization. You can read What is psychological health and safety to learn more about the legal, business, and health case for addressing this important issue.
- The employee survey. This 61-statement survey measures employee perceptions about work situations and creates a detailed report which highlights the psychosocial factors, psychosocial hazards, indicators of workplace inclusion and indicators of stress or trauma.
- The organizational review. This measures the same situations as the employee survey but each statement is worded from the perspective of senior leadership. The review also has leaders consider existing data, policies and programs as well as potential strategies and solutions. Read more about the Organizational review.
- The stress satisfaction scan. This 6-question scan measures the levels of stress versus satisfaction at work. For more information, visit Understanding the Stress satisfaction scan.
What is the evidence for these resources?
Guarding Minds – Background includes the continual improvement, expert contributors and evidence for Guarding Minds.
How do I use it?
To find step-by-step guidance on how you might best leverage these resources to improve psychological health and safety in your workplace, see Using Guarding Minds at Work effectively.
How do I act on the results?
Once you’ve completed your Guarding Minds survey, there are many resources to help you take action.
The Guarding Minds employee survey report provides lots of insight towards the psychological health and safety in your workplace, though this information may seem overwhelming at first. Interpret your Guarding Minds at Work survey results helps you to understand your organization’s base-line that you can reflect on throughout your organization’s psychological health and safety journey, strengths and room for improvement. There are several tools and resources available to help you take effective action based on your results.
Guarding Minds at Work was commissioned by Canada Life and additional resources are supported by Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.