We strongly recommend you read Using Guarding Minds at Work effectively1 before you begin. Psychological health and safety is not a single project. It is an ongoing process of continual improvement, so allocating adequate time and resources should be part of your annual strategic planning.
Frequently asked questions
- Is copyright authorization needed to use Guarding Minds at Work (Guarding Minds) materials in my workplace?
- Do I need to sign up for an account to access resources?
- Can I customize the Guarding Minds at Work survey?
- What is the Guarding Minds at Work dashboard?
- Can more than one person take the survey at once?
- What if employees don’t have access to a computer? Is there a paper version of the online survey?
- How long can we keep a survey open?
- Can I run a French or bilingual survey?
- Will Guarding Minds at Work be available in any other languages?
- Why did you change the survey scale in 2023?
- Can I compare my results year over year?
- What is the role of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)?
- Where can I find resources to take action on my results?
Is copyright authorization needed to use Guarding Minds at Work (Guarding Minds) materials in my workplace?
You are welcome to use the website materials. We ask that you do not alter the wording of the content. When you are using the material, you must include the following citation: “© Samra, J., Gilbert, M., Shain, M., Bilsker, D. 2009-2020, with amendments by Stuart, H. 2022. All rights reserved. Website development and data storage by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).
Guarding Minds at Work was commissioned by Canada Life and additional resources are supported by Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.”
Do I need to sign up for an account to access resources?
An account is only required to administer surveys. All other resources, including sample reports, can be accessed in the Resources section, which does not require an account.
Can I customize the Guarding Minds at Work survey?
No, this free resource cannot be modified.
If the terminology does not suit your organization, you are encouraged to clarify definitions and/or language with your employees ahead of sending the link to the survey. For example, the name of the role responsible for supervising an employee in your organization could be a manager, leader, supervisor, foreman, head cashier, charge nurse or something else. Letting your employees know in advance how to interpret the questions can be helpful. You can review all survey statements here.
If you'd like to contract the services of CCOHS to create a modified version, please contact us. Alternatively, you could use a separate survey instrument to create additional customized questions or statements for your employees to answer that aren’t included within Guarding Minds.
What is the Guarding Minds at Work dashboard?
The Guarding Minds dashboard is a secure area of the website that allows representatives of your organization to develop and access the survey links to send out to employees, and to generate reports that will provide a visual summary of the survey results.
Can more than one person take the survey at once?
Yes, all of your employees could take the survey at the same time. The approach of having all employees complete the survey at the same time during working hours is ideal in terms of optimizing participation and ensuring your results are reliable.
What if employees don’t have access to a computer? Is there a paper version of the online survey?
Yes. You can distribute paper copies of the survey and manually enter the results of each survey.
- To print copies of the survey, login to your dashboard and click on Print/Save a Copy on the bottom right under your survey name in the Active Surveys section.
- There are no personal identifiers required on these forms. To help protect the anonymity and confidentiality of employees completing the survey by paper, we suggest you designate a place accessible to all employees where the surveys will be made available, as well as a locked box, similar to a ballot box, where completed surveys can be deposited.
- Once you are ready to close the survey, collect any completed paper surveys from the box and enter the data manually by clicking on Manual Input on the bottom right under your survey name.
- If you need to enter any additional surveys after you close your survey, open the Closed Surveys section in your Dashboard and click Re-open Survey.
How long can we keep a survey open?
You decide how long you wish to keep your survey open. We recommend a survey cycle period of 2 to 4 weeks, but make sure to consider what else is going on in your workplace. By default, each survey closes automatically at 11:59 pm your local time, one year from when it was created, but you can edit the closing date as needed. Your survey results will still be available after the closing date but no more responses can be added.
Can I run a French or bilingual survey?
Yes, a French version of Guarding Minds is available.
- Click on the Français link in the top left corner.
- You can run a bilingual survey using one survey link. You will need to instruct your employees to open the link and then toggle to the French view to complete the survey.
- All the survey responses – English and French – will be captured in the same report.
Will Guarding Minds at Work be available in any other languages?
At this time, Guarding Minds is only available in English and French.
Why did you change the survey scale in 2023?
The change from an agreement scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) to a frequency scale (never to always) within the survey helps more accurately assess how often these statements, known to protect psychological safety, are being experienced by employees who respond to the Guarding Minds survey.
Assessing the frequency of these statements better helps highlight strengths and identify opportunities for improvement.
Can I compare my results year over year?
In 2023, the psychosocial factors remain, but significant changes to the scale and survey statements mean that a direct comparison will not be possible. The reason significant changes were made after 10 years of Guarding Minds is that results prior to the pandemic cannot be easily compared to results afterwards, due to the changes we have all experienced.
If you completed a survey prior to the change from an agreement scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) to a frequency scale (never to always), and you complete another one now, you may think the new results appear to be “worse”, but in fact they are just more accurate. Strongly agreeing or disagreeing with a statement can be quite different than stating that it always or never happens. This doesn’t mean the psychological health and safety of your workplace has gotten worse. It means you have a more accurate representation of your strengths and where there is room for improvement.
What is the role of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)?
CCOHS protects the confidentiality of information provided in completion of the Guarding Minds survey. They host and maintain the website and provide email and telephone technical support in English and French.
Where can I find resources to take action on my results?
Workplace Strategies for Mental Health provides many free tools and resources to help any organization take action to improve psychological health and safety.
Explore more information or begin using the survey tools.
1. © Samra, J., Gilbert, M., Shain, M., Bilsker, D. 2009-2020, with amendments by Stuart, H. 2022. All rights reserved. Website development and data storage by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).
Guarding Minds at Work was commissioned by Canada Life and additional resources are supported by Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.