The foundations of workplace well-being: Part four of four
Key takeaways
- Workplace data can help show where employees may need more support. Looking beyond organization-wide averages can help reveal challenges affecting particular roles or groups that might otherwise go unnoticed.
- Data tells organizations where to look, but employees help explain what’s happening. Combining workplace data with listening sessions and employee feedback can provide a clearer picture of how people actually experience their work.
- Improving well-being can mean changing the way work is designed. Targeted support at TELUS includes reviewing job design, strengthening onboarding, building leadership skills and making existing well-being resources easier to find and use.
- Targeted support can lead to measurable improvements. By focusing on the specific factors affecting employees, organizations can experience meaningful improvements in both their people and performance.
From the outside looking in, well-being strategies are often judged by what they offer. This includes things like apps and well-being resources, as well as policies and training programs. But for the people living inside those systems, the real measure is far simpler. Does work feel sustainable? Does support show up when it matters? And does leadership understand the reality of the job?
We previously explained that targeted well-being programming at TELUS is informed by a broad range of qualitative and quantitative insights that help surface where support is needed most.
But insight alone is not enough. The difference lies in how this data is translated into action, and whether it meaningfully changes the experience of work for the people most affected.
This is the story of how putting human outcomes in focus informed targeted well-being support and improved experiences for both TELUS and its people.
Identifying where work was becoming unsustainable
Each year, TELUS reviews multiple data sets across areas like benefits utilization, internal engagement surveys, disability metrics, attrition rates and program outcomes, which includes things like program participation and biometric improvements. “We use data insights to drive our targeted well-being approach every year,” explains Janet Young, Director of Well-being & Health Services, People & Culture at TELUS.
During one of these routine reviews, higher disability rates in a particular business unit prompted well-being leaders to take a closer look at what was driving the trend.
At a high level, the change appeared modest. But rather than stopping at business-unit averages, the team applied a persona-based lens and analyzed data by the nature of work itself. “It’s been a game changer,” Janet explains. “If you only look at business unit data, everything can appear fine, especially in a business of our size. But when you isolate a persona, it can tell a very different story.”
What the data revealed when viewed through a persona lens
As it turns out, this shift in focus did indeed tell a very different story. Mental health-related short-term disability rates for this specific business unit had significantly outpaced TELUS’ overall baseline, reaching 60 percent by 2021.
“We knew there was more discovery required,” explains Janet. “The data showed us where to look, but it couldn’t tell us everything on its own.” In partnership with the Well-being and Health Services Team, as well as People & Culture Business Partners, TELUS broadened the analysis to examine:
- Claims patterns
- Return-to-work outcomes
- Onboarding effectiveness
- Team demographics
- Engagement and performance metrics
Designing support around how work is actually experienced
With a clearer understanding of where pressure was concentrated, the next step was to listen closely to the people doing the work. “We held listening sessions with people at all levels,” Janet explains. “We wanted to hear directly from team members and leaders about what they were experiencing, rather than making assumptions based on the data alone.”
The overall findings from these listening sessions revealed that some job roles within the business unit were cognitively demanding, and that effective onboarding and ongoing support was required to help team members manage the complexity of the work.
In response, TELUS focused on strengthening the conditions that shape everyday work. This included reviewing job design, building leadership capability related to fostering psychological safety, as well as embedding well-being earlier into onboarding.
It also included providing targeted communication spotlights on key well-being resources available to employees, including TELUS Health’s Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and employee assistance program (EAP) solutions, as well as the TELUS Health Wellbeing platform. Doing this empowered team members to autonomously find and use the resources available to them.
“A big part of this work was making sure leaders had the skills to create psychological safety and recognize when someone might be struggling. This is especially important in a virtual environment where you can’t see those signals as easily.”
- Janet Young, Director of Well-being & Health Services, People & Culture at TELUS.
Turning targeted support into measurable results
Within two years, TELUS saw meaningful improvements in short-term disability rates, reinforcing the value of targeted and evidence-led well-being interventions.
These outcomes were not driven by a single program or policy shift, but by sustained attention to how work is designed, supported and experienced. By combining data, listening and leadership capability, TELUS was able to strengthen team member well-being and, consequently, overall workplace resilience. As Janet sums up:
"We have built a robust strategic framework that has allowed us to influence the entire ecosystem at TELUS. It's not just a standalone program with initiatives sprinkled throughout the year. It's how we work, it's how jobs are designed, it's how we create safety for people."
The TELUS well-being blueprint
Explore the TELUS well-being case study and learn how the organization is redesigning work to better support people where it matters most.
Download nowFrequently asked questions
How can organizations identify where employees may need more well-being support?
Organizations can look at data such as disability rates, benefits utilization, engagement surveys, attrition and program participation to identify patterns that may require further attention.
Looking more closely at specific roles or employee groups can also uncover challenges that may not be visible in organization-wide averages.
Why is employee feedback important when designing well-being support?
Data can help show where a problem may exist, but it doesn’t always explain why it is happening. Speaking directly with employees and leaders can help organizations understand the day-to-day experiences behind the numbers and design support around what people actually need.
What does job design have to do with employee well-being?
The way a job is structured can directly affect an employee’s experience of work. Factors such as workload, cognitive demands, onboarding and access to support can all influence well-being, which is why organizations may need to consider the work itself alongside traditional well-being programs.
How can leaders support employee well-being in demanding roles?
Leaders can help by creating psychological safety, recognizing when employees may be struggling and making sure people know where to find support.
Providing leaders with appropriate training can be particularly important in virtual workplaces, where signs that someone is struggling may be harder to recognize.
What can organizations learn from TELUS’ approach to targeted well-being support?
TELUS’ experience shows the value of combining workplace data with employee feedback rather than relying on either one alone.
By identifying where challenges were concentrated, listening to employees and addressing factors such as job design, onboarding, leadership capability and access to resources, TELUS was able to provide more relevant support and improve short-term disability outcomes.
This is part four in our series on the foundations of workplace well-being. See the rest of the articles (part one, part two, and part three) for more.
