How telemedicine benefits can support employee mental health in Canada

Executive summary

Untreated mental health conditions cost Canadian employers $76 billion annually, with 96% of that economic burden driven directly by lost productivity and absenteeism. See how the right employer-funded telemedicine and virtual mental health care solution can provide 24-hour access to multidisciplinary care teams, reducing per-patient treatment costs and resolving short-term disability cases faster.

Last updated on September 29, 2026

The 2026 State of workplace well-being, a national survey conducted by Dialogue and Leger, shows that well-being is declining across the board. 35% of Canadian employees say their mental health has worsened, 38% say their sleep quality has worsened, 35% say their financial circumstances have worsened. Moreover, 74% of employees report reduced productivity due to health and well-being challenges, missing an average of 5 workdays per year for these reasons.

These challenges have a direct cost for businesses. Canadian employers face growing costs related to illness, absence and disability. Among the reasons why employees miss work, mental health issues continue to cause the greatest number of lost days.

What is the cost of untreated mental health in Canada?

Figures from Health Canada and the Mental Health Commission of Canada are staggering:

• 1 in 5 Canadians experience a mental health problem or illness in any given year

• In any given week, 500,000 Canadians miss work due to their mental health

• Mental health problems cost the Canadian economy over $50 billion per year

A 2026 economic analysis by AppEco, commissioned by Dialogue adds color to the last figure. Mental health challenges cost the Canadian economy up to $76 billion annually, with 96% of that burden stemming directly from lost productivity:

• Presenteeism (55%): Employees working while unwell at reduced capacity.

• Absenteeism (41%): Missed workdays due to untreated conditions.

The core issue is access. The average wait time for a first mental health evaluation in Canada varies widely, but community mental health counselling data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) shows that half of patients receive their first scheduled appointment within 30 days, while 1 in 10 wait 4 months or longer. When looking specifically at seeing a medical specialist like a psychiatrist for a formal evaluation or diagnosis, wait times are significantly longer. With a system under pressure, barriers like cost, long wait times, and limited provider availability prevent people from getting the support they need, when they need it.

That makes it a priority to identify those who need help since early treatment leads to better outcomes, which benefits both the employee and the employer. It’s a true win-win.

Unfortunately, employers struggle to find ways to meaningfully assist their employees’ mental health.

Part of the challenge is the stigma attached to mental health, which makes employees reluctant to disclose their problems, especially to their employers. But even when employees are forthcoming, or the problem is obvious, employers still have difficulty meeting their employees’ needs.

The current approach relies primarily on Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs), which provide short-term counselling to help overcome a person’s current challenges, which comes with its own shortcomings.

Are EAPs enough to support employee mental health?

EAPs can offer valuable support to employees, but the traditional structure fails to tackle the following challenges:

• Reactive. There is no attempt at early detection or proactive screening.
• Incomplete. Beyond standard counselling, traditional EAPs rarely provide medical resources. This leaves patients without a regular primary care doctor unable to access a provider who can assess them and prescribe indicated medications.
• Fragmented. Available resources are distributed among several points of contact without dedicated care coordination. This leads to delays and miscommunications that slow patient recovery.

The second and third shortcomings are eventually overcome if an employee ends up on long-term disability (LTD). In such circumstances, the insurer is highly motivated to limit the duration of the claim, so they use a “case management” approach, where one professional coordinates the patient’s treatment and recovery.

However, LTD coverage begins three months or longer after the employee first leaves work, losing your employee valuable time to treat early and more comprehensively. And while LTD provides the employee with income replacement, it does not compensate the employer for lost productivity.

Do telemedicine benefits help address employee mental health?

Traditionally, telemedicine refers to remote clinical consultations, where a physician or nurse practitioner assesses a concern and provides a diagnosis, prescription, or referral. Over time, the need to integrate physical and mental health care — along with other dimensions of well-being — gave rise to more comprehensive virtual care solutions.

Virtual care is a broader term that includes telemedicine alongside mental health support, preventive care, employee assistance programs, and wellness resources. When deployed effectively, it helps employers reduce productivity losses and increase employee well-being by optimizing the delivery of clinical mental health services:

• Proactive screening: Discrete, digital screening tests to enable early detection.

• Self-management tools: Evidence-based resources for employees to manage stress independently.

• Multidisciplinary care and case management: Immediate assignment of a coordinated team (nurses, psychologists, physicians) as soon as an issue is identified.

• Frictionless access: Virtual services via chat, phone, or video that eliminate travel time.

• Continuous engagement: Regular check-ins to increase adherence to treatment plans.

How effective can virtual mental health care be? Research demonstrates that face-to-face video consultations with a continuing and compatible therapist achieve outcomes similar to conventional office visits for mental health.

• A landmark 2024 systematic review analyzing 54 randomized controlled trials found "moderate-certainty evidence of little to no difference in effectiveness" between therapist-guided remote and in-person cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) across mood, anxiety, and somatic disorders.

• In 2025, Canada’s national health technology assessment organization published a rapid evidence synthesis concluding that virtual mental health counselling yields comparable clinical effectiveness to in-person delivery for adults treating depression, anxiety disorders, and PTSD.

What is the ROI of virtual mental health care for employers?

AppEco’s economic analysis, commissioned by Dialogue, shows that increasing virtual mental health care access by just 10% through employer-funded virtual care like Dialogue yields:

• A 29% national reduction in mental health-related costs ($22B in savings)
• A 53% reduction in per-person costs for employees actively receiving care (dropping average treatment costs from $12,302 to $5,787) through better provider matching and eliminated travel time.

As for what employees want, Dialogue’s 2021 survey showed that 70% of Canadians believe that virtual healthcare represents the future. Not only that, but 82% of working Canadians agree that employers should provide virtual healthcare to their employees. Not surprising, as telemedicine benefits that support mental health challenges can not only reduce the time to recovery and return to productivity. They also eliminate the multiple hours lost to travel and waiting for each in-person appointment with a doctor or psychologist.

How to pick the right telemedicine offering to support employee mental health

With an increasing number of telemedicine and virtual mental health care solutions available for benefits providers, employers should look for programs that can deliver an integrated care experience to support multiple dimensions of employee well-being and demonstrate ROI for organizations. Read our Ultimate Guide to telemedicine for Canadian employers here to learn more.

How does Dialogue’s virtual mental health match up?

Dialogue delivers telemedicine and virtual mental health care through a multidisciplinary, salaried care team:

• Virtual mental health care from Dialogue is associated with a 5x ROI by avoiding disability leave, with short-term disability resolved in under six weeks in 70% of cases (compared to a Canadian average of only 30%, according to internal Dialogue data).
  
  • Over 98% triage accuracy across 3 million+ consultations
  • 4.7/5 average consultation score and 100% follow-up after every consultation
  • The only virtual care provider in Canada with Accreditation Canada Exemplary Standing, reflecting 100% compliance across 700+ safety standards

• See how Dialogue’s services reflect Canadian attitudes towards telemedicine.
  
• See how Ubisoft, by providing employees with access to Dialogue's Primary Care, Mental Health+, and Employee Assistance Programs, helped relieve health-related concerns and allowed employees to focus on their passions and priorities.

Frequently asked questions

Does telemedicine include mental health?
Telemedicine refers specifically to remote clinical consultations, where a physician or nurse practitioner assesses a concern and provides a diagnosis, prescription, or referral. Virtual care is a broader term that includes telemedicine alongside mental health support, preventive care, employee assistance programs, and wellness resources. When done right, this access includes psychological and psychiatric screening, treatment, and follow-up through phone, chat, or video instead of in-person visits.

How does virtual care reduce absenteeism related to mental health?
By speeding up screening and treatment, telemedicine allows mental health problems to be caught and addressed before they escalate into extended absences. Dialogue and Leger's 2026 research found employees miss an average of 5 workdays per year due to well-being challenges, a cost earlier intervention helps reduce.

Is virtual mental health care as effective as in-person care?
Yes. Research shows video-based consultations with a continuing therapist achieve outcomes similar to conventional in-person visits, with better appointment adherence in telemedicine settings.

What's the difference between a traditional EAP and a comprehensive virtual care solution?
Traditional EAPs are typically reactive and limited to short-term counselling. A comprehensive virtual care solution includes telemedicine, mental health care, and other supports that bolster employee well-being. Such solutions work well because they enable proactive screening, a multidisciplinary care team with prescribing access, and coordinated case management and follow-up.

What makes Dialogue different from a standard EAP or telemedicine provider?

A standard EAP or telemedicine service treats one problem at a time. Dialogue's Integrated Health Platform™ connects Primary Care, Mental Health+, EAP, and Wellness in one place — with a shared electronic medical record and continuity across programs.

Ready to learn how Dialogue improves employee mental health?

Contact us.