Mental health report: What stresses out Canadian P&C professionals

Canadian property and casualty insurance industry professionals are reporting high stress levels associated with unusually heavy workloads, the byproduct of a record year of natural catastrophe claims, results from Canadian Underwriter’s 2024 Mental Health Survey show.

Claims adjusters, underwriters, customer-facing employees, and those with less experience in the industry appear to be particularly vulnerable to feeling higher levels of stress.

It’s something the Canadian P&C industry needs to get a better handle on, one insurance professional comments.

“Mental health is a moving target and the industry, meaning the insurance industry, has not addressed the chronic [or] acute symptoms of this,” the person writes. “And therefore, when you don’t understand something, you don’t do anything.

“The legislation regarding job security does not address the issue enough for most people to [feel comfortable to] search out support, meaning that, if [mental health concerns are] disclosed, most employers discriminate based on fear of the unknown.”

CU’s inaugural Mental Health Survey heard from 836 P&C professionals, who were asked to rate their mental health on a scale of 1 to 10. A rating of 1 represented “no concerns at all,” while 10 was defined as being “unable to function.”

Twelve per cent of respondents put their own mental health between an 8 and a 10 (10% rated it an 8, while 2% rated it a 9). Another 34% rated it a six (20%) or seven (14%).

Thirty-eight percent of P&C industry professionals reported feeling either “highly stressed” (35%) or “acute stress” (3%).

CU’s survey was fielded between Aug. 14 and Aug. 30, shortly after four major natural catastrophes in the span of a month during July and August created a record number of claims to resolve. The research was made possible by Allstate Canada.

Between flooding in Ontario (the remnants of Hurricane Beryl), flooding in Quebec (remnants of Hurricane Debby), a wildfire in the picturesque town of Jasper, Alta., and a record-setting hailstorm in Calgary, Canada’s P&C insurance industry is expecting its worst-ever loss year, with a total of $7.6 billion in projected claims payouts to date.

Insurance Bureau of Canada reported 228,000 insurance claims submitted this July and August, as opposed to the 160,000 claims insurers processed in all of 2023. And this is all happening when the industry, like many others, is dealing with a well-documented labour shortage.

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And so, the predictable result is that 61% of survey respondents cite “heavy workload” as their Number 1 source of stress.

“The stigma associated with mental health and stress is still very real in the workplace,” one respondent comments. “Repeated requests for support to alleviate workload are unanswered and open positions remain unfilled due to a lack of skilled/willing workers.

“An inability to manage stress and/or workload, resulting in a failure to meet goals/objectives, is viewed as poor performance and met with criticism.”

For those in claims roles, 73% (68% for claims adjusters specifically) and 70% of consumer-facing employees cite heavy workload as their Number 1 stressor. It’s also cited as the top stressor by 60% of people in the survey with 10 or fewer years of experience.

The second-highest reason for stress was meeting management demands. Forty-five percent chose this from a list of other potential stressors, including organizational culture, dealing with customers, and personality conflicts with colleagues.