Leading workplace mental health through change
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How Google Canada and Starbucks Canada approached workplace mental health during the pandemic
Supporting mental health at work requires more than providing resources. It also depends on the culture leaders create and the signals they send about whether employee well-being is genuinely valued. Presented with support from Beneva, this It Starts at the Top discussion brings together Sabrina Geremia of Google Canada and Lori Digulla of Starbucks Canada to examine the role CEOs and senior leaders can play in shaping workplace mental health. Drawing on their organizations’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, they explore how leadership, workplace practices and organizational culture can help employees navigate uncertainty and significant changes in how they work.
The conversation moves from leadership principles to practical approaches used by Google and Starbucks to support employee well-being and resilience. The panel considers how organizations can make conversations about mental health more open, help employees adapt to changing working conditions and connect people with useful supports. Resources discussed include Google’s re:Work tools, resilience guidance, the BlueDot program, guidance on speaking openly about mental health and access to digital therapy through MindBeacon. Together, the examples reinforce the premise behind the series: senior leaders have an important role in making mental health part of how an organization operates, rather than treating it as a separate workplace initiative.
Expert Voices
Sabrina Geremia
Vice President & Country Manager, Google Canada
Sabrina Geremia led Google Canada’s business and teams through a period of substantial workplace and technological change. In this discussion, she explores the role senior leaders can play in creating workplace cultures that support employee mental health and make conversations about well-being easier to have. She shares approaches and resources used by Google to help employees build resilience and adapt to the disruption caused by the pandemic. Her perspective also highlights how workplace practices, management and organizational culture can reinforce mental health supports rather than leaving responsibility solely with individual employees.
Lori Digulla
Senior Vice President & General Manager, Starbucks Canada
Lori Digulla led Starbucks Canada during a period in which a large frontline workforce was navigating rapidly changing working conditions and continued uncertainty. She discusses how Starbucks approached employee wellness during the pandemic and the responsibility leaders have to recognize mental health as part of the everyday employee experience. Her perspective brings the particular challenges of supporting people working across a large, geographically dispersed organization into the conversation. She also considers how leadership, communication and access to supports can help employees adjust when both workplace expectations and circumstances are changing.
Beneva
What is Workplace mental health: It starts at the top?
This series brings CEOs and other organizational leaders together to discuss how leadership decisions can shape employee mental health and wellbeing. Hosted by Mental Health Research Canada, the series combines organizational experience with practical approaches to creating healthier workplaces, highlighting the role leaders can play in changing how work is structured and supported. The series is sponsored by Beneva.
