TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ - In celebration of World Mental Health Day, Scotiabank is proud to be recognized with the Gold Standard Award from Excellence Canada for creating a psychologically safe environment. Scotiabank is committed to being a workplace that promotes psychological well-being and actively works to prevent harm to employee's psychological health.

"World Mental Health Day provides an opportunity for us to listen and reflect on the importance of the mental health and wellbeing for all of our employees. The recognition from Excellence Canada is a proud moment for us as an employer, recognizing the culture we strive to create for employees," said Barb Mason, Group Head and Chief Human Resources Officer, Scotiabank. "By supporting and empowering employees to take care of their mental health and wellbeing, and speak up about how they're feeling, we're creating a workplace where everyone can thrive."

For World Mental Health Day, and every day of the year, Scotiabank is committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of employees through a number of resources and programs including:

• Scotiabank has made significant strides to strengthen mental health services under the Canadian Benefits Plan, increasing fully Bank-paid coverage from $3,000 to $10,000 for employees in Canada, and their eligible dependents, this year.
• Enhanced Support for Caregiving: Scotiabank has increased elder care support for employees in Canada who are caregiving for older family members knowing that this can be accompanied by a unique stress. Currently, employees have access to five back-up childcare days per child annually. This offering has been expanded allowing employees to also access five back-up days for elder care.
• Scotiabank is continually increasing the availability of psychological services, such as 24/7 helplines or individual consultations, at no cost for employees, through various channels, across the Bank's global footprint.
• New Global Standard for Parental Leave: To give employees and their families more time together as they start or grow their families, Scotiabank announced a new global minimum standard for parental leave in early 2022. This includes eight fully paid weeks for all parents with a new child and eight additional fully paid weeks for parents who have given birth. The standard is being implemented across our footprint by 2025. Many countries have already begun implementing, and in Canada, this will go into effect in 2023.
• Mental Health Courses, Webinars, and Workshops: Employees have access to a variety of educational opportunities aimed at improving their mental health and well-being. From emotional intelligence and resiliency to stress management and dealing with the new normality, thousands of employees globally have learned valuable tools from top experts in each of their countries. These learning opportunities are underpinned by a host of digital resources such as internal guides, newsletters, posters, and videos distributed regularly to employees.     

About Scotiabank

Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of over 90,000 employees and assets of approximately $1.3 trillion (as at July 31, 2022), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank