Over the past several years, employers have made tremendous progress supporting employee mental health.

Following the pandemic, organizations invested heavily in Employee Assistance Programs, virtual counselling, mental health days, resilience training, and psychological safety. Rightfully so. The need was immediate and impossible to ignore, prompting one of the most significant shifts we’ve seen in workplace health. But that shift wasn’t the finish line. As pressure on Canada’s healthcare system continues to grow, the next workplace health challenge is no longer simply supporting employee wellness; it is helping employees access the healthcare they need in the first place. 

Today, nearly six million Canadian adults do not have access to a regular family physician or nurse practitioner (1). 

For many employees, that means delayed diagnoses, longer wait times, greater reliance on walk-in clinics and emergency departments, and more time spent navigating the healthcare system. Increasingly, the workplace is becoming one of the few places employees can access meaningful health resources. 

The issue isn’t simply that Canada needs more physicians. It’s that we’re experiencing several converging realities at once. 

Canada’s population is aging.
Employees are working longer. 
Healthcare needs are becoming more complex. 
At the same time, the physician workforce is also aging. 

Nearly 40% of practising physicians are over the age of 55, and the average physician retires at approximately 69 years of age (2). In Ontario alone, 1.74 million patients are currently attached to family physicians aged 65 or older, underscoring the growing pressure on an already strained primary care system (3).  

Of course, many experienced physicians continue providing exceptional care well into the later stages of their careers. However, the Canadian Medical Protective Association notes that aging is highly individualized and that physicians, like professionals in every field, may choose to evolve their practice over time. Many reduce clinical hours, narrow their scope of practice, transition into mentorship or administrative roles, or simply seek greater work-life balance after decades of caring for others. 

The practice of medicine has changed, too. Administrative responsibilities have increased. Patient complexity has increased. Documentation requirements have increased. These realities naturally affect how many patients a physician can safely care for. The result is a healthcare workforce with less available capacity at precisely the moment Canadians require more care. 

While solving Canada’s healthcare challenges is not the responsibility of employers, the impact is increasingly showing up in the workplace. 

When employees can’t access timely care, organizations feel the effects through delayed treatment, longer disability durations, increased absenteeism, reduced productivity, and rising healthcare costs. This is where employee benefits are beginning to play a fundamentally different role. Rather than simply helping employees pay for healthcare, they are increasingly helping employees access it. 

Virtual primary care. 
Preventive health coaching. 
Second medical opinion services. 
Care coordination. 
Chronic disease management. 
Health system navigation. 

We often talk about benefits as tools for recruitment and retention. That’s still true, but their value proposition is changing. 

The question is no longer whether employers should support employee health. 

It’s whether they can afford not to. 

As access to healthcare becomes harder, employees will increasingly look to their benefits plan for answers. The question is whether your strategy is keeping pace. Connect with your Selectpath advisory team to explore what this shift could mean for your organization.

Sources:

1. https://www.cma.ca/latest-stories/national-survey-59-million-canada-still-without-regular-doctor
2. https://www.cmpa-acpm.ca/en/advice-publications/browse-articles/2022/the-aging-physician–maintaining-competence-and-practising-safely
3. https://www.schulich.uwo.ca/about/news-events-community/news/2025/more-ontario-family-doctors-nearing-retirement-new-study-finds.html

Written by:
Emily Simpson
Education & Communications Lead
Selectpath Benefits & Financial