Many factors can impact the mental well-being of individuals in the workplace, from geopolitical events that impact their communities to issues that require attention close to home. By cultivating a supportive and safe workplace culture, providing resources for coping with stress and promoting work-life harmony, organizations can create resilient work environments that foster the well-being of their employees.

At CGI, we have a 20-year foundation of health and well-being programs focused on helping our CGI Partners thrive personally and professionally in a safe and respectful workplace. This includes a strong emphasis on the value of mental well-being, which is essential to the sustainable success of our consultants and professionals and to helping our clients achieve business outcomes.

Taking a leading role

We consider our leaders to be central to the success of our work in cultivating a culture that fosters mental well-being in the workplace. In May 2023, we signed the Leadership Pledge. This initiative seeks to advance progress globally by committing senior leaders to a Pledge to create mentally healthy workplaces.

As a signatory, we aim to help our leaders recognize this imperative, have access to the right tools and commit to taking tangible and evidence-based action to advance workplace mental health and well-being.

Since signing the pledge, we have taken proactive steps to help our leaders advance mental well-being across our global operations. These include:

  • Conducting a health and well-being survey to gather leaders' insights on leading their teams in alignment with best practices to identify trends
  • Running focus groups with senior leaders to increase awareness about workplace well-being challenges, enable dialogue and drive positive change
  • Increasing access to health and well-being resources and guidance for our leaders
  • Enhancing our global Member Assistance Program by aligning with regional needs and market trends
  • Recognizing sustainable and healthy leadership practices across CGI

Breaking the stigma: May marks Mental Well-being Awareness month

We value the mental well-being of our CGI Partners and encourage a culture of psychological safety, openness, and peer-to-peer support in the workplace. Since 2022, CGI has globally recognized May as Mental Well-being Awareness month.

While the mental well-being of CGI Partners is a constant, year-long commitment, we renew our focus on this topic in May, unifying ourselves through activities, resources and communications intended to spark meaningful conversations and destigmatize mental health issues.

Our integrated and holistic approach to our CGI Partners' mental health covers all aspects of the health continuum — from prevention and education to risk identification and intervention.

Transforming mental health support with technology

Technology plays a crucial role in our approach. As one of the world's largest IT and business consulting services firms, we see technology as critical to advancing mental health initiatives. It helps break barriers to accessing mental health support, develop well-being solutions and gather valuable data-driven insights to create, implement, and refine programs and initiatives.

At CGI, we have three global digital platforms that help provide mental health support to our CGI Partners:

  • Member Assistance Program (MAP) – Our MAP providers leverage technology to provide confidential support for CGI Partners and their family members facing personal or work-related challenges. Through MAP digital platforms, mobile applications, and virtual and chat-based consultations, we enhance the accessibility, convenience and effectiveness of mental health support.
  • CGI Academia – Our global online learning platform, CGI Academia, empowers our consultants and professionals to build competencies, skills, and expertise through targeted learning paths and multiple on-demand learning modalities. We continually expand the content library with new skills training, interactive courses, and curated journeys for health and well-being topics.
  • Oxygen Portal – Our digital health and well-being resources hub offers "toolboxes" with downloadable tools, online learning opportunities, a support line and a range of information, resources and references to support our CGI Partners and help leaders create a culture and environment that prioritizes psychological safety, openness, and peer-to-peer support in the workplace.

In addition, our professionals and consultants have access to educational newsletters, an internal Mental Health Ambassadors network, affinity groups, and programs and initiatives customized for regional and local needs. Learn more about CGI's programs and resources to support our professionals' mental health and well-being.

Shaping a healthy future together

We are committed to continually investing in mental health resources designed to help our CGI Partners thrive while improving the accessibility and quality of our support services.

For example, we partner with Global-Watch Network, an international collaborative platform of best practices in workplace mental health that promotes turning science into action to offer tools and resources on emerging well-being topics. Through this partnership, we also contribute to building a roadmap for change by sharing insights with the scientific community.

Our global program, "Mental Health Minute," encourages our professionals and consultants to spend time in a team meeting reflecting on mental health-related topics such as psychological safety, workload management, peer recognition and eco-anxiety. The goal is to normalize mental health discussions and shape healthy behaviors.

Through our global and local actions and initiatives, including new and ongoing workshops, training sessions, team challenges and awareness programs, we encourage our consultants and professionals to bring their authentic selves to work, fostering a culture of trust, empowerment, and allyship.