Financial strain drags overall wellbeing to 56%, with benefits access easing the blow
Wellbeing across the Canadian workforce has fallen to its lowest level on record.
New polling from Ipsos, conducted on behalf of RBC Insurance, found just 56% of working Canadians now rate their overall wellbeing as good or excellent, a nine-point drop from 65% a year earlier. Financial health remains the weakest of the measures tracked, slipping from 44% to 42% and continuing to lag mental and physical health scores.
Employees enrolled in group benefits plans reported higher wellbeing across every category measured, including 58% for overall wellbeing, 54% for mental health, 54% for physical health and 44% for financial health. They were also far more likely to say their employer's culture actively supports their health, at 64%, compared with 46% among workers without benefits access.
Every dimension of wellbeing tracked by the survey moved lower year over year. Mental health scores fell seven points to 52%, while physical health dropped from 59% to 53%.
The erosion was not evenly distributed across age groups.
Workers between 18 and 34 recorded the steepest declines, with overall wellbeing down 18 points to 49% and mental health scores falling 14 points to 42%, suggesting younger employees are absorbing a disproportionate share of the financial and workplace pressure building across the labour market. Workers aged 55 to 65, a cohort that has historically scored highest on wellbeing measures, were not spared either. Overall wellbeing for this group slid eight points to 66%, while mental health dropped 11 points to 63%.
Asked what stops them from investing more in their own wellbeing, 51% of respondents pointed to the rising cost of living as the primary obstacle. That figure climbed to 60% among employees with disabilities, pointing to an uneven financial burden across the workforce.
Despite the constraints, Canadian workers were clear about where they want to make gains.
Physical fitness was the top priority at 57%, followed by diet and nutrition at 48% and sleep quality at 47%. Those goals broadly track what respondents said matters most to their overall wellbeing, led by sleep quality at 66%, physical fitness at 55% and financial security at 54%, though cost and time constraints appear to be keeping many from acting on those priorities.
The findings are drawn from an Ipsos poll of 1,001 working Canadians conducted online between March 3 and 5, 2026 via the Ipsos I-Say panel, with a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
