At McCarthy Tétrault LLP, the mental health and wellness of its people – lawyers, students, paraprofessionals and members of its service teams – is paramount.
Barbara Boake, national people and practice leader, says the firm is committed to building a culture that encourages people to share their experiences and seek support for their challenges, while reducing stigma and increasing action regarding workplace mental health.
The firm provides programs such as bereavement leave, compassionate care leave and wellness benefits in order to support employee wellness. It also recently started providing access to virtual healthcare for employees and their families through an app, which includes virtual medical appointments, home-delivered prescription medication and psychotherapy services.
“Ours is a profession with unique stressors,” Boake says. “We also know that happy people take fewer sick days, are more creative and innovative in their work and derive greater satisfaction from the work they do.”
Addressing mental health is not just for the sake of productivity, Boake adds. “Our commitment to wellness is about empowering our people to make the decisions that are right for them.”
This commitment includes offering employees choice regarding their work patterns with a range of flexible options, including staggered start times, part-time reduced hours, unpaid leaves of absence and reduced workload where possible.
CEO Dave Leonard says this dedication to employee wellness extends to the firm’s commitment to equity and inclusion. “Our commitment to equity and inclusion is about making sure all of our people are comfortable bringing their full selves to the workplace,” Leonard says. “Accepting and embracing our differences is about more than committing ourselves to being a safe place to work and grow, it’s about ensuring that all of our people can flourish.”
The firm’s Inclusion Now program, created in 2018, aims to attract, retain and advance members of equity-seeking groups including Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC); members of the LGBTQ+ community; people with disabilities; and women.
In addition, more than 540 members of the firm have volunteered for one of its action groups – Pride, Gender, Race and Abilities – which run initiatives to educate employees and invest in community agencies to support equity-seeking groups across Canada.
“We want current and future firm members to see themselves represented in our ranks,” Boake says. “We want our people to feel that they have a community of peers who have experienced life in the same way they have. Equity and inclusion are our way of proactively ensuring the mental well-being of all equity-seeking groups.”
Firm-wide mentoring is another way employees receive support. The professional mentor program pairs a second- or third-year associate with a senior associate or partner. The mentor assists with the associate’s integration into the firm and provides guidance on the practice of law and office procedures.
The career mentor program pairs a partner with an associate approaching their fourth year of practice, with a focus on aspects of creating a successful career, such as how to attract and retain clients and build industry expertise. The firm has also introduced mentoring programs for associates who identify as diverse and for members of professional staff teams.
“Our collective success is a function of each individual thriving in the workplace,” says Leonard. “Our programs have evolved from being an extra benefit to becoming the cornerstone of our firm’s business strategy – one of our five strategic pillars: investing in our people.”
