Healthy and safe workplaces

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Worker disability costs Canadian employers between 10 and 20 billion dollars annually, according to The Physician Education Project in Workplace Health (PEPWH). Workplace injury isn’t just costly for employers; it also has a huge impact on the workers’ lives.

Governor General Speaks to the Importance of Humanizing the Workplace

During a recent ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ont., Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, received the Special Recognition of Achievement Award from the National Quality Institute for her dedication to women, children and Aboriginal people. The award was presented by members of the Institute’s board of governors from across Canada before an audience of invited guests.

Health is the New Wealth

Against a background of economic uncertainty, people across the globe are feeling vulnerable, not only in terms of their wealth but also their health, according to a study by DDB Health, the global healthcare practice of DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc.

Leadership Summit on Health and Safety Action

At the Industrial Accident Prevention Association’s annual conference in Toronto, Ontario this past April, the CEO Health & Safety Leadership Charter held the Leadership Summit. The summit brings together CEOs, presidents, and other leaders to work together to identify how they can improve their abilities in transforming the health and safety cultures and activities in their organizations. This year, the summit focused on successfully engaging boards of directors, staff, and supply chain partners in a renewed emphasis and priority on health and safety. Participants heard from experts in the field, shared their own experiences, and identified the following specific actions that CEOs can take to transform their health and safety cultures.

Control Your Technology

The age of automation has us dependent on communications devices: desktops, laptops, Blackberries, cell phones, pen drives—the list goes on. Technology is a blessing and a curse: we are always available, always on call. We are always using energy.

Workers Cite Positive Career Impacts of Recession

Nearly three-quarters of workers surveyed say the recession has actually had some positive impact on their career. A survey of 457 workers by Accountemps, a specialized financial temporary staffing firm in the U.S., reported that workers are gaining more from the experience than just managing to keep their jobs: 77% of respondents cite at least one positive effect the recession has had on their jobs, including the ability to tackle new projects and take on more challenging work. The survey asked workers: “What positive effects, if any, has the recession had on you and your job?” Their responses* were:

Reduced Flights for Job Seekers

FlightNetwork.com, one of Canada’s highest volume online travel sales sites, recently announced a new plan aimed at helping Canadian job seekers land jobs in other cities or provinces by assisting with the cost of their airfare.

Healthy Work Environments Win

Toronto recently announced three winners of the Energy Conservation Award, which recognizes organizations that demonstrate successful, measurable improvements in operation or production processes that reduce consumption.

Vacations in 2009–Yay or Nay?

Canadians are feeling even more vacation-deprived this year compared to last, with 42% of working Canadians saying that they are very or somewhat vacation deprived, up from 33% in 2008. The results come from the 7th annual Expedia.ca Vacation Deprivation™ online survey, conducted by the Canadian research firm Harris/Decima earlier this year.

Creating a Healthy Workplace Culture

There is much talk today about creating a healthy workplace culture, but these leaders have seen it done and recently they shared their wealth of knowledge and insights with delegates at the Your Workplace Conference at the Westin Hotel on May 1, 2009.

Drinking is Good for You!

A marked effect of the recession has been a decline in consumption of pure fruit juices as consumers count their pennies and switch to soft drinks and fruit beverages that contain less than 100% fruit juice. Not a good idea. You may save a few pennies, but the impact on your body overtime will be significant. Hopefully as the global economy recovers, the world population will increase its thirst for pure fruit juices. There is a bright spot to this trend. Consumers are turning to more exotic products, and demand for passion fruit and pineapple juices remains buoyant with an unchanged consumption rate. As a general interest in health and wellness gathers momentum, manufacturers are fortifying their products with vitamins and ingredients such as Omega-3. And the new generation of ‘super fruits’ (goji, açaí, guava, mangosteen, etc) are finding their way into more blends.

Burning the Midnight Oil

For some time, anecdotal evidence has suggested that the lifespan of shift workers is decreased by about ten years. Recent research by Dr. Moore-Ede in the United States determined that, particularly for train engineers and long-distance drivers, this is the case. Another study in Britain found that police officers who retired in their fifties lived on average only another 6.8 years.

Keeping Workers Safe and Alert

Getting the big picture on productivity loss has been the goal of a number of studies conducted in the past decade within Canada and throughout North America. Employers, wellness experts, and governments are recognizing that loss of dollars, paying for an employee who isn’t at work or for the one who shows up but doesn’t rise to expectations, hampers not only the productivity of the organization for which s/he works, but the economy on the whole.

Office Ergonomics

To hire and retain the best workers in today’s hot job market, employers need to be aware of their employees’ work environment.

Interview: Hon. Steve Mahoney, Chair, WSIB

The Hon. Mr. Mahoney is passionate, committed, and has the courage to unabashedly portray workplace realities, and demand that we as a society do better. Your Workplace supports his mission to make Ontario (and perhaps Canada) the healthiest and safest place to work in the world.

Wisdom: The 10 Principles for a Healthy Workplace

My Dear Friend,

Employee Mental Health Needs

A survey of over 450 Canadian organizations conducted by Mercer in conjunction with The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) found that mental health issues are a growing concern for employers. Almost 80% reported that mental health issues have increased in importance compared to three to five years ago. Mental illness is estimated to result in 35 million workdays lost every year in Canada and low productivity related to mental illness adds significant cost to employers.

Emergency Planning

The Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto recently released the first study to assess the impact of an influenza outbreak on individual companies. Presented at the World Conference on Disaster Management, the study, “Making a Case for Investing in Pandemic Preparedness,” focuses on how companies can justify investing in emergency planning using standard business performance metrics. The study highlights that an investment now far outweighs the potential impact that a pandemic could have on individual businesses.

October is Workplace Health Month

With increasing pressures both at home and at work, many employees feel undervalued and stressed. This affects performance and productivity, as we know that happy, healthy employees are more likely to treat their customers well. They are also more likely to stay with their employers.

Considerate Termination

Donald Trump, The Man with the Toupee, who wanted to trademark the phrase “You’re Fired” from his reality TV show “The Apprentice,” has contributed another dubious phrase to the English language: “You’ve been Trumped.”

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