Jun. 26, 2017 "Awards highlight healthy workplaces": Today I found this article by Paul Attfield in the Globe and Mail:
Nine companies of varying sizes and sectors win top prize at the inaugural Employee Recommended Workplace Award ceremony
At many award shows, writing a winning submission has almost turned into a scientific process.
That was never going to be the case at the very first Employee Recommended Workplace Awards, held on Wednesday in Toronto.
“We thought, why don’t we go right to the people who can tell the story, directly to employees and ask their opinion on whether their work force is thriving?” said Randal Phillips, executive vicepresident and chief client officer for Morneau Shepell, which is cocreator of the award with The Globe and Mail, and sponsored the inaugural event.
There were 32 finalists from across Canada that earned the distinction of being called an Employee Recommended Workplace based on the results of a survey taken by their employees that was based on four pillars of health: physical health, mental health, health in the workplace and life health.
From those finalists, nine companies were celebrated for coming out on top based on their size and type of business.
“It shows we have an environment where people know that we are there for them, to support them throughout their work life and that’s our ultimate goal,” said Sheri Keffer, director of people and culture for Waterloo, Ont.based Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. The institute won the mid-sized company category in the not-for-profit/government sector.
“We all benefit from the programs we do and being recognized by the employees is the best recognition.”
That attitude was echoed by the representative team at Sklar Wilton & Associates, a Toronto-based consumer insights company. Already named by Great Places to Work as Canada’s best workplace in the small business category for 2017, Sklar Wilton very much puts its employees at the forefront of its consideration in everything it does. In winning the Employee Recommended Workplace Award for being the top small employer in the private-company category, its focus has clearly paid off.
“We knew intuitively this was the right thing to do because people are what we’re all about,” said Sarah Liverance, partner at Sklar Wilton. “We’re not manufacturing widgets or anything like that. People are all we have and their intellectual power and their energy. So it was validation that we’re doing the right thing.”
For some companies, putting employees first is something they have always believed in, long before awards came into the picture. For those companies, that strategy also brings its own rewards, above and beyond improving employee satisfaction and production.
“[It] just really shows our employees how much they mean to us and how it means to Lomas to win the award because we really take pride in how we treat our employees and how our [staff] turnover is so incredibly low,” said Candace Steinhaur, manager for human resources at L.V. Lomas. The Brampton, Ont.based ingredients supplier won as the top mid-sized firm in the private-sector category.
For some of the bigger companies, putting in place wide-reaching programs that can positively impact every member of staff isn’t always the simplest task. But for any company, big or small, taking the time to do so can have a marked impact on everything from the bottom line to the reputation of the business.
For Nestlé Canada Inc., which took home the award for top large employer in the publiccompany sector, putting an emphasis on workplace wellness is important, because health and wellness issues affect the individuals, their families and ultimately, their work.
“Our executives, leaders, managers make a point to be available, to listen, to encourage new ideas and we want to continue to foster that ongoing relationship with our company to ensure that we grow forward,” said Carl Jafrabad, director of compensation, pension and benefits at Nestlé Canada.
“Nestlé’s been around for 150 years. We hope to be around for at least another 150 and this constant evolution keeps us moving forward.” Although the first year of the award has come to a close, organizations can register now for the second year of the Employee Recommended Workplace Award by going to the award website at employeerecommended.com
Jul. 7, 2017 "What's the corporate first- aid kit for mental- health emergencies?": Today I found this article by Guy Dixon in the Globe and Mail:
Most corporate offices have a first-aid kit somewhere, stocked with Band-Aids. Most also have policies readily in place allowing time off for physical ailments and will spring for ergonomic seats or standing desks for people in physical discomfort.
But where’s the first-aid kit for mental-health emergencies? And what would that even look like?
Lisa Couperthwaite, a clinical psychologist at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, noted that a kit in this sense consists of training for employees in how to help someone experiencing a mental-health issue. We, in effect, are the Band-Aids.
“With mental-health first aid, it’s much more about the interpersonal interaction between people and the informal support that our colleagues provide,” she said, speaking at a panel discussion on mental-health issues in the workplace sponsored by the University of New Brunswick.
The panel was part of The Globe and Mail’s human-resources summit, Solving Workplace Challenges in the Modern Economy, held on June 21. The summit also hosted the presentation of the 2017 Employee Recommended Workplace Awards, which recognizes companies that put the health and wellness of their employees first, which was co-created by The Globe and human-resources consulting firm Morneau Shepell.
The panel was part of The Globe and Mail’s human-resources summit, Solving Workplace Challenges in the Modern Economy, held on June 21. The summit also hosted the presentation of the 2017 Employee Recommended Workplace Awards, which recognizes companies that put the health and wellness of their employees first, which was co-created by The Globe and human-resources consulting firm Morneau Shepell.
“A lot of the interventions that we use to respond to people who are having a mental-health issue are the same things that we can use to build resiliency and build collaboration. [They] really can help the bottom line for the organization,” she said.
“It’s not just good for the person with the mental-health issue. It’s good for the entire culture, organization and competitiveness, performance, all of that,” she added. For instance, a mental-health incident can arise during an intensely stressful moment at work.
It’s an everyday occupational mental hazard in any office and, in fact, often adds purpose and meaning to work. Yet, people may respond very differently to stress. “There’s a threat response,” Dr. Couperthwaite said. “There’s also a challenge response where people really rise to the challenge, and they are at their best in terms of performance. There’s also tend-and-befriend responses, reaching out to one another and being supportive and creative in that culture.
It’s an everyday occupational mental hazard in any office and, in fact, often adds purpose and meaning to work. Yet, people may respond very differently to stress. “There’s a threat response,” Dr. Couperthwaite said. “There’s also a challenge response where people really rise to the challenge, and they are at their best in terms of performance. There’s also tend-and-befriend responses, reaching out to one another and being supportive and creative in that culture.
“Then there’s also the blah,” she says, imagining an employee who has a deflated response to stress. “Those are the employees we really need to worry about.”
This can make a first-aid response more nuanced, since someone experiencing severe problems may become withdrawn. That’s where training can perhaps help colleagues to recognize this in others and offer support, Dr. Couperthwaite indicated.
The aim, in the end, is to make supporting mental-health issues as normal as physical ones. To try to help that, Louise Bradley, president and chief executive officer of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, noted the psychological safety standard released by her organization in collaboration with the Canadian Standards Association.
It is like the occupational health and safety standard, but for psychological issues. In addition to providing voluntary guidelines and resources for companies, it notes training programs such as Mental Health First Aid – all of which can be found on the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s website.
It is like the occupational health and safety standard, but for psychological issues. In addition to providing voluntary guidelines and resources for companies, it notes training programs such as Mental Health First Aid – all of which can be found on the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s website.
However, panelist Bill Howatt, chief research and development officer of work force productivity at Morneau Shepell, added that one of the biggest barriers in all of this is people not even knowing that they have a mentalhealth issue.
Opening up a dialogue in the workplace can help identify problems, not in terms of self-diagnosis, but in how individuals respond to difficult circumstances. So it’s not about people asking themselves, “Do I have depression or anxiety?”
Opening up a dialogue in the workplace can help identify problems, not in terms of self-diagnosis, but in how individuals respond to difficult circumstances. So it’s not about people asking themselves, “Do I have depression or anxiety?”
“It’s about how they are actually processing their workplace, how they are actually processing their experience with their peers, how they’re dealing with their financial health, how they’re dealing with mental health,” Mr. Howatt said.
Although the first year of the award has come to a close, organizations can register now for the second year of the Employee Recommended Workplace Award by going to the award website at employeerecommended.com
Although the first year of the award has come to a close, organizations can register now for the second year of the Employee Recommended Workplace Award by going to the award website at employeerecommended.com
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