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Ottawa, Ontario, October 13, 2004
www.healthyworkplaceweek.ca
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Fourth annual awareness week promotes fostering a workplace culture of trust and respect where people are happy and healthy at work! In a healthy workplace, people want to come to work.
“The pursuit of a healthy workplace is very much about achieving excellence and with excellence comes high organizational performance. The evidence is clear - the lack of a comprehensive approach to workplace health is having a negative impact on all aspects of work and society. Low morale, employee absenteeism, decreased productivity and high turnover create a ripple effect felt throughout society on families, our businesses and healthcare system,” says Dan Corbett, President & CEO of the National Quality Institute (NQI).
The Week’s theme this year is “People Focus”, a key element in the Canadian Framework for a Healthy Workplace. This criteria was developed in partnership with Health Canada and NQI along with health professionals across Canada, including the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council. The criteria are also the basis for the Canada Awards for Excellence. A People focus ensures that organizations take a structured approach to improve and sustain the health of employees. Healthy, engaged employees will be more productive, morale will improve, and employees will make a contribution they know is valued.
Corbett notes “We know that the need to have a strategic, comprehensive and integrated approach to a healthy workplace will emerge in the next few years as being the mainstream of how organizations think about their mandate and their strategic future. While more and more organizations are moving forward in this area, the reality is that most organizations in Canada have not moved beyond the historical approach to occupational health & safety, with specific programs that are set up as corrective rather than preventative.”
A recent Statistics Canada report on the average days lost per worker indicates that healthcare and social assistance workers missed on average 12.5 days at work where the mean is 8.0 days. The BC Auditor General recently noted in its report In Sickness and in Health that the direct cost of absenteeism and injury to the health authorities in BC in 2002/3 was $247 million and the total indirect cost is nearly $1 billion annually. If one extrapolates the BC numbers for the whole of Canada, the issue takes on major policy implications in the political debate on the state of the healthcare system in Canada. And that is only one sector!
Another recent study sponsored by Health Canada involving 31,000 people and conducted by Linda Duxbury of Carleton University and Chris Higgins from the University of Western Ontario, indicates that when it comes to the issue of work life balance, work is the winner. The study showed that work-life conflict costs companies $6 - $10 billion a year in increased absenteeism – one-third of which is due to employees taking “mental health days”.
A recent article by Dr. Graham Lowe says, “The evidence shows many working Canadians continue to suffer ill health, at least in part, because of what goes on in their jobs”. Such studies, and there are many more, show a negative statistical trend about the state of workplace health in Canada.
The Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX) has been studying executive health in the federal Public Service since 1997. These studies confirm a negative state of workplace health and the need for systemic changes to create healthier organizations. Of particular interest is the significant increase in rates for coronary and cardiovascular diseases, especially hypertension. In 2002, one in five executives had recently been diagnosed with some form of cardiovascular disease.
Some enlightened organizations are doing something about it! For instance, Canada Awards for Excellence (CAE) recipient DaimlerChrysler and the CAW in Windsor have produced numerous employee initiatives such as enhanced health and safety programs and policies, education and training programs, on-site health and wellness services and environmental programs and policies. “The CAW/DaimlerChrysler partnership on health, safety, wellness and the environment shows our collective commitment to the health and safety of CAW members, their families and their communities,” says Buzz Hargrove, National President of the CAW.
Another CAE winner, Delta Hotels believes in the value of its people and their health, “This focus is an integral part of our culture that results in improvements to both employee and guest satisfaction, and makes good business sense too” says company President John Pye.
The mission of Canada’s Healthy Workplace Week is “To promote a comprehensive and integrated approach to workplace health in order to improve and sustain the health of Canadian organizations, their work environments and their employees”.
Canada’s Healthy Workplace week is overseen by the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council, and is administered by National Quality Institute (NQI), Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety (CCOHS) and the Health Work & Wellness Conference (HWWC). The week is partially funded through sponsors, notably Platinum sponsor Standard Life, and Gold sponsors Canada Post, Dofasco, GlobalMedic and the Canadian Medical Association, GreatWestLife, GlaxoSmithKline, Purolator Courier Ltd., Sun Life Financial, and Watson Wyatt.
The web site for Canada’s Healthy Workplace Week (www.healthyworkplaceweek.ca) provides short-term practical tools and ideas for organizations to participate in the Week, as well as long-term strategies and case studies to encourage companies to embrace a comprehensive and integrated approach to organizational health.
For more information, contact:
Dan Corbett, President & CEO, National Quality Institute
1-800-263-9648 or 416-251-7600 ext 230
Corbett.dan@nqi.ca
Allan Smofsky, Chair, Canadian Healthy Workplace Council
905-337-7416
asmofsky@cogeco.ca
ON FRENCH VERSION
Contact:
Michele Parent, Standard Life
514-499-4273
Michele.parent@standardlife.ca
Allan Smofsky, Chair, Canadian Healthy Workplace Council
905-337-7416
asmofsky@cogeco.ca
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En Francais
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