NQI News - Ottawa, Ontario, October 18, 2005 www.healthyworkplaceweek.ca Canada’s Healthy Workplace Week - October 24 – 30: Fifth 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. And there are ways to monitor how organizations are measuring up. “Everyday more and more enlightened organizational leaders are understanding the business case in having a healthy workplace, and they are beginning to see the positive results that can be measured to mark progress and continuous improvement over time,” says Allan Ebedes, President & CEO of the National Quality Institute (NQI) and the Canada Awards for Excellence. “Measuring such elements as employee satisfaction, accident rates, benefit costs, employee engagement and participation, and employee health are solid quality management practices, and building healthy programming around results will help sustain excellence and high performance over time. A healthy workplace creates a positive, healthy working environment, where employees, their families and all Canadians will be healthier. And at the same time, the organization will also see a healthier bottom line.” The Week’s theme this year is “Healthy Outcomes”, a key element in the Canadian Framework for a Healthy Workplace. This Criteria was originally developed in partnership with Health Canada and this year health professionals across Canada, including the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council, have given NQI assistance in issuing a revised version. The criteria are also the basis for the Canada Awards for Excellence. An Outcomes 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. Ebedes notes “We know that to have a strategic, comprehensive and integrated approach to a healthy workplace makes good business sense. 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. While “quality” has been on the national agenda for over 20 years, having a healthy working environment is a relatively new concept – but a necessary one for organizations to attract the best people and to retain them”. Last year the BC Auditor General 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. The 2005 calendar year also marks the Year for Mental Health & Excellence at Work in Canada. Studies show that 1 out of 5 employees has a mental disorder, only 1 out of 8 employees receive effective mental health care intervention, and 25 out of 100 employees are disabled by a mental disorder. Early detection, prevention and healthy programs can make a difference in Canada. Some progressive 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. Other organizations such as Homewood Health Centre in Guelph, Ontario, a 2003 and 2005 Canada Awards for Excellence recipient, understand the importance of a culture of both quality and healthy workplace in creating a high performing organization. "As a leading mental health care facility with a focus on improving lives, good health and wellness have always been of paramount importance at Homewood," says Edgardo Pérez, CEO and Chief of Staff. "But we realize that improving the health of patients is not enough. To be successful as an organization, our staff, as caregivers, must also be healthy, both physically and mentally. Homewood's workplace culture embraces all aspects of health * physical, emotional and spiritual." 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”. The goals for Canada’s Healthy Workplace Week are:  Increase awareness of comprehensive workplace health in Canada  Build awareness of workplace health research and how its outcomes apply to business productivity  Through healthyworkplaceweek.ca generate awareness and use of the healthy workplace tools and resources available to Canadian organizations  Increase the number of healthy workplaces in Canada 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 sponsors Great-West Life Assurance Company and Toronto Hydro, as well as Gold sponsors: Dofasco, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Standard Life, Purolator, Canada Post, GlaxoSmith Kline and Sun Life Financial. 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: National Quality Institute Bonita Savard, 1-800-263-9648 or 416-251-7600 ext. 233 or Allan Ebedes, President & CEO, National Quality Institute 1-800-263-9648 or 416-251-7600 ext 230 cestnick.kathryn@nqi.ca Allan Smofsky, Chair, Canadian Healthy Workplace Council Chair, Canadian Healthy Workplace Council Tel: (905)337-7416 Fax: (905)337-7418 E-mail: asmofsky@cogeco.ca / asmofsky@affinitas.ca


	Monday, March 19, 2007




About NQI




News and Events

	Upcoming Events

	Media Releases

	Calendar of Events

	Event Sponsors




Training




Membership




Products and Tools




Canada Awards for Excellence




PEP Certification




Personnel Certification




Healthy Workplace




Assessment Services




Articles




View from the C-Suite




Roadmap to Excellence




Job Postings




Search




Contact Us




My Profile

NQI News and Events

October 15, 2005
Canada’s Healthy Workplace Week October 24 - 30





Ottawa, Ontario, October 18, 2005 www.healthyworkplaceweek.ca Canada’s Healthy Workplace Week - October 24 – 30: Fifth 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. And there are ways to monitor how organizations are measuring up. “Everyday more and more enlightened organizational leaders are understanding the business case in having a healthy workplace, and they are beginning to see the positive results that can be measured to mark progress and continuous improvement over time,” says Allan Ebedes, President & CEO of the National Quality Institute (NQI) and the Canada Awards for Excellence. “Measuring such elements as employee satisfaction, accident rates, benefit costs, employee engagement and participation, and employee health are solid quality management practices, and building healthy programming around results will help sustain excellence and high performance over time. A healthy workplace creates a positive, healthy working environment, where employees, their families and all Canadians will be healthier. And at the same time, the organization will also see a healthier bottom line.” The Week’s theme this year is “Healthy Outcomes”, a key element in the Canadian Framework for a Healthy Workplace. This Criteria was originally developed in partnership with Health Canada and this year health professionals across Canada, including the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council, have given NQI assistance in issuing a revised version. The criteria are also the basis for the Canada Awards for Excellence. An Outcomes 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. Ebedes notes “We know that to have a strategic, comprehensive and integrated approach to a healthy workplace makes good business sense. 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. While “quality” has been on the national agenda for over 20 years, having a healthy working environment is a relatively new concept – but a necessary one for organizations to attract the best people and to retain them”. Last year the BC Auditor General 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. The 2005 calendar year also marks the Year for Mental Health & Excellence at Work in Canada. Studies show that 1 out of 5 employees has a mental disorder, only 1 out of 8 employees receive effective mental health care intervention, and 25 out of 100 employees are disabled by a mental disorder. Early detection, prevention and healthy programs can make a difference in Canada. Some progressive 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. Other organizations such as Homewood Health Centre in Guelph, Ontario, a 2003 and 2005 Canada Awards for Excellence recipient, understand the importance of a culture of both quality and healthy workplace in creating a high performing organization. "As a leading mental health care facility with a focus on improving lives, good health and wellness have always been of paramount importance at Homewood," says Edgardo Pérez, CEO and Chief of Staff. "But we realize that improving the health of patients is not enough. To be successful as an organization, our staff, as caregivers, must also be healthy, both physically and mentally. Homewood's workplace culture embraces all aspects of health * physical, emotional and spiritual." 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”. The goals for Canada’s Healthy Workplace Week are:  Increase awareness of comprehensive workplace health in Canada  Build awareness of workplace health research and how its outcomes apply to business productivity  Through healthyworkplaceweek.ca generate awareness and use of the healthy workplace tools and resources available to Canadian organizations  Increase the number of healthy workplaces in Canada 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 sponsors Great-West Life Assurance Company and Toronto Hydro, as well as Gold sponsors: Dofasco, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Standard Life, Purolator, Canada Post, GlaxoSmith Kline and Sun Life Financial. 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: National Quality Institute Bonita Savard, 1-800-263-9648 or 416-251-7600 ext. 233 or Allan Ebedes, President & CEO, National Quality Institute 1-800-263-9648 or 416-251-7600 ext 230 [email protected] Allan Smofsky, Chair, Canadian Healthy Workplace Council Chair, Canadian Healthy Workplace Council Tel: (905)337-7416 Fax: (905)337-7418 E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]

Go to Latest News

Legal Notice | Privacy Policy