wellbeing. Employers should take ownership over creating a
positive workplace environment that promotes positive cop-ing
strategies and education to move past negative stress and
prevent prolonged periods of distress from occurring.
The white paper, The stress factor and its impact on employees’
mental and physical health, can be downloaded here.
FIFTY-SEVEN PER CENT OF CANADIAN
COMPANIES OFFER FEWER HEALTH AND
WELLNESS PROGRAMS THAN FIVE YEARS AGO
Companies that aren’t focusing on employee health and wellness
should make it a priority for 2018. In a recent survey from staffing
firm OfficeTeam, more than half of Canadian HR managers (57
per cent) reported their organization has decreased their health
and wellness offerings in the past five years.
HR managers were also asked to name the most innovative
thing they’ve heard of a company doing to support employee
health and wellness. Here are some of their responses:
■■ Offering onsite exercise, meditation, yoga and healthy
cooking classes
■■ Providing free massages
■■ Having trained healthcare providers in the office
■■ Providing additional days off for mental health
■■ Offering onsite personal trainers
■■ Contributing healthy onsite snack and meal options
“As expectations for workplace wellbeing evolve, companies
have an opportunity to significantly impact their employees’ overall
health and happiness at work,” said Koula Vasilopoulos, a district
president for OfficeTeam. “Organizations that make wellness a
priority, and empower staff with resources that encourage healthy
living at and outside the office, ultimately promote an attractive
work environment and a more productive and loyal workforce.”
Additional findings:
■■ Employees cited food at office celebrations and snacks brought
in by colleagues as the biggest obstacles to meeting health and
wellness goals
■■ Nearly a third of professionals said they eat healthier when
they work from home. Of all respondent groups, male
employees and those ages 18 to 34 reported this most often.
■■ More than three-quarters of professionals bring their lunch
to the office. Women were more likely than men to pack
their meals.
■■ While more than a third of employees are fans of the office
candy jar, the same percentage have a love-hate relationship
with it. Workers ages 18 to 34 are especially enthusiastic about
this supply of sweets.
HELPING INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO GET SKILLS TRAINING
AND WORK EXPERIENCE
A strong economy depends on a strong middle class where ev-erybody
has a real and fair chance to succeed. Despite being the
fastest growing segment of the country’s population, Indigenous
peoples continue to be underrepresented in Canada’s workforce.
That’s why recently, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister
of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, together
with Don Rusnak, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of
Indigenous Services and Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-
Rainy River, announced funding for a new project to help around
60 unemployed and under-employed Indigenous peoples get the
skills and work experience they need to find and keep good jobs.
Through the Skills and Partnership Fund, $2.5 million will
be provided to Hardy Giles Consulting to support Operation
Innovation, a project delivered in partnership with training pro-vider
Workplace Training and Safety First and industry partner
LTL Contracting Ltd. The project will train participants in sim-ulated
heavy equipment operation roles and will help them gain
work experience in the natural resource extraction industry. The
project also includes strategies to help address the challenges
Indigenous women face in securing long-term, meaningful em-ployment
in the mining, construction and forestry industries.
“Operation Innovation is breaking down barriers for Indigenous
people wanting careers in mining, construction or resource devel-opment
projects. Our team focuses on the workforce integration
process,” said Paul Giles of Hardy Giles Consulting. “We act as
a communication and connection mechanism, bridging the gap
between Indigenous people and employers. We promote opportu-nity
and career while connecting individuals to supports to ensure
they achieve success.” n
news
IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE SHIFT OUR
THINKING TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE
MANY WAYS IN WHICH AN INDIVIDUAL
CAN USE STRESS POSITIVELY, SIMPLY
BY CHANGING THEIR PERSPECTIVE.
– DR. BILL HOWATT
10 ❚ FEBRUARY 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
/stress-factor-and-its-impact-employees’-mental-and-physical-health