Managing physical and psychological health interventions in the workplace
Daniel Langlais of the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ) and Elizabeth Rankin of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) described two new workplace standards designed to create physically and psychologically healthier workplaces. These standards can help employers “adopt practices that promote workplace health and enhance employee satisfaction and engagement,” Langlais said.
The Healthy Enterprise standard deals with health as a whole, while the Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace standard addresses mental health in particular. “It’s up to employers to customize these standards to suit their needs,” said Rankin.
According to Langlais, direct benefits of adopting a workplace health standard run the gamut from lower rates of absenteeism and turnover to a decrease in health and disability costs. Eliminating just one workplace risk factor can increase productivity by 9% and decrease absenteeism by 2%, he said. The indirect yield is “an improved work environment with more satisfied and engaged employees.”
Person by person
A schoolteacher in Hamilton, Ont., and a lifelong sufferer of bipolar disorder, Amanda Rogers devoted her presentation—the final talk of the day—to describing her own and her late brother’s difficulties in accessing the help they needed. “One of the problems with bipolar disorder is that when you’re depressed, you’re so miserable that you don’t reach out for help because you feel [as if] nobody likes you,” she said.
Referring to an employer’s legal mandate to “provide accommodations for mental issues for employees up to the point of undue hardship,” Rogers noted that “fear of prejudice is not a valid reason not to accommodate an employee.” In other words, an employer can’t claim undue hardship because “‘I don’t have a problem with you personally, but clients might.’”
Rogers, who works in an independent school, said her employer provides off-site counselling by appointment, 90% coverage for prescription medications, $500 per year for ancillary medical services, such as CBT, wellness seminars and on-site massages once a month. “Just the drug coverage has been a lifesaver—I would otherwise have to shell out $300 per month for meds,” she said. “And when we had an EAP person on-site, she listened to my rants for 10 years.”
These services made all the difference in Rogers’ life. “I absolutely love my job, and, thanks to my employer’s support, I’m able to do it well,” she said. Also key: “I’ve been granted a lot of flexibility in the job, allowing me to maximize my strengths rather than always working against my challenges.”
Rogers’ brother didn’t fare so well. Never given a definitive diagnosis, he got two master’s degrees but couldn’t stick to a job and ended up committing suicide through drug overdose. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here today,” Rogers said, “to make sure his voice is heard.”
Gabrielle Bauer is a freelance writer in Toronto. gbauer@sympatico.ca
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