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| The Last Word |  |
A message from the director of Human Resources
Wellness and working well - An update
 |
|
Gerard McDonald |
With
the strong support of the president and his colleagues on the university’s
senior executive team, the Department of Human Resources began a process
in early 2002 of determining how Memorial could make a stronger commitment
to workplace wellness. In his Working Well message in the August 2002
issue of The Communicator, Dr. Meisen reiterated his interest in doing
this and the importance of providing employees with opportunities for
leading healthier and more active lives.
Last May the Department of Human Resources formed a Working Group on Wellness
and Active Living. The mandate of this group was to assist the department
in the development of a strategy and long-term approach to wellness and
active living within the university. With the helpful support and guidance
of this group over the past several months, our department is now close
to bringing forward a proposal for the consideration of the university’s
senior administration.
Consultation and analysis
The Working Group has considered a lot of information, including the results
of research done elsewhere and the practices of other employers in the
area of workplace wellness. However, two other key inputs to their considerations
were the results of our surveys of employees and pensioners, and general
information from our health plan provider regarding utilization trends,
key disease states, and modifiable health risk factors.
A wealth of helpful information was obtained from the 1,861 employees
and 368 pensioners who responded to our wellness and active living surveys.
These results were very helpful in understanding employee wellness priorities,
as well as employees’ and pensioners’ views regarding the
types of initiatives and programs they feel would be most helpful. A synopsis
of the survey results is presented in another article in this issue.
Summary health plan information provided by Atlantic Blue Cross Care was
also quite valuable in helping us understand the medical and other conditions
affecting employee health and wellness at Memorial. More importantly,
this information provided important insight into the health risk factors
related to these conditions which are potentially modifiable. To a large
extent, the trends revealed by this information are typical of other employers
and their employees, and are not unique to Memorial University.
Where to from here?
Several things will be important to the long-term success of a workplace
wellness strategy. Ultimately, a focus on wellness must be part of an
organizational culture that is university wide and self-sustaining on
a long-term basis. An active, university-wide Wellness Advisory Committee;
an active network of local wellness groups or committees; and a significant,
ongoing emphasis on wellness education and promotion can be expected to
form part of our effort to develop a stronger culture around the value
of workplace wellness.
We recognize that one size does not fit all. There are many dimensions
to personal wellness, including the physical, mental and spiritual. When
it comes to physical activity, we know as well that there are many ways
in which one can become more active – physical activity is not limited
to running, walking and working out in a gym. With these thoughts in mind,
we have focused on developing an approach which is multi-faceted in nature
and which addresses personal health and wellness through a number of different,
but integrated initiatives.
The tangible organizational results we hope to achieve through a wellness
program will not come about immediately. Indeed, our timeframe should
realistically be in the range of two to three years as a minimum. However,
with strong support and leadership at senior levels and the participation
and support of employees themselves, a measured, patient approach to developing
our strategy over time will hopefully yield the results we are seeking
both as individuals and as an organization.
Over the next several weeks, I hope to be able to communicate more details
regarding the university’s plans in this area.