When many of us hear the word 鈥渉ealthy,鈥� it conjures up images of spending three hours a day in the gym and eating food with little or no flavour. Put 鈥渉ealthy鈥� together with 鈥渨orkplace,鈥� and we see our cookie and cake supply disappearing before our very eyes.
The team in Management Career Services (MCS) knows there鈥檚 more to a healthy workplace than just eating right and exercising. Their efforts to incorporate several aspects of health into their daily routines have won them the first Dalhousie Healthy Workplace Award.
鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to be chosen,鈥� says MCS Director Anna Cranston. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always nice to be recognized for your efforts.鈥�
Award-winning efforts
Ms. Cranston leads by example, and she understands the value of supporting her team when it comes to health-related ideas.
"Everyone has a responsibility to make their workplace healthy,鈥� she says. 鈥淎s a manager, I keep an open mind to any ideas brought forward and support the goals my team set themselves as much as possible.鈥�
And this relatively small team of 12 certainly engages in a lot of activities: lunchtime walks/skating parties, healthy potlucks, recipe exchanges, physical team-building activities, community days of service and lunches that explore different cultural food, just to name a few.
How do they manage to find the time for everything? 鈥淢any of these activities really don鈥檛 take much time to plan or execute, they just need a small amount of focus,鈥� says Ms. Cranston. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to be happy at work. Healthy activities make us feel better and we鈥檙e happier as a result.鈥�
MCS team member Ally Howard agrees that finding time can be challenging. 鈥淚f you plan ahead, it makes it much easier,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to sit at your desk all day, so you have to step outside your comfort zone. If you can, bring a pair of sneakers to leave at your desk for short walks during the day. Give it a chance: you鈥檒l be surprised at the reward that comes from doing a bit of exercise.鈥�
If a little competition is what gets you motivated, go for it, says Lori Bauld, another MCS team member. 鈥淵ou have to make healthy activities fun,鈥� she says. 鈥淗ave a team competition or compete against one other person, and you鈥檙e even more likely to get moving.鈥�
Celebrating Healthy Workplaces
The Healthy Workplace Award was established with the goal of celebrating the above-and-beyond efforts of Dalhousie departments like Management Career Services.
鈥淏y recognizing and sharing what departments are doing, we鈥檙e raising the awareness of what a healthy workplace looks like,鈥� says Janice MacInnis, coordinator of organizational health at Dalhousie.
Ms. MacInnis knew that many departments were already living examples of healthy workplaces, and she wanted to have a way to not only celebrate those, but to show their examples to the rest of Dalhousie.
She brought her idea for the award to the Healthy Workplace Collaborative, a committee of faculty andstaff representatives from across campus who work together to promote health at Dalhousie. The committee developed a selection process based on six dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, interpersonal/social, spiritual and environmental.
鈥淭he six dimensions take the whole person into account, not just the physical health,鈥� Ms. MacInnis explains. 鈥淭his approach shows lots of ways to be healthy, and how healthy can take many different forms.鈥�
With eight submissions this year from a wide variety of departments, the process showed that many Dal units are already engaged in a healthy lifestyle. 鈥淲e鈥檙e so pleased that these departments took the time to submit their applications,鈥� says Ms. MacInnis. 鈥淢any team members were involved in the application process, which demonstrates the importance of a supportive environment.鈥�
As the first winner, the MCS team will have their department鈥檚 name engraved on a glass trophy of an apple, symbolizing health. They鈥檒l keep the trophy (and bragging rights) for the year, when it will be passed on to next year鈥檚 winner. They won鈥檛 be left empty-handed, however: they鈥檒l also receive a framed certificate as a permanent reminder of their accomplishments.
If you鈥檙e wondering how your department can ramp up some healthy efforts, Ms. MacInnis offers this advice: 鈥淔ind out what activities or areas your team is interested in, because people are more likely to get involved. Many activities have additional health benefits that you may not even know about.鈥�