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Past Newsletters:

Graham Lowe's report on wood buildings, health and productivity (June 5, 2020)

My new report, Wood, Well-being and Performance: The Human and Organizational Benefits of Wood Buildings, documents the health and productivity impacts of using wood in offices, schools, healthcare and commercial buildings.
 

The report shows how…
Graham Lowe's report on wood buildings, health and productivity

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
Newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group

June 2020

My new report, Wood, Well-being and Performance: The Human and Organizational Benefits of Wood Buildings, documents the health and productivity impacts of using wood in offices, schools, healthcare and commercial buildings.

 

The report shows how increasing our use of wood and nature-inspired materials can be good for our health. The approach,  referred to as biophilic design, is characterized by abundant sunlight, views to nature and incorporation of natural materials, such as wood, into our buildings. Studies show such design elements are correlated with lower blood pressure, improved performance, and positive neurological, physiological and psychological outcomes.

The report summarizes the latest scientific research and converging trends on biophilic design. It explores wood’s impact on well-being and human performance when it is a design feature visible to a building’s occupants. Architects, interior designers, researchers, civic leaders, facility managers and anyone interested in developing and supporting healthy and productive learning, working and healing environments can benefit from this latest resource.

The report was sponsored by Forestry Innovation Investment, an agency of the Government of British Columbia with a mission to maintain, create and diversify markets for BC forest products to ensure the forest sector continues to be a key contributor to the B.C. economy. 

View the report here


** You can purchase my new book, Creating Healthy Organizations, at a discount of 35% directly from the publisher, University of Toronto Press. Offer good until June 15th
 
Copyright © 2020 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Email: glowe@grahamlowe.ca
Phone: 250-717-7371

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Healthy Organization Resources from Graham Lowe (May 18, 2020)

Three Healthy Organization Resources, now available on my website:


1. Action Checklist for Building Healthy Organizations



This Action Checklist is designed to help change agents during all stages of developing, implementing, and improving a…
Healthy Organization Resources from Graham Lowe

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
Newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group

May 2020

Three Healthy Organization Resources, now available on my website:


1. Action Checklist for Building Healthy Organizations

  • This Action Checklist is designed to help change agents during all stages of developing, implementing, and improving a healthy organization change agenda. It addresses enabling conditions for change, the change process, and the scope and focus of interventions. Individual change agents, committees, teams, training workshops, or informal networks in an organization can use this checklist. You can adjust the actions listed in the checklist and the sequence in which you do them, adding other items to fit your organization’s specific context and goals. The checklist also provides you with a guide to the issues you will need to fully consider, discuss, and learn from. You may need to regularly revisit the checklist, updating it as you make progress.

2. Healthy Organization Assessment

  • The Healthy Organization Assessment can help you determine where your organization is on its path to promoting employee well-being and achieving sustainable performance into the future. This tool focuses on the building blocks of a healthy organization – vibrant workplaces, inspired employees, inclusive leadership, and positive culture – and the concept of sustainable success. You can use the tool individually, fill it in as a team or at a wellness or OHS committee meeting, use it in leadership development sessions, or as a planning tool. Use your results to help strategize how to move further down your healthy organization path. The assessment will focus your attention on identifying the strengths you can build on, where improvements need to be made, and potential barriers to change that you will need to overcome.

3. Guiding Principles for Creating Healthy Organizations

  • This one-page handout summarizes evidence-based guidelines that can help to inform your healthy organization planning and actions. Like my Assessment tool and Checklist, it can be used by individuals, teams, committees or in training and development sessions. For more information on how to create a healthier organization, see my book: Creating Healthy Organizations: Taking Action to Improve Employee Well-being. (University of Toronto Press, 2020). For details go to: www.grahamlowe.ca  

 
Copyright © 2020 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Email: glowe@grahamlowe.ca
Phone: 250-717-7371

Twitter: @healthyorgs







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The Graham Lowe Group · 1537 Lakeview Street · Kelowna, BC V1Y 6N1 · Canada

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My new book on CREATING HEALTHY ORGANIZATIONS is now available (April 7, 2020)

Now available: my new book on Creating Healthy Organizations

The thoroughly revised and expanded 2nd edition of my book, Creating Healthy Organizations: Taking Action to Improve Employee Well-Being, has just been published by University of Toronto…
My new book on CREATING HEALTHY ORGANIZATIONS is now available

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
Newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group

 April 2020

Now available: my new book on Creating Healthy Organizations

The thoroughly revised and expanded 2nd edition of my book, Creating Healthy Organizations: Taking Action to Improve Employee Well-Being, has just been published by University of Toronto Press. The new book provides a practical analysis of how to actually create a healthier organization that promotes total employee well-being, the hurdles that must be overcome along the way, and the key success factors that can guide the process.

I begin the book by posing this question: How can you future-proof your organization by making it humanly sustainable? Creating Healthy Organizations answers this question, showing how to forge stronger links between employee well-being and the future success of any organization. The book makes a compelling case for resilient and humanly sustainable businesses by focusing on improving employees’ well-being.

This question takes on new urgency now that we’ve been blind-sided by the coronavirus pandemic. The principles of a healthy organization can be especially helpful as you navigate through this massive social and economic upheaval, planning how to position your workers and organization for a robust recovery.


Recent workplace trends highlight the need for an updated, concise, integrated and practical analysis of the challenges of creating a healthier organization, the hurdles that must be overcome along the way, and the key success factors that can guide the improvement process. Creating Healthy Organizations, Revised and Expanded Edition fills this gap in knowledge and practice, guiding those individuals and teams committed to making their organizations healthier and more humanly sustainable.

Read an Excerpt 

Order Your Copy

See the publisher’s trailer on YouTube 

Read my blog on Healthy Organizational Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic

 
Copyright © 2020 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Email: glowe@grahamlowe.ca
Phone: 250-717-7371

Twitter: @healthyorgs







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The Graham Lowe Group · 1537 Lakeview Street · Kelowna, BC V1Y 6N1 · Canada

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Revised and Expanded edition of Creating Healthy Organizations (February 10, 2020)

My new book, Creating Healthy Organizations: Taking Action to Improve Employee Well-being, is now available to pre-order. It will be published in April 2020.

 
 
Revised and Expanded edition of Creating Healthy Organizations

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
Newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group

 February 2020

My new book, Creating Healthy Organizations: Taking Action to Improve Employee Well-being, is now available to pre-order. It will be published in April 2020.


 

 

 
Copyright © 2019 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Email: glowe@grahamlowe.ca
Phone: 250-717-7371

Twitter: @healthyorgs







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The Graham Lowe Group · 1537 Lakeview Street · Kelowna, BC V1Y 6N1 · Canada

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Free Webinar: Trust as the Foundation for Mental Wellness at Work (May 23, 2019)

Trust as the Foundation for Mental Wellness at Work  
 

I am pleased to be contributing to a free webinar on Trust as the Foundation for Mental Wellness at Work, hosted by Great Place to Work Canada. The webinar is scheduled for 10 am Pacific (1…
Free Webinar: Trust as the Foundation for Mental Wellness at Work

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
Newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group

 May 2019

Trust as the Foundation for Mental Wellness at Work  

 

I am pleased to be contributing to a free webinar on Trust as the Foundation for Mental Wellness at Work, hosted by Great Place to Work Canada. The webinar is scheduled for 10 am Pacific (1 pm Eastern) on May 28th.

 

The webinar will explore the relationship between workplace trust, employee engagement, and mental well-being. I will be drawing on insights from  GPTW’s Trust Index survey, which is used to compile the annual lists of Best Workplaces In Canada. I will be co-presenting the webinar with Alison Grenier, Head of Culture and Research, Great Place to Work Canada.
 

 For more information on the webinar, go to: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6535204932402970625/

 

To register (at no cost) go to: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3949817800688737293

 

As background, you may be interested in my HR Professional article on how high-trust workplaces promote employee well-being. To download article PDF:
http://grahamlowe.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/HR_Professional_February_2019_Lowe.pdf
 
Copyright © 2019 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Email: glowe@grahamlowe.ca
Phone: 250-717-7371

Twitter: @healthyorgs







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The Graham Lowe Group · 1537 Lakeview Street · Kelowna, BC V1Y 6N1 · Canada

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HR Professional article & Conference Board webinar by Graham Lowe (March 4, 2019)

NEW ARTICLE: High-trust workplaces promote employee well-being
Read my HR Professional article on how high-trust workplaces promote employee well-being. Using data from Great Place to Work Institute's Trust Index survey, I show that a trust-based…
HR Professional article & Conference Board webinar by Graham Lowe

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
e-newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group

 March 2019

NEW ARTICLE: High-trust workplaces promote employee well-being

Read my HR Professional article on how high-trust workplaces promote employee well-being. Using data from Great Place to Work Institute's Trust Index survey, I show that a trust-based culture is essential for achieving a psychologically healthy and safe workplace, as defined by the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. To download article PDF:
http://grahamlowe.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/HR_Professional_February_2019_Lowe.pdf  
 
LIVE WEBINAR: Canadian Workers’ Perspective on What Makes Their Workplaces Healthy and Safe
 
I will be presenting this webinar, hosted by the Conference Board of Canada, March 12, 2019 at 02:00 PM EDT (60 minutes)

At a time when Canadian employers are striving for a more comprehensive and integrated approach to workplace health and safety, it is essential to know how workers assess these key features of their workplace. This webinar will present new survey evidence that fills important gaps in our understanding of what constitutes a healthy and safe workplace..

Webinar Highlights:

·         how workers assess the overall health and safety of their workplace
·         how these perceptions are closely related
·         the key factors associated with a workplace that is both healthy and safe
·         how these workplace features contribute to overall worker well-being

Practical implications for human resource management, occupational health and safety systems, and workplace wellness strategies will be highlighted.

For more information and to register: https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=10122

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Copyright © 2018 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Our email is: info@grahamlowe.ca
Our phone number is: 250-448-5636







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New Project on the Evolution of EAP (June 11, 2018)

NEW PROJECT: The Evolution of EAP

 

My colleague Dr. Mark Attridge is updating his widely-used Purchaser’s Guide to EAPs, published by the Employee Assistance Society of North America (EASNA) in 2009. Mark is one of the leading experts on the…
New Project on the Evolution of EAP

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
e-newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group

June 2018

NEW PROJECT: The Evolution of EAP

 
My colleague Dr. Mark Attridge is updating his widely-used Purchaser’s Guide to EAPs, published by the Employee Assistance Society of North America (EASNA) in 2009. Mark is one of the leading experts on the EAP industry. 


As part of his research for this new edition of the Purchaser’s Guide to EAPs, Mark has developed a short survey to obtain input from individuals in Canada and the US who are familiar with the EAP industry. I have offered to send an invitation to Graham Lowe Group e-newsletter subscribers, with the hope that those of you with knowledge of the Canadian or US EAP industry will provide Mark with your views on how EAP has been evolving. 

 
Specifically, this new survey for EASNA asks for your input on two issues: 1) How the employee assistance program (EAP) industry has evolved over the past 30 years; and 2) What themes should be featured as Mark updates the first edition of the Purchaser’s Guide to EAPs.
 
The survey will take about 10 minutes of your time.

  

Here is the LINK TO SURVEY
Or you can paste this link into your browser: 

https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4354791/Evolution-of-EAP-Industry-EASNA-SURVEY

 

In addition to helping EASNA, you could win a $100 prize for completing the survey.
 

The 2009 original Purchaser’s Guide is available free at the EAP Digital Archive:

 

On behalf of Mark and EASNA, I would like to thank your time and input. 
 

 

Regards, GRAHAM LOWE

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Copyright © 2018 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Our email is: info@grahamlowe.ca
Our phone number is: 250-448-5636







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The Graham Lowe Group · 1537 Lakeview Street · Kelowna, BC V1Y 6N1 · Canada

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NEW OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION (April 12, 2018)

Research Report: Current and Future Labour Market Issues Facing the OHS Profession in BC’s Manufacturing Sector

This report presents findings from industry-led labour market research conducted by the Graham Lowe Group into the occupational health…
NEW OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
e-newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group
April 2018

Research Report: Current and Future Labour Market Issues Facing the OHS Profession in BC’s Manufacturing Sector

This report presents findings from industry-led labour market research conducted by the Graham Lowe Group into the occupational health and safety (OHS) labour market needs of British Columbia’s manufacturing sector. Click here to download the full report.

The research was undertaken by a Sector Labour Market Partnership (Sector LMP) led by the Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC, with oversight provided by a Steering Committee consisting of representation from manufacturing firms, industry and business associations, labour organizations and post-secondary educational institutions.

The future of BC’s manufacturing sector depends on how effectively companies meet a number of significant economic, technological, workforce and regulatory trends. These trends present significant OHS risks and challenges. It is essential that manufacturers are able to acquire the expertise and resources needed to address these issues. Indeed, improvements in workplace safety are a precondition for a thriving manufacturing sector in BC, especially given the relatively high injury rates in the industry today.

Information was gathered through a survey of BC manufacturers, 5 regional focus groups and 13 key-informant interviews. Background research included an analysis of relevant statistical data and a review of academic and grey literature on OHS topics relevant to manufacturing.

Based on this research, the report identifies seven practical implications for BC manufacturers and industry partners, including:

  1. Training effectiveness. Given that OHS training is essential for workplace safety, its effectiveness could be improved by incorporating more options for individual self-paced and internet-based learning in short modules. Evaluation should be incorporated into all OHS training in order to determine if learning and behavioural change goals are being met, and to identify opportunities for improvement.
  2. Mid-career entry into OHS roles. The prevalence of mid-career transitions into OHS roles for manufacturing workers signals a continued and possibly growing need for certificate programs as a convenient route to upgrading OHS knowledge and skills. Manufacturing-specific courses could meet some of the requirements for one or more existing OHS post-secondary programs.
  3. Safety certifications. Health and safety management systems contribute to a safe workplace. Encouraging the adoption of OHS management systems through safety certifications is one pathway to improved OHS performance.
  4. Joint health and safety committees. These committees have a positive influence on a firm’s safety performance. To be effective, committee members require appropriate education and training, must feel empowered, and need resources and capabilities to monitor leading safety indicators.
  5. Regional resources. The availability of regionally-based safety advisors and other shared resources are crucial for small and medium-size firms (SMEs) to acquire the OHS expertise they require to implement OHS management systems, provide employee training and embark upon a safety certification process.
  6. OHS value proposition. Helping senior management understand the value of OHS – and the crucial role that OHS professionals play in delivering that value – is an on-going challenge in BC and in other jurisdictions. Project partners can help to address this challenge by developing an OHS ‘value proposition’ for BC manufacturers, which defines the core competencies of an OHS professional in manufacturing. 
  7. Target SMEs. Also required is on-going education and awareness-raising efforts targeted at SMEs, especially medium-size firms given their relatively high lost-time injury rates. It may be helpful to approach OHS as a quality improvement initiative. Developing easy-to-use diagnostic tools would also help SMEs to identify opportunities to make their workplaces safer.
Copyright © 2018 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Our email is: info@grahamlowe.ca
Our phone number is: 250-448-5636







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The Graham Lowe Group · 1537 Lakeview Street · Kelowna, BC V1Y 6N1 · Canada

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New Talent Management Resources From Graham Lowe (March 23, 2018)

NEW RESOURCES LINKING WELL-BEING AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

ARTICLE – The Role of Employee Happiness in Talent Management

My March 19th article in ReWork examines the importance of focusing on employee well-being – or happiness – in talent…
New Talent Management Resources From Graham Lowe

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
e-newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group
March 2018

NEW RESOURCES LINKING WELL-BEING AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

ARTICLE
The Role of Employee Happiness in Talent Management

My March 19th article in ReWork examines the importance of focusing on employee well-being – or happiness – in talent management strategies. By taking this approach, talent management practices will be better able to cultivate the capabilities of each and every employee. The article provides six practical suggestions for how to simultaneously improve employee well-being, talent management and organizational performance.

Click here to read the article.

ReWork is published by Cornerstone. Major forces of transformation like mobile technology, collaborative learning and Big Data are shaping the way we work, pushing talent management strategy to the center of organizational success. ReWork is a useful guide to this changing industrial landscape, helping executives and HR leaders succeed in the new, tech-driven economy. You can sign up to receive ReWork free by clicking on the link above.

WEBINAR Working Smarter: Designing Work to Improve Well-being and Performance

Changes in Canadians’ jobs and workplaces are shaped by major economic and social trends. At the same time, there is considerable potential to maximize the upside of these trends by reimagining how we work.

Designing work to be more challenging, meaningful, skilled, collaborative and flexible will bring about improvements in organizational performance and workers’ well-being. As the OECD has argued, this must be a basic goal for all advanced industrial societies. Canada is ideally positioned to achieve this goal.

Canada’s well-educated workforce sets a high bar for talent management practices. This abundance of human resources should give employers a big competitive advantage in today’s information-driven economy. However, there is untapped opportunity to better enable workers to fully apply and further develop their capabilities. Finding ways to ‘work smarter’ will improve the quality of work-life, increase workers’ engagement and contributions – with positive results for organizational performance and society as a whole.

I will discuss the following topics in this interactive webinar:

  • The current state of work in Canada
  • How Canadian workers have experienced a tumultuous decade of change
  • Trends in the quality of work-life
  • Opportunities to improve both well-being and job performance
  • How to redesign work to close the 'capability gap' 

Time & Date: March 28, 2018 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. Click Here To Register (FREE)

This Webinar is sponsored by Cornerstone in partnership with Human Resources Director Canada.

Copyright © 2018 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Our email is: glowe@grahamlowe.ca
Our phone number is: 250-448-5636







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Are Hospital Employees’ Work Experience and Patient Experience Related? (October 24, 2017)

Here is an update on my research with NRC Health and Ontario hospitals. 

My article entitled Are Hospital Employees’ Work Experience and Patient Experience Related? was published today in Longwoods eLetter.

The key finding: The more engaged…
Are Hospital Employees’ Work Experience and Patient Experience Related?

Emerging workplace trends to watch

Work Environment
e-newsletter
The Graham Lowe Group
October 2017

Here is an update on my research with NRC Health and Ontario hospitals. 

My article entitled Are Hospital Employees’ Work Experience and Patient Experience Related? was published today in Longwoods eLetter.

The key finding: The more engaged employees are, the more positively they rate their hospital as a place to work, the more they trust their organization, the higher the perceived quality of patient care delivered by their unit, and the more they consider their work environment to be ‘patient centred’, the more likely it is that inpatients would recommend the hospital to family or friends and highly rate the quality of care they received. 


Click here to read the article.


I will be presenting an interactive 60 minute Webinar on this topic, sponsored by NRC Health: 
Thursday, November 2  |  11:00 AM ET  

Many hospitals have taken steps to cultivate a highly-engaged workforce, expecting that higher engagement translates into better patient care. While there is an abundance of evidence from other industries that engaged employees perform their jobs better, there is far less attention to this engagement – performance link in healthcare.

  • Understand how different indicators of employee engagement relate to each other.
  • Discover the relationship between levels of employee engagement and patient reported experience
  • Learn the science behind correlating employee experience items to a global rating question. 
 

Sincerely, GRAHAM LOWE

Copyright © 2013 The Graham Lowe Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Our email is: info@grahamlowe.ca
Our phone number is: 250-448-5636







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The Graham Lowe Group · 1537 Lakeview Street · Kelowna, BC V1Y 6N1 · Canada

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