Author: Graham Lowe

Healthy workers = productive workers

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Graham Lowe co-presented with Linda Duxbury a session at the Canadian Pension & Benefits Institute's annual conference, Forum 2008, Toronto, May 13, 2008.
Session description: Learn about evidence-based strategies for improving employee health and wellness, reducing costs, and strengthening organizational performance. This session will use the latest health and productivity research to provide decision-makers with practical insights about how to design, implement and evaluate effective organizational health interventions.
For further information visit the conference website: http://forum2008.cpbi-icra.ca
Graham's presentation can be downloaded below.
Presentation

How to Create High Quality Jobs and Work Environments

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Workshop facilitated by Graham Lowe at the annual IAPA Conference, Toronto, April 22, 2008. For conference information: www.iapa.ca/conference
Workshop Description: This interactive workshop will guide participants through a step-by-step process for improving the quality of jobs and work environments in their organization. OHS professionals will learn about a comprehensive, evidence-based perspective on job quality and how to apply this in their organization to link workplace health and safety goals to performance and renewal – especially employee engagement and retention. The concepts and tools provided in this workshop will enable participants to identify current opportunities for action on job quality, how to use job quality metrics, and how to build shared responsibility for progress.

Job Quality and Organizational Performance

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Presentation by Graham Lowe at the annual IAPA Conference, Toronto, April 22, 2008. For conference information: www.iapa.ca/conference
Session Description: Job quality is a bridge between what matters to individual workers and what drives organizational performance. Based on Dr. Lowe’s research, presented in 21st Century Job Quality: Achieving What Canadians Want (www.cprn.org), the quality of an employee’s work environment and the personal rewards of their job directly contribute to positive work experiences and higher job performance. By focusing on job quality, this session will provide OHS professionals with a new and powerful framework for linking healthy workplace goals to organizational performance and sustainability.

HR's role in reshaping work – retirement transitions

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Graham Lowe facilitated a "roundtable" session for the BC Human Resource Management Association that focused on HR's role in reshaping work – retirement transitions to best meet the needs of employers, workers and society. Participants learned about leading practices and shared their own experiences. Discussion topics included: how to tap older workers' talents, flexible employment arrangements, and transferring older workers' knowledge to the next generation. The interactive session explored creative work-retirement strategies that HR professionals can lead.
A copy of the Work – Retirement Transitions Checklist and discussion questions for this roundtable can be downloaded below.

Checklist and questions

The role of healthcare work environments in shaping a safety culture

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Graham Lowe's feature article in the current issue of Healthcare Quarterly examines the role of healthcare work-environment factors in creating a culture of safety. In the first study of its kind undertaken in Canada, Lowe uses survey evidence from allied health professional and technical workers in Alberta to assess the links between working conditions and safety in healthcare.
Over 80 percent of respondents said it was "likely" or "very likely" that an error that put patient or client safety at risk would be reported in their work area. However, only 34 percent said this reporting would be "very likely." This finding raises two issues: What constitutes an acceptable standard of reporting? And can any uncertainty be tolerated in whether an incident will be reported?
Looking at actions flowing from the reporting of an error, between 33 and 36 percent of respondents said their team would learn from the mistake and that co-workers and managers would take appropriate action to ensure the error did not happen again. However, less than half of respondents considered these follow-up actions to be "likely." Based on these findings, the health system goal should be to increase as fast as possible the proportion of employees in the "very likely" category.
The study goes on to document that a high-quality work environment is a cornerstone of a healthcare safety culture. Teamwork, fair workplace processes, supportive and people-centred supervision and leadership, and a learning environment contribute to a culture that values safety. Furthermore, this safety culture itself is associated with positive quality of work-life outcomes for employees – they experience their work environments as healthy and safe, are more satisfied, and have pride in what they do. And employers also benefit from safety cultures because of the links to commitment and engagement.

Article PDF

Creating a learning culture in your organization

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For many practitioners and managers, the concept of a ‘learning organization’ remains an elusive goal. That’s because it is difficult to grasp the organizational drivers of effective learning processes and outcomes. This interactive day-long workshop focuses on the role of culture in supporting learning and development. Participants will gain an understanding of how the values, relationships and daily workplace practices in their organizations hold the keys to a dynamic learning environment. Case studies and research evidence will be provided to help participants identify the actions they can take to strengthen the cultural underpinnings of individual and collaborative learning – contributing to improved employee retention, development, engagement and performance goals.
Post-conference workshop. Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD) annual conference, Toronto.
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007. 9:30 am – 4:30 pm.
For further information and registration, visit the CSTD conference website (www.cstd.ca)

Coordinated Action Agenda for Healthy Workplaces and Supporting Evidence

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The Canadian Healthy Workplace Council is calling for a coordinated action agenda to create healthy workplaces.
Recognizing that a critical mass of governments, organizations and workplace health practitioners are pursuing healthy workplace goals, the Council believes that the time is right for a coordinated action agenda to create healthy workplaces. The goals are more integrated public policy and wider diffusion of best practices in workplaces.
This document outlines the Council's action agenda and also includes 5 pages of evidence for healthy workplace action, prepared for the Council by Graham Lowe.
Policy agenda and evidence