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This article proposes a comprehensive framework for assessing, reporting and improving the quality of work environments in healthcare organizations across Canada. Healthy work environments (HWE) contribute to positive outcomes for healthcare employees and physicians. The same HWE ingredients also can reduce operating costs, improve human resource utilization, and ultimately lead to higher quality patient care. […]

This article in the August 9, 2010, issue of Canadian HR Reporter describes 5 principles to guide the development and implementation of healthy organizational change.

Becoming a healthier requires careful attention to how you go about change. You can make the change process a healthy experience and achieve intended change goals by understanding your organization’s change readiness, aligning structural and cultural changes, linking people initiatives to business goals, being collaborative, and making time to learn and innovate.

There are many healthy organization change agents scattered throughout organizations. But they lack viable networks that offer support, encouragement, learning opportunities and problem-solving. Given the value of such networks, what is the best way to launch one and what form should it take? I welcome your input.

You can make your organization more sustainable by aligning HR with corporate social responsibility (CSR). Closing the gap between CSR rhetoric and practice requires consistent application of CSR’s ethical principles to internal people practices, as well as workplace values to the treatment of external stakeholders.

Graham Lowe will be speaking and facilitating an interactive workshop at the Ontario Hospital Association’s Healthy Work Environments conference. Toronto, 15 June 2010. For more information: http://www.oha.com/Education/Pages/CalendarofEventDetails.aspx?eventid=EP194

Electronics retailer Best Buy has implemented a results-focused work environment, raising interesting questions about how flexible work design can improve the quality of work life. But for this to work, managers need to trust employees to make decisions, and employees have to be prepared to take on more responsibility.

Some companies apply the principle of flexibility to more than just work arrangements. Moving in this direction is critical for employee quality of work life and business performance. These firms have crafted conditions for sustainable success by applying the principle of flexible work.

There is a growing gap in the worker health and safety protection system. These systems were products of an earlier industrial age and are unable to provide adequate protection to the growing number of workers in “non-standard” work arrangements — that is, who do not have a full-time, on-going employment relationship with a single employer.

My book on healthy organizations is now available.