Today@Dal

We continue to share stories coming out of the nominations from this year's Healthy Workplace Award, in celebration of October being National Healthy Workplace Month.  The award recognizes efforts across one or more of the seven dimensions of wellness. 

The purpose of the Bissett Centre for Student Success is evident in its title.  Those working there give a lot of themselves to support a broad range of student needs.  They do, though, dedicate time to take care of themselves and each other.  It might be physically by participating in stair challenges or yoga classes, socially by having group lunches and celebrating milestones, or intellectually by working to their strengths and having professional development plans.  One particular item of note was the time they take to check in when there are particularly stressful times, either personally or on campus.  This dedication to "team" (and they call themselves the "dream team") combines with their strong sense of purpose from their work with students to make a connected and meaningful place to work.

Custodial Services in Facilities Management continues a partnership with the School of Occupational Therapy (OT) to reduce work-related injuries. Students have completed an analysis of job demands, education sessions on body mechanics, and a poster campaign on ways to ensure custodian safety.  In recognition of these efforts, Custodial Services won Dalhousie's Environmental Health and Safety Award (Dal News: https://www.dal.ca/news/2015/04/02/sharing-the-goal-of-a-safe--healthy-campus.html). With the help of the OT students, a series of training videos that show proper task techniques was created (https://www.dal.ca/dept/facilities/about/staff-training-resources.html). They provide visual learning by using demonstration, are accessible at any time online and provide consistent training across their many teams.

Every year the manager of the unit meets with each of about 230 custodians to keep communication open with these employees spread across all campuses and many shifts. Given that about one third of their staff were not born in Canada, they have collaborated with the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) to provide cultural awareness training that has helped overcome language and cultural barriers to success on the job. ISANS also provides translation services and English-language coaching to further foster better communication and ensure that respect and inclusion are a priority.

Review award winning healthy workplace practices on MyDal at https://dalu.sharepoint.com/sites/mydal/dc/hr/Human%20Resources%20Documents/hr-hyd-hwpractices.pdf​

Watch for future posts that recognize more wellness efforts from other departments.