Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR april 6, 2015 INsIGht 19 Linda Brogden Guest Commentary Selling the psychological safety standard The University of Waterloo shares its experience I saw the first draft of the standard for psy- chological health and safety in 2011 when working with mary Ann Bayn- ton, one of the members of the tech- nical committee who developed the standard. As the occupational health nurse at the university of waterloo in ontario, I immediately felt the content would be beneficial in our workplace. In the spring of 2012, the univer- sity was asked to join six other or- ganizations from across Canada to become early adopters of the standard. These early adopters included the Centre for Addic- tion and Mental Health (CAMH), CIBC, Bell Canada, Great West Life Assurance Company (GWL) and Nova Scotia Public Services (NSPS). I was very interested in what the standard could do to en- hance the quality of our workplace for all employees. Initially, I spoke with senior management and while they agreed this was necessary and worthwhile, there were more pressing issues that commanded attention at that time. Disappoint- ed, I realized I had presented this request from the perspective of my own passion — not with the data, facts and figures needed to support implementation. I regrouped and came forward again with the information re- quired to get buy-in. I was suc- cessful and the university began the journey toward a psychologi- cally healthy and safe workplace. Katrina Di Gravio, from the organizational human develop- ment department, joined with me to champion the movement. We spoke with others whose day- to-day work would benefit from implementation of the standard, including conflict management and human rights officers, staff and faculty associations, the or- ganizational human development team, HR and our union. We gathered data such as ab- senteeism rates and numbers of absences related to a mental ill- ness or workplace issues (such as relationships, workload and management). We looked at orga- nization policies, procedures and guidelines and discovered that while some needed revision, most just needed tweaking. We realized that while we had things written down on paper, we needed to get the message out to all employees and begin "walking the talk." We understood the value of strengthening psychological health and safety in the workplace: •corporate responsibility (it is the right thing to do) •a plan to protect our most im- portant resources — employees •enhanced cost-effectiveness — decreased sick leave and LTD benefits •increased organizational recruit- ment and retention •improved risk management and decreased risk of legal or regula- tory sanctions •psychological health being ev- eryone's responsibility, from the top down and the bottom up. In January 2013, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), the Canadian Stan- dard Association (CSA) and the Bureau de Normalisation du Québec (BNQ) released the Na- tional Standard of Canada Psy- chological Health and Safety in the Workplace: Prevention, pro- motion and guidance to staged implementation. at same month, the univer- sity announced it would be an early adopter and later that year, the University of Waterloo Strate- gic Plan was released. One of the eight themes included the robust employer-employee relationship. As this theme was developed, psychological health and safety in the workplace was identified as an important part of this theme. Occupational health, organiza- tional human development and HR began providing education sessions for departments, outlin- ing what the psychosocial factors looked like and the impact on the workplace. Very early on, we rec- ognized that every department has different needs so we work with department members to determine the department's top three factors needing change or implementation. So far, we have: •provided education to influential groups across campus •created a psychological and healthy workplace website •partnered with Great West Life to create videos for each of the psychosocial factors •provided educational sessions to departments and individuals •provided three interactive edu- cational sessions during our an- nual staff conference reviewing the 13 factors (the foundation of the standard) and their impact •provided educational sessions to reduce stigma •worked with departments to implement the top three factors in their department •written articles for MOODs Magazine and Canadian Nurse about the university and psycho- logical health and safety •helped to create a Community of Practice of Canadian Universi- ties, through which all members are all committed to implement- ing psychological health and safety in their workplaces •taken every opportunity to spread the word: brown bag lunches, return-to-work meet- ings, presentations, one-on-one discussions and training sessions for employees. With a commitment to the stra- tegic plan, specifically the theme "robust employer-employee," the commitment and leadership are there. We continue to promote psychological health and safety in the workplace at every turn. is includes working with Excellence Canada and its Healthy Work- place Strategies, participating in the Not Myself Today Campaign, piloting Mindful Managers and other educational initiatives for employees. We look forward to continued delivery of the message about psychological health and safety in the workplace and the continued support of both management and the employees. We realize we have embarked on a journey that will need continued monitoring to be sure we continue on the right path for success. Linda Brogden is a registered nurse and occupational health manager at the University of Waterloo. is article was prepared with the assis- tance of Katrina Di Gravio, director of organizational human develop- ment at the university. For more in- formation, visit https://uwaterloo.ca/ psychological-health. Brian Kreissl toughest HR Question Managing a multigenerational workforce Mutual respect, understanding and flexibility are important – not stereotypes Question: how do we effectively manage a multigenerational workforce? answer: ere certainly has been a great deal of discussion in recent years relating to the perceived differences among generations in the workplace. While age and generational cohort are important aspects of workplace diversity, it is important to treat everyone fairly and equitably and avoid stereo- typing employees or assuming all members of a demographic group want the same things. But it's still important to under- stand demographic trends and the forces that shape and influence different generations. It's also important to ensure the different generations understand one an- other and can work well together — in spite of their differences. Having a respectful workplace policy and culture that respects and celebrates all types of diver- sity certainly helps, as do training and information sessions relating to the needs of a diverse work- force. However, it is important to avoid stereotyping through blan- ket statements such as "Millenni- als require constant feedback" or "Boomers aren't comfortable with new technology." We are all products of our en- vironment so there is certainly some truth to many of the per- ceived characteristics of the gen- erations. However, studies show there are probably more differenc- es among individual members of a generational cohort than there are among the different groups. In many ways, most of us want many of the same things and are likely to be engaged by the same types of benefits and programs. For example, we all want work- life balance and most of us de- sire work that is interesting and meaningful. It is also important to remem- ber that many differences among employees relate more to age and life stage than they do to actual generational differences. Many of the things desired by millen- nial employees, for example, are similar to the types of things oth- er generations were looking for when they were younger. New generations taking over Organizations need to prepare for new generations taking over — particularly with respect to senior leadership roles. Because of that, it is important to enhance and im- prove "bench strength" in relation to employees who will be ready to step into senior leadership posi- tions in the relatively near future — particularly among younger, high-potential employees. Employers also need to deal with an aging workforce, the end of mandatory retirement and the fact that, for many people, traditional notions of retirement are a thing of the past. So it's im- portant to remember that older employees should not be denied hiring, promotional or training opportunities. Employers will need to man- age, retain and engage workers of all ages and generations for the foreseeable future. But as the baby boomers retire, organizations would be making a huge mistake in letting their knowledge literally walk out the door without trying to capture, disseminate and pass on that knowledge to others. Coaching, mentoring and knowledge management will be- come very important in the near future. However, it isn't just the newer generation who can learn from older employees. Reverse- mentoring programs can help bridge the generational gap and train older employees on new and emerging technologies and ways of doing things. Nevertheless, great care must be taken not to patronize or ste- reotype employees based on their age. Both parties need to agree to reverse-mentoring programs for such arrangements to work. Just because someone is a digi- tal native doesn't mean she nec- essarily knows how to leverage social media for business pur- poses. Not every millennial is par- ticularly tech savvy and, in many cases, boomers and generation X employees have been working with technology for years. Adopting flexible HR programs Employers need to be flexible with HR programs and accom- modate employees of all ages, life stages and family statuses through perks and activities such as flex- ible benefit plans, flexible work ar- rangements, customized reward and recognition programs and phased-in retirement. However, it is important not to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach or assume everyone within a specific demographic is going to want the same things. Not all mil- lennials will care about having a foosball table in the lunchroom, not every generation X employee is going to be excited about sup- plementary daycare benefits and not every baby boomer will take advantage of free retirement plan- ning sessions. Above all, it is important not to be seen as trying to retain and en- gage one generation of employees over another. Sending the message that one group is more important than the others is discriminatory and hardly likely to result in a har- monious work culture. Brian Kreissl is the product develop- ment manager for Carswell's human resources, OH&S, payroll and records retention products and solutions. He can be reached at brian.kreissl@ thomsonreuters.com or visit www. carswell.com for more information. We recognized that each department has different needs, so we determined the top 3 factors needing change.

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