november 2008 | working well 15

Drum roll, please…What do a workplace health advocate, union director, health benefits administra-tor, disability management consultant, an occupational health coordinator and a wellness team all have in common?

Besides their ability to turn innovation, passion and vision into effective workplace health programs, they’re all winners in this year’s Who’s Who in Workplace Health Awards, presented by Working Well. The awards recognize organizations and individuals who have made significant contributions to the health and well-being of Canadian employees and their families.

Our congratulations to the 2008 Who’s Who Award winners.

2008 I Who’s Who in Workplace Health Awards

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november2008 | workingwell17

I t’s not always easy to quantify the im-pact of a workplace wellness program. But there’s no arguing that when an

employee says her family of four collec-tively lost 214 pounds thanks to that pro-gram, you’re doing something right.

The employee had taken advantage of the Wellness Incentive Program (WIP) offered by St. Joseph’s Care Group, a multi-site hospital with 1,700 employees in Thunder Bay, Ont. The brainchild of Michelle Knudson, coor-dinator of occupational health services, the WIP helps employees commit to well-being, work-life balance and fit-ness, and reimburses them for 50% of the cost of various fitness initiatives (to a maximum of $100), including Weight Watchers and gym memberships, fit-ness equipment and personal trainers.

A registered nurse, Knudson has been with St. Joseph’s for 19 years, and in her current position since 2001. In 2002, she established a corporate

wellness committee—which she currently chairs—and worked to get members from all hospital sites as well as from the community involved, including the local district health unit. Community partnership has been key to St. Joseph’s ability to extend such a wealth of wellness services to its employees, Knudson says.

Under her leadership the hospi-tal has rolled out an impressive list of other wellness initiatives as well. There’s now an annual quit-smoking contest, held during National Non-Smoking Week. The contest promotes the organization’s smoking-cessation efforts, which include counselling and $500 a year in coverage for all smok-ing-cessation aids available on the market.

In 2004, Knudson launched a Walk-ing for Wellness booklet in conjunction with the hospital’s ongoing “10,000 Steps” workplace pedometer program.

The booklet provides maps of one-, three- and five-kilometre walking routes around all of the hospital’s major sites, as well as information on the ben-efits of walking. Her wellness commit-tee also sponsored a volleyball tourna-ment for employees last year. A smash hit, with eight teams participating in a four-week tournament, the event will likely become an annual one.

The beauty of the various programs is that together they offer employees a wide range of options. But the WIP has been lauded as one of Knudson’s great-est innovations because it included pre- and post-program evaluations that enabled her to measure its impact. Results from the 2007 pilot project in-dicated that the program was improv-ing employees’ health status, reducing the number of sick days, and having a statistically significant impact on activity levels. Qualitative evaluations suggested that the program was also working to promote a culture of health and well-being, create a positive work environment, and boost morale.

“The key to this program is that it provides people with a choice—an important aspect of health promotion,” says Knudson, adding that it was “really heartwarming” to hear from staff about the positive impact the program was having on their health.

Knudson’s positive influence on workplace wellness is about to expand: She has been selected to join the Ontario Hospital Association’s Health Promoting Hospitals Advisory Com-mittee, which is seeking her input on incorporating health promotion into the organizational structure and cul-ture of hospitals across the province. W

Sponsored by Shepell•fgi Michelle�Knudson

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Rulesof engagement PacificBlueCrossknowsthesecrettogetting—and

keeping—employeesengagedinwellness by Patti Ryan

W hen health promotion ef-forts fail, it’s often because they “start off with a bang,

but slide into stagnation” when compa-nies lack the resources required to keep the messages coming and hold employ-ees’ interest, says Sinden Malinowski, program manager, health and wellness, Pacific Blue Cross in Vancouver.

That was the lesson the company learned when it took a step back to size up what it had been doing. Concluding that it needed to engage employees in a more sustainable way, the company decided to revamp its approach. That’s when Malinowski came in.

Malinowski, who has worked in the benefits industry for nearly a decade, heads up a 13-member health and

wellness committee. To develop a new approach, Pacific Blue Cross observed what other employers were doing in health promotion, and identified com-mon roadblocks to successful initia-tives, namely “resourcing, audience en-gagement and sustaining momentum over the long term,” says Malinowski. The company also developed a com-munications plan that specifically addresses those barriers.

At the same time, the company wanted to address the fact that in any organization resources (people and money) are limited. So it launched a new communications and event plan-ning process that would meet two key objectives: increase health awareness to the point that employees are actually

making lifestyle changes, and ensure the program’s long-term sustainability.

Malinowski’s team now relies on an annual calendar of health topics, fo-cusing on a new topic each month. “We cover things like mental health—stress, depression—nutrition, fitness, cancer awareness and personal health screen-ing awareness,” she says.

Her team uses a variety of media to convey the information, including the company intranet site, e-newsletters, emails and print materials.

Pacific Blue Cross also employs a unique approach to soliciting employee feedback: wellness team members fan out to talk to people in what Mali-nowski calls “an informal grapevine approach,” feeding their findings back to the committee. The team also identifies pertinent topics by assess-ing employees’ aggregate health risks.

An annual survey helps Malinow-ski’s committee monitor the effective-ness of its campaigns. The 2008 survey indicated that 58% of employees were more aware of ways to improve their health, and that 24% had made lifestyle changes and felt better.

Pacific Blue Cross plans to continue measuring its progress. “We want to see where we can make changes, how we can improve, listen to what our employees need, and really stay tuned to what’s happening out there in the world of health risks,” she says. “Right now we know that mental health is one of the biggest concerns of organizations across Canada. So we’ll focus on that and see what we can do to address it.” W

Sponsored by Shoppers Drug Mart

ThePacificBlueCrosswellnessteam:(clockwise from the left)PatrickHardie,SindenMalinowski,

DuncanMcTaggart,ElizabethKowanda,KellyLeary,SarahRitchie,GailWilliamsandBradLyle.

(Missing from the photo:CathyTucker,BethMiller,BettyChin,JulianeSiuandLisaFunk.)

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Wolfgang Zimmerman

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2008 I Who’s Who in Workplace Health Awards

The champion Overcoming a massive personal setback, Wolfgang Zimmerman has

devoted his life to supporting the rights of injured workers by Celia Milne

W olfgang Zimmerman got into the disability manage-ment field “literally by ac-

cident.” In 1977, at age 20 and with a bright future in civil forest engineering, Zimmerman was working on a forest crew on Vancouver Island, when the tree he was cutting fell and broke his back. “I made the wrong cut; I had no idea what the right cut was. I had no training. It was just ‘here’s the power saw, good luck’.”

Zimmerman suffered a severe

spinal injury and is a paraplegic. He used a wheelchair for five years, and then learned to walk with the aid of braces and two canes. During his many years of hard work, rehabilitation and optimism for the future, he realized that what happened to him happens to a lot of workers. He became involved with the Disabled Workers Foundation of Canada and has been a long-time supporter of the rights of workers.

After the accident, Zimmerman retrained as an accountant and returned

to the forestry company where he had worked. In 1982, the company termi-nated Zimmerman and other injured workers. Only with the B.C. government’s support were they able to get their jobs back. Once back, Zimmerman’s job included creating a return-to-work strategy for the organization.

During that tumultu-ous time, Zimmerman and injured colleagues participated in the making of a film called “Every 12 Seconds,” which focused on what work and life were like for people who had suffered workplace injuries. This built national awareness around the issue and served to finally bring the logging industry, workers’ com-pensation, unions and the government together.

In 1994, Zimmerman launched the Victoria-based National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR),

of which he is the executive director. Through his tireless efforts, NIDMAR has become internationally recognized in its innovative return-to-work and disability management strategies.

The institute’s work has several prongs: it develops programs to assist employers reintegrate injured work-ers; it supports workplaces to develop disability management programs; it provides an audit tool to measure organizational performance in disability management; it uses research to enhance education and product development; and it sup-ports Rehadat Canada, an electronic information resource. NIDMAR also has its own university—Pacific Coast University for Workplace Sciences. Its professional and program standards are formally licensed in 14 countries, “and that number keeps growing,” says Zimmerman.

One of Zimmerman’s great contri-butions over the last several decades has been getting people to see the link between disability management and workplace health. “Disability manage-ment was non-existent [in those years],” he says. “Today it’s so structurally different, with much greater respect by employers... There’s a much greater level of awareness that not accommo-dating is unsustainable.”

Still, he laments that far too many people with disabilities are unem-ployed, even in this robust economy. “We’ve come a long way but we have a long way to go.” You can bet that Zimmerman—who was just about to leave on a whirlwind speaking tour in Auckland—won’t stand still until more improvements are made. W

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Allan Smofsky

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2008 I Who’s Who in Workplace Health Awards

The advocate Through hours spent writing, speaking and collaborating, Allan

Smofsky has helped define workplace health in Canada by Celia Milne

I n order to improve workplace health, you have to know what it is. And this, of course, is easier said than

done. Allan Smofsky has played a vital role—much of it as a volunteer—in de-fining workplace health in this country.

“What I feel I’ve been able to con-tribute is a broader discussion of what is health in the workplace,” says Smof-sky, who is a senior health and welfare consultant at Towers Perrin in Toronto. “I’ve tried to elevate awareness on the need to be more comprehensive, and raise consciousness in employers across

the country on the things they can do in their own workplace and the places they can improve.”

The foundation of workplace health, says Smofsky, has three compo-nents: occupational health and safety; personal health practices and well-ness, and a supportive work culture. “You need all three elements to make a genuinely healthy workplace,” he says. “You may have quality air and lighting, but if it is not a healthy culture, it is not a genuinely healthy workplace. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Nowadays, it is known that the physical health and engagement of employees is tied to corporate social responsibility. “We’re look-ing at the total employee well- being perspective,” says Smofsky. “Employees who are most engaged will give that extra effort. We’re now incorporating that into con-sulting.”

But it was not always thus. It has taken decades of research, interpretation of that research, public debate, collaboration and raising awareness to get stakehold-ers to “sing from the same song sheet.” Smofsky has spent 25 years in the benefits business and the last dozen dedicated to the cause of improving workplace health. He has been an active and passion-ate advocate at the local, provin-cial and national level. Through countless hours spent speaking, writing, and collaborating behind the scenes, Smofsky has been a vital link in bringing that research to light. He has been an active member of the Ontario Healthy Workforce Coalition and chair

of the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council since 2002.

“I’ve been out there beating the bushes—devoting more hours than I would care to think about, many of them volunteer hours.”

Smofsky has been witness to and instigator of great change in workplace health. Two decades ago, he recalls, many organizations were managing disability and had health and safety plans. “A lot of companies did well-ness—they had smoking-cessation programs and gyms. They were seen as ‘nice to haves’ not ‘must haves.’ Employers were doing this at the grass-roots level, one by one, but there wasn’t a national awareness of workplace health. They may have been effective but they didn’t measure outcomes.”

More and more research over the years showed that organizations in isolation can only do so much. “The research said, group them together and be more strategic. The research was there. The thought leadership needed to be there in order to elevate the discussion.”

Not one to stand still, Smofsky is now working towards more public-private collaboration. “Should there be government incentives for workplace health? We need to measure that.” He envisages a rating system for workplace health much like the system in place for workers’ compensation. “Healthy organizations pay less and unhealthy ones pay more in payroll tax.”

Smofsky thinks big and makes improvements happen. “It’s all about intelligent rationalizing of resources. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” W

Sponsored by Green Shield Canada Pho

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november 2008 | working well 25

2008 I Who’s Who in Workplace Health Awards

Dynamic duo GM employees are healthier these days thanks to the joint efforts

of Eva Csendes and Lyle Hargrove by Sally Praskey

Employees at three General Mo-tors (GM) assembly plants in Ontario are healthier these

days, thanks to the joint efforts of Eva Csendes, GM’s director of divisional benefits/policy administration, and Lyle Hargrove, director of the Health & Safety Fund of the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW). The pair was instrumental in establishing an in-plant cardiovascular screening and follow-up program for hourly workers, aptly dubbed “Brake for Health.”

It all began a few years ago with the automaker’s desire to make its existing wellness program more meaningful to employees. GM asked its healthcare provider to determine what illness the company could target to have the most

impact. “They came up with cardiovas-cular, so from that, we started to put together a program,” she says.

Hargrove, who is also a member of GM’s and CAW’s joint wellness program committee, began to research best practices. “He actually went out to see what was out there that we could use to help us with the program,” says Csendes. Hargrove is, after all, a former Who’s Who Award winner for a wellness program he initiated at an-other company, and meets frequently with health professionals and various organizations in search of new and innovative opportunities to promote workplace health and disease manage-ment.

The result was the Brake for Health

program, which kicked off in 2006 at GM’s largest Canadian assembly plant, in Oshawa. Health professionals screen employees during working hours—at a brisk pace of 10 minutes per worker—for blood pressure, random glucose and total cholesterol. Those at risk then participate in a multi-phased follow-up program.

Csendes says the biggest challenge was to give hourly employees time off the job to do the screening, “but we were successful in convincing management that it was worthwhile. Then, as they got feedback from employees as to how much they appreciated it, and they saw some results, I think they found it very worthwhile, as well.” In fact, she adds, “there were some cases where had they not had the screening done and gone to the doctor, it could have had serious consequences, so we’ve been quite pleased with how it all turned out.”

The program is now running in the company’s Woodstock and Windsor plants as well, and will soon be imple-mented in its St. Catharines facility.

In 2009, GM will initiate a diabetes program that will also include a screening component. “I just think the more we’re at it, the better we are at understanding what the employees’ needs are and helping them out,” says Csendes.

Meanwhile, Hargrove hopes to im-plement similar programs with some of CAW’s other members, for example, in the air and rail transportation sectors. “That’s my goal, at some point, to see that in all of our workplaces,” he says. “And we do have it in our bargaining agenda over the next three years to expand that.” W

Sponsored by Sun Life Financial Lyle Hargrove and Eva Csendes

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