News release

Op-Ed Piece

Justice

NOTE: The following is an op-ed piece by Doug Keefe, deputy minister of the Department of Justice.


Canadian society is grappling with a number of key workplace issues: a mass exodus of retiring baby boomers from the job market, fewer young workers to fill vacant jobs, and increasing health-care costs.

There is probably not a single establishment that isn't asking itself how to deal with these issues. Organizations -- both public and private -- are looking at ways to compete for employees in a tightening job market, decrease health benefit costs, and address what some refer to as presenteeism – employees with their hearts and minds elsewhere.

Nova Scotia is not unlike the rest of Canada in facing these issues. The province is also working to address factors such as cancer and respiratory disease; arthritis and rheumatism; chronic disease; use of disability days; and life expectancy. And this year, for the first time ever, our death rate is expected to surpass our birth rate.

As one of the largest employers in the province, we know that we can improve in these areas. The World Health Organization has said "The workplace is the single most important channel to systematically reach the adult population through health information and health promotion programs."

The government of Nova Scotia is implementing Comprehensive Workplace Health initiatives across government and through a four-year research project at the Department of Justice. The project, Healthy LifeWorks, is the first of its kind in Canada and will provide quantitative and qualitative data on the benefits of implementing this type of program as well as create a model that we hope Canadian employers put into practice in their organizations.

Comprehensive Workplace Health is based on three components: personal health and lifestyle; organizational leadership and culture; and healthy, safe work environments and health and occupational health and safety - one aspect being muscular-skeletal health.

The research is being conducted by the Atlantic Health and Wellness Institute and is sponsored by the Nova Scotia Public Service Commission, Pfizer Canada Inc., AstraZeneca Canada Inc., and Sun Life Financial, in partnership with members from the Nova Scotia Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Department of Health Promotion and Protection, the Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, St. Mary's University. This partnership allows us to draw on each other's expertise in our various areas.

Our goal is to create a healthy workplace where employees are provided with information and support to make positive personal choices for their health, where our organization's culture and leadership contributes to a healthy work environment, and where employees know how to look after their backs, joints and muscles to avoid injuries.

To me, the single most important element of a healthy workplace is having the kind of organization where employees see how their jobs connect to the big picture and give them a sense of having a higher purpose.

Having a healthy workplace isn't just about reducing absenteeism, it's about having all our employees take pride in being part of a performing organization. To be blunt, if our focus was solely on the bottom line, reducing absenteeism, for example, we could do that by reducing benefits. People will come to work.

Having a healthy workplace is about much more than the bottom-line. It's about adding dignity to an individual's life. I want everyone in our department to have the experience of the department that I do. That we do important work. That what we do matters.

Making our workplaces healthier helps our employees improve their individual health practices -- like eating better or quitting smoking -- it helps make our workplaces safer places to work, and it contributes to an organization being the kind of place where employees want to work.

In broad terms, the Healthy LifeWorks project has provided the Department of Justice with a context for many of our activities. Over the past few years, we've been working to bring greater alignment to our activities and priorities. I like to refer to this as the three Vs – vision, values and vital information. We want to make sure that everything is in line with our strategic directions; our employees are critical to getting us there.

Participating in the Healthy LifeWorks project and creating a healthy workplace at the department is one element of our larger picture; I recognize the contribution this can make to our long-term plan.

Obviously, we can succeed if our employees have the stamina and motivation to perform well. This motivation, I believe, happens when people see the larger significance of their daily activities - when they work in a healthy environment that is supportive and safe.

Through Comprehensive Workplace Health, we can create the kind of work environment that promotes health, improves productivity and decreases health costs. It's win-win.