The biggest thing a company can do to help their employees achieve work-life balance is to create a wellness committee.
That's what 140 people from 30 local organizations learned at a conference hosted last week by the Sudbury and District Health Unit.
"Organizations that effectively deal with issues such as employee disengagement, stress, ill health and turnover can dramatically improve their success," said public health nurse Natalie Philippe, one of the organizers of Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.
Conference-goers also heard a startling finding from a 2007 report called Under Pressure.
"The most common HR challenges experienced by employers (in Canada) are workload/work-life balance and employee stress," researcher Graham Lowe wrote. "Yet fewer than one third of employers surveyed took any action to address these issues."
Positive steps employers can take include allowing flex hours, job sharing and compressed work weeks; helping staff pay to join local gyms and having an employee assistance program, which pays for short-term counselling.
Those attending the conference shared innovative and fun ways to improve work-life quality, Philippe said. At one company, employees wore wrist bands on their right hands for 21 days. If they said anything negative, they had to move the wrist band to their left hand. The point was to try and keep a positive attitude throughout the day.
Companies that want help in improving work-life balance for their staff can call the health unit at 522-9200 ext. 290. The workplace wellness team gives advice on awareness, education, environmental support and policy, Philippe said.
