Strategies for creating a healthy workplace

Keynote presentation at the "Comprehensive Workplace Health Promotion: Supporting Local Initiatives" conference, Toronto, 9 June 2004, BMO Learning Centre. For more information see conference website (www.thcu.ca/workplace/)

Keynote Description:
“STRATEGIES FOR CREATING A HEALTHY WORKPLACE”
Dr. Lowe’s talk answers the question, “How can we design effective strategies to change workplaces so they become healthier and more productive?” Healthy workplaces obviously benefit employees, but they also have big pay-offs for employers – lower accident rates, reduced absenteeism and turnover, lower health benefit costs and higher productivity. Yet traditional workplace health promotion programs have failed to deliver these individual and organizational results because they don’t address root causes. Creating a healthy and productive organization requires ‘transformational change’ in jobs, workplace culture, organizational systems and management practices. Dr. Lowe provides the guiding principles and tools that will help organizational stakeholders design and implement a successful healthy workplace strategy.

Workshop Description:
“CULTURAL FOUNDATIONS OF A HEALTHY WORKPLACE”
This workshop will actively engage participants in identifying the actions they can take to create and sustain a healthy environment, assessing both opportunities and barriers. Dr. Lowe will draw on the latest theories, research and case studies, as well as participants’ experiences, to identify change barriers and success factors, with an emphasis on the cultural foundations – values, relationships and leadership.