The purpose of the initiative is to address some of the issues associated with balancing roles and responsibilities at work and at home; the Work-Life Balance. Topics covered in the initiative include: shiftwork and sleep, healthy relationships at home, enhancing communication skills, dinner time chaos and making time for yourself.

Planning a theme-related activity is a great way to let employees know about upcoming activities, contests, resources, and information available to them. By doing this, you will help employees make the connection between the event or activity and the other components of your campaign for this initiative. Below are a variety of ideas. Some of the suggested activities may be more appropriate at other times of the year. File these ideas and use them to promote the importance of Work-Life Balance year round.  Feel free to adapt these ideas to suit the needs of your workplace, or come up with ideas of your own.

General

Pay stub messages

Include tips on related topics (e.g. dinner time chaos, shiftwork and sleep or communication at home) or notices of upcoming events (e.g. contests), associated with the initiative with employee pay stubs. Hint: Use “Fast Facts” from Health Issues…in the workplace newsletter.  Please note that permission is not needed to reprint, but the Fast Facts cannot be adapted and must be used in their entirety.

Employee Newsletter

Include Work-Life Balance articles and information in your own workplace newsletter. If you would like to reprint any of the articles, contact the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit at 519-258-2146 x 3100 to receive the electronic text file (e.g. Microsoft Word). Please note that permission is not needed but the articles cannot be adapted and must be used in their entirety.

Physical Activity Stress Busters

 “Walk the Boss” Day 

Building physical activity into your day at work is a great way to relieve stress and tension to give your “brain” a break. Request a member of senior management to serve as active role models for staff by leading a 30-minute walk in the area around your workplace or on a local trail. Bring in a local, certified fitness expert (see below for a list of reputable certifications) to conduct warm-up and cool-down exercises before and after the walk. Encourage workers, retirees, and their family members to join in and have plenty of water, juice, fruit and vegetables available following the walk. Draw names of participants for fitness related prizes. 

Reputable Fitness Professionals

When securing the services of a fitness professional, it is important to find an individual with appropriate qualifications to ensure instruction is safe and effective. The following is a list of the organizations that provide certification in the fitness field. Ensure that the instructor you select is properly trained and certified.

• Canadian Fitness Professionals (CanFitPro)
• Canadian Personal Trainers Network  (CPTN)
• American College of Exercise (ACE)
• Ontario Fitness Council (OFC)
• YMCA of Canada

Stairway to Health Program 

Consider adding a Stairway to Health Challenge to your workplace health promotion program if your workplace has stairs.  Using the stairs will give employees the opportunity to “walk off” some of their frustrations.  Visit http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/sth-evs/english/index.htm for more information on Health Canada’s Stairway to Health website including ideas and “how to” information.

Start a Walking Group

Start a walking group to encourage employees to walk during work breaks or on their own time. Contact the Health Unit’s Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Department (258-2146 x 3100) to obtain free “Windsor-Essex Walks at Work” resource materials to help you get started.

Desk Stretching

Sitting in one place for long periods of time (e.g. computer station) may cause stress and tension in the upper neck and lower back. Encourage employees to take the time to stretch by distributing copies of the resource “Get Active at Work”.  Contact the Windsor Essex County Health Unit at 258-2146 ext. 3100 for a copy of this resource. 

Making Order out of Mealtime Chaos

Eating Out - Choosing Sensibly

With time crunches and multiple role demands, we often eat out and rely on food from restaurants to fuel our bodies. Educate employees about making healthy choices by offering a workplace presentation on the topic.  Contact Ann Conrad, Registered Dietitian at the Diabetes Programme Windsor-Essex (a program
of the Sandwich Community Health Centre) for more information or to schedule a presentation by calling
254-3402 x 210.

Quick n’ Easy Recipes

Hold a recipe contest in which employees submit a favourite “quick n’ easy” recipe. These recipes can be shared with other employees to provide them with ideas to cut down on mealtime chaos. Categories may include: best salad; best pizza; best soup; best pasta dish; best fruit-based dessert or best breakfast.

 Cooking Up a Storm

Provide employees with the opportunity to fill up their freezers by organizing a “batch” cooking session at a local grocery store (e.g. equipped with a community kitchen) or other location with cooking facilities.  Interested employees can develop menus and shopping lists and prepare large batches of food that can then be divided and shared.  Having healthy, ready-to-eat food in the freezer will help reduce meal time stress at home.

Building Healthy Relationships

At Work…

Team Work… On and Off the Playing Field

Consider planning a sports day or a planned intramurals league at work. Possible activities could include the Wacky Olympics (a number of silly competitive activities), a touch football tournament, a baseball tournament or any other organized sport or activity that is of interest to your employees. This is a wonderful opportunity to be active outside and socialize with coworkers.

Transcending the Traditional

Creating strong relationships and friendships among employees has been shown to have a positive effect on organizational performance measures like client satisfaction, profit and productivity. Take social events to new heights and organize something that’s never been done before. Instead of a party or meal out, visit a ropes course, paddle together in the Montreal canoe or participate in a community improvement project. 

Ropes Course

The Challenges for Success Ropes Course offers an original approach to team building, personal growth and leadership skills training. Through a series of activities, initiatives and challenges, facilitators work with you and your group to explore and develop communication skills, leadership, trust, cooperation, goal-setting, and problem-solving skills. Clients participate directly and experientially in programs designed to work on their specific areas of interest. These new ideas and insights will be transferred back to their working and personal relationships.

For costs and booking, contact the Challenges for Success Ropes Course by emailing ropes@ropeschallenge.com or calling (519) 726-ROPE (7673).  For more information, visit www.ropeschallenge.com.

Montreal Canoe

The Hudson Bay Company used these 11 m ( 34 ft ) canoes to travel from Montreal to Fort William (now on Thunder Bay) on Lake Superior during the fur trade (1600's to 1870).  Groups of up to 16 paddlers can relive history in one of these majestic canoes in the waters near Windsor, Point Pelee National Park and Detroit to recreate the spirit of the Voyageurs. Paddlers learn to manoeuvre the legendary Voyageur Canoe while hearing about the life of the Voyageurs who made one trip per season from Montreal to Lake Superior.

For costs and booking, contact Gordon Haggert at Canada South Outdoors by emailing  ghaggert@mnsi.net or calling (519) 253-4055.  For more information, visit www.canadasouthoutdoors.ca.

Community Improvement Project

This type of project may involve holding a fundraiser for a local charity, working together on a Habit for Humanity building project or sponsoring a mentoring program for youth.  For assistance with generating a list of ideas and worthy projects, contact the United Way at 258-3033.

People Kneading People

Organize and promote a seminar to teach your employees basic, non-threatening, upper-body partner massage. Provide handouts with a structured 10-minute routine suitable for use between any two people. For many people, a brief shoulder and neck massage can go a long way toward relieving their stress symptoms.

A shoulder and neck massage is especially good for employees in jobs where upper-body tension is prevalent, such as those working for extended time periods on keyboards or for those who require a lot of muscular effort with the arms in an elevated position at shoulder height.

Best Dressed Desk

Encourage employees to decorate and personalize their work area and hold a “best dressed desk” contest.  Provide guidelines for employees.  For example, employees may be required to post a favourite motivational quote.  Ensure employees understand that all decorations must not be offensive.

Morale Boosters

Encourage employees, at all levels of the organization, to show their fellow co-workers that they are valued by suggesting any one of the following ideas:

• Send a handwritten note to at least one co-worker during a designated workweek.  The notes can be as simple as small post-it notes or more elaborate like a printed card.  The notes can be delivered directly or individuals can remain anonymous by setting up a designated “drop off” box.
• Purchase a small object, like a toy or a small trophy, that is presented to individuals within the organization or department that tells the employee “You are special today”.  The object can be passed around to others in the organization.
• Display appropriate cartoons and humorous writings on a bulletin board posted in a common location for all staff to view.  Research shows that most productive workplaces enjoy about 10 minutes of laughter every hour.
• Have a “4 A’s” jar (Acknowledge, Appreciate, Affirm, Assure).  Keep it filled with uplifting thoughts for anyone who needs one. You may also give these jars as gifts to your employees with one positive thought for every day of the year.
• Form a spirit committee and have them design a plan to incorporate some of these things into your workplace, or use the creative efforts of the committee to generate some new ideas.

Is Anybody Listening?

Put the focus on this important communication skill by playing the office version of the popular children’s game “Telephone”.  The goal of the activity is to listen as accurately as possible to try and maintain as many of the details of the original as possible. One person in the office writes a short story with 4-5 key points (i.e. dark and rainy night, deserted road, car battery died…) and then tells the story to one other person in the office.  The original story, in its written form, is then put away for safe keeping and is only accessible by the original storyteller.  The story is then passed from person to person in the office.  Each person must sign a form to indicate that they have “listened” to story before passing it on.  The last person to “hear” the story must then go back to the original storyteller and relay the story, as they heard it.  This version is compared to the original version.  Then, both versions are posted on a bulletin board or internal email system to see how much the original story changed as it was passed around the workplace.

Weekend Getaway

Encourage employees to have more quality time with their spouse, partner or special someone by offering "Date Opportunities". One fun way to do this is to ask employees to submit a description of their first date with their spouse, partner or special someone for a chance to win a couple’s weekend getaway.  Have a random draw or form a committee of employees to pick the most romantic submission.  Depending on the budget available, the getaway could range from a gift certificate for dinner and a movie to gift certificates for travel and accommodations for an out of town trip.

At Home…

Quality Time

Provide employees with the opportunity to spend quality time with their families by organizing active social outings.  You may want to use a theme (e.g. favourite superhero) and include take-home information to reinforce specific health topics (e.g. increasing physical activity).

• Hold a family picnic and offer a variety of active games like Frisbee golf, soccer, rope skipping, potato sack races, slow pitch, or ball games. 
• Arrange for an outing at a skating rink, swimming pool or mini-putt facility.
• Rent a room at a community centre or local club and plan a father-daughter and/or mother-son dance or other physical activity outing.

Make the event special by including healthy meals or snack food items. For picnics, offer lower-fat wieners, sausages or 3-4 ounce burgers.  For snacks, offer veggies and a low fat dip, a variety of seasonal fruit, or low-fat snack foods like pretzels.  For beverages, include  bottled water, 100% fruit juice in recommended serving sizes (e.g. 125-250 mL juice boxes), or lower-fat milk (e.g. 1%).

Parenting Workshops

Invite a Public Health Nurse from the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit to provide a 30-60 minute presentation to employees on one of the many topics offered, including toilet training, stress management for parents, discipline and dealing with a picky eater. Another option would be to contact the Family Health Department (258-2146, x 1350) to obtain information on workshops offered in the community.  This information is also available on-line at www.wechealthunit.org.

Taking “Me Time”

What’s your hobby?

Learn more about your coworkers by having a “hobby fair” during the lunch hour or after work.  Invite employees to bring examples of their hobby (e.g. a plant they have cultivated from a seed, the camera they use to photograph scenery, the squash racquet they use in a mixed squash league) as well as information for those who may be interested in trying it out.  Encourage employees to share their talents by holding workshops or demonstrations.

“Try-it”… you may like it

Two of the many barriers that prevent individuals from being active are lack of skill and feeling uncomfortable performing a new activity. To help your employees overcome these barriers, try offering the opportunity to “try out” a new activity. For example, once every month or two bring in an instructor to introduce employees to the basic skills involved in the activity. The “try it” session could be held during a break, meal break, after work or a time that is best for your workplace. Keep it going for the year to be able to introduce a variety of activities. To cut costs and to make the class more personal, invite an employee who is experienced at a specific activity to offer the lesson. A few examples of activities to consider are volleyball, basketball, tennis, curling, in-line skating, bowling or golf. Ask employees to list the activities they would like to learn more about. Be sure to insist that all required safety gear and precautions are followed during the demonstrations. At the end of the year, consider putting together a team or group to play a particular activity with a club, a league or in some casual form such as a game of “pick-up” after work.

Green Thumb

Gardening is a rewarding hobby, especially with such a long, hot growing season in Windsor-Essex County.  Here are a few ideas:

• Provide employees with one or more vegetable plants (e.g. tomato, green pepper, leafy green lettuce) that they can take home and plant in their yard. Ask employees to take photos of their plant’s progress to bring back to be posted on a bulletin board for all to see.
• Encourage employees who have home gardens to bring to work some of the over abundance of produce that their family cannot use to share with employees who do not have a garden of their own. Another option is to promote the idea that employees share their extra produce with local food banks.
• Encourage employees with gardening skills to “buddy” with an employee who is interested but not sure where to start.
• Invite an expert to host a “lunch-and-learn” session on gardening (e.g. flowers, plants, vegetables).  Call a local gardening store to send a staff person, contact a local horticultural organization, or encourage employees with an interest in gardening to share their expertise.
• Convert any available green space at your workplace into a vegetable garden. Employees can bring their families after work hours to help prepare the lot, plant the seeds, weed, and then harvest the bounty. Keep a photo journal by taking and posting photos of all phases of the garden’s development. Share the produce with others at work or in the community

Taking Care of “Business”

Benefits… What’s Available?

Host a “Benefits Awareness Day” to educate employees about the benefits they have available including extended health benefits and the employee assistance programs.  This awareness raising activity could take the form of a health fair or a “lunch-and-learn” seminar.

Prevention is the Best Medicine

Prevention is the best medicine, so it is important to know the types of health screenings and tests you should have during different phases of your life.  Here are some ways you can educate your employees about the different types of recommended health screenings, based on age and gender:

• Hold a health fair and invite organizations from the community to set up displays to educate employees about the need to screen and the types of screening available.
• Distribute the tip sheet “What you should know about health screening” to employees (e.g. as a pay stub insert).