Wellness at a Glance: October 2022
Wellness at a Glance is a monthly summary of Employee Health and Wellbeing information for all employees of McMaster University. This month focuses on Staying Active in October.
Employee Wellbeing Resources in October focuses on the topics of:
October hosts #MacMoves Week. #MacMoves is a McMaster-wide initiative created to promote an active and healthy campus. We are offering unique activities, educating on health and fitness, and highlighting opportunities throughout the entire campus to get active! Incorporating movement into our days can be a challenge, and “getting active” means something different to everyone. Explore our resources on movement guidelines, the benefits of physical activity and the many different ways you can choose to get active!
Nature at McMaster:
Natural beauty is McMaster University! It abounds in and around our campus. We are thankful for a treasure of waterfalls, valleys, meadows, wetlands, and forests to explore and discover
A local healthy, sustainable bike share option, with locations close to McMaster.
Healthy Snacks!
Healthy Snack ideas presented by the Healthy Workplace Committee
Discover the present. Source: New York Times
LinkedIn Learning: Routine, Mental Health, and Exercise
Having a routine and looking after your physical and mental health are critical. In this video, learn some of the things you can do.
Workload Fatigue Prevention Strategies
Change how you think about and do work:
- Stop multi-tasking – focus on one thing at a time
- Work at a reasonable, steady pace
- Break down seemingly overwhelming tasks and projects into smaller achievable parts
- Recognize and celebrate your small steps along the way
- Tell your manager you want to be successful at your job and ask them how they would measure that
- Take regular assigned breaks
- Resist working unnecessary overtime
- Even if you must provide contact information in case of emergency, try to stay disconnected from work during vacation time as much as possible
7 minute audio recording via LinkedIn Learning
For leaders: Before you say “No”.
Learn how all employee requests or behaviours are attempts at meeting a need. Learn how to ask “why” before you say “no” and get to the root of the issue.
A free tool to help leaders support employee success
Setting Reasonable Expectations:
- Provide supervisors with the necessary time to meet with employees about workload challenges.
- Provide training so leaders have the skillset to support employees to meet their workload requirements.
- Have all leaders work with employees to:
- Create solutions
- Agree on reasonable expectations
- Identify any barriers to success
- Task improvement process | PDF includes a fillable form to help employees focus on specific tasks that require attention.
- The Getting employee commitment for leaders approach actively engages employees in developing a plan that meets the organization’s needs and increases their willingness to commit over the long term.
Strategies to Manage Employee Workload:
- The higher the demands at work, the more important it can be for employees to have some level of control. However, it may not be possible to give employees control over how their work is prioritized due to regulations, safety concerns, customer or patient demands. Explore where employees can have some control over their assigned tasks to help them work more effectively.
- Inform new employees of accurate and realistic job demands and expectations.
- Include explicit and reasonable productivity expectations in job descriptions.
- Review productivity expectations on a regular basis.
Upcoming Employee Wellbeing Events:
Date: November 10th, 2022
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Practicing self-compassion is sometimes viewed as being self-indulgent, self-absorbed or letting ourselves off easy. In fact, self-compassion enables us to evaluate our experiences more rationally and also kicks in to help us develop more effective solutions for making things better.
Research shows that practicing self-compassion is a powerful tool for motivation and is strongly related to psychological well-being, including increased life satisfaction and resilience and decreased anxiety and depression. This is a one-hour Zoom session hosted by Homewood Health.
Facilitator: John Jackson, Homewood Health
Improving your Financial Well-Being with WorkPerks
Date: November 14, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Improve your financial well-being with savings on everyday purchases and important life events.
In this 60in virtual session, learn about WorkPerks – McMaster’s employee discount program – which provides thousands of discounts for employees, retirees and their families. Families have saved thousands of dollars a year on clothing, dining, electronics and gym memberships (to name a few!).
3-Part Planning for Retirement Course
McMaster University has partnered with the Credit Counselling Society (CCS) to offer a 3-part online retirement planning course aimed at helping pre-retirement employees obtain and maintain financial stability in their upcoming retirement.
Participants must be available to participate in ALL THREE of the 2-hour sessions:
- November 15, 2022 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.; AND
- November 22, 2022 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.; AND
- November 29, 2022 from 11 a.m. -1 p.m.
By the end of the three sessions, participants will gain:
- an understanding of their income, debt, and budget before and during retirement;
- knowledge of the basics of investments and savings;
- information about the basics of taxes, insurance, and estate planning; and
- retirement planning resources.
Fall In-Person Yoga for Employees
Date: October 20 – December 1, 2022, Inclusive
Time: 12:05 p.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Join us for weekly yoga classes, held in David Braley Athletic Centre. Classes are 45 minutes, and employees can attend any number of them using the same registration.
For more information about Employee Wellbeing at McMaster, please visit our webpage.
Employee Well-being, Employee Well-being Newsletter