Wellness at a Glance: August 2022

Wellness at a Glance is a monthly summary of Employee Health and Wellbeing information for all employees of McMaster University. The month of August focuses on the topic of “How We Work”.

Employee Wellbeing Resources in August focuses on the topics of:

Resources for On-Campus Work: 

Virtual Tour of the McMaster Campus(es) 

McMaster University spans across six campuses, throughout Hamilton, Burlington, Waterloo, and Niagara. If you’re not one of the lucky few to have visited all campuses, why not save yourself the drive and take a virtual tour? Whether you’ve only worked remotely, it’s been a few years since you were on campus, or you’d just like to learn more about McMaster, now is your chance to check out all that these beautiful campuses have to offer.

Podcasts: A Key to Healthy Commuting

 The MacCast: McMasterAlumni – (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, & Soundcloud) 

Bounce McMaster – (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, & Amazon Music) 

The Global Health Collective – With a Local Edge – (Apple Podcasts & Spotify) 

One Dish, Many Stories 

How to Be a Better Human –  (Apple Podcasts & Spotify) 

Ten Percent Happier 

More than a Feeling 

Childproof 

Twenty Percent Happier 

The Morning Ritual – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible 

Accidental Creative –  (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, & iHeartRadio) 

Unlocking Us with Brene Brown – (Spotify & Google Podcasts) 

Overcoming Challenges When Returning to In-Person Work: 

Source: Harvard Business Review

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

When there’s too much to do 

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.

Supporting Employee Success:

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.
• Prepare employees for anticipated periods of increased work, such as seasonal demands and peak shift hours.

Employee Wellbeing Events:

Journaling to Boost Body Image and Self- Compassion 
Date: August 9, 2022
Time: 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. 
Looking to build a journaling practice? The mental health benefits are plentiful, but it can be challenging to keep a regular schedule. During this one-hour Zoom workshop, we will learn strategies to develop a greater sense of self-compassion and positive body image.

August Series – A View on Wellness 
Date: August 11 – August 18 2022
Time: 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Employee Well-being has partnered with McMaster Continuing Education to offer a 3-part online wellness series aimed at helping listeners discover a new conception of well-being – one that is realistic and achievable, given the complex personal and professional challenges of the world today. Participants can attend and register for any of the following sessions.

Burnout Response for Leaders 
Date: August 23, 2022
Time: 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
This one-hour Zoom session is intended for leaders to attend to learn more about how to prevent employee burnout. Leaders will learn how to help their high achievers stay high achieving, improve overall team resilience, and learn techniques that are practical to implement.

**NEW: Coffee, Commutes, and Connections
McMaster Community of Practice
Microsoft Teams
Get Mactive: A new MS Team for staff and faculty to connect around active commutes, runs on campus, morning coffee meet-ups, and other physical activity at Mac. To join the team, open Microsoft Teams, click Teams on the left-hand side, then Join or create a team and type 9un8kp6 in Join team with a code.
Learn more about this program

For more information about Employee Wellbeing at McMaster, please visit our webpage.