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TITLE
1.
This policy may be referred to as the "Workplace Health and Wellness Policy".
PURPOSE
2.
The purpose of this policy is to encourage, support and offer health related
programs that will assist employees and elected officials in achieving ownership
for their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, resulting in improving the
overall health and wellbeing for all employees. A healthy workplace leads to
improved satisfaction and moral, which contributes to a more effective workplace.
INTERPRETATION
3.
In this policy:
(1)
Physical Environment (workplace) refers to health, comfort and safety
factors of a workplace such as noise levels, toxic substances, air quality,
light levels, equipment and design of work space.
(2)
Health Practices refers to individual lifestyle practices that affect health
such as physical activity, eating habits, sleeping habits, as well as
smoking, alcohol and drug/substance use.
(3)
Social Environment refers to psychosocial factors of a workplace that
affect health and employee stress levels such as reasonableness of
deadlines, organization and design of work, opportunities to influence how
tasks are done, adequacy of training and development and the interplay of
home and work responsibilities.
(4)
Personal Resources refer to the means by which individuals cope with
stress, the sense of control they have over their work and health and the
perception there is support available during times of illness, distress or
unhappiness.
POLICY GUIDELINES
4.
The following are suggested guidelines:
(1)
The policy applies to all permanent Town of Truro employees as well as
elected officials.
Town of Truro - Policy & Procedure Manual
Subject:
Workplace Health & Wellness Policy
Policy Number:
P100-026
Approval Date:
December 4, 2017
Departments:
All Departments
(2)
The Town of Truro recognizes that the ability of the Town to achieve its
objectives is dependent upon the wellbeing of all employees.
(3)
The Town of Truro acknowledges that the key elements of a healthy
workplace includes the physical environment, health practices, social
environment and personal resources. It is also recognized that these broad
based factors are interdependent and must be considered as parts of a
holistic approach to a healthy workplace and employee wellbeing.
(4)
To facilitate this policy, the Town of Truro will:
(a)
provide a healthy and safe physical work environment;
(b)
administer program funds and provide support for a healthy
workplace to the workplace wellness team;
(c)
facilitate an employee's efforts to make improvements in their
health practices;
(d)
organize wellness education sessions relating to mental, physical
and emotional wellness;
(e)
improve employee access to healthy snack options in the work
place by providing healthy food options during events, meetings,
etc.;
(f)
provide access to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which
provides confidential help for a wide range of concerns at no cost
or minimal costs to the employee;
(g)
encourage friendly fitness and wellness competitions; and
(h)
develop resources for employees to help them cope with the social
and professional aspects of their lives.
(5)
Full time employees are eligible to receive a financial incentive of 50% of
the total cost (up to $300.00 per year) towards a membership or program
that is intended to improve the employee's wellness. Eligible
expenses/programs include but are not limited to:
i.
fitness centre membership
ii.
structured exercise classes;
iii.
healthy eating programs;
iv.
tobacco cessation programs;
v.
team or individual sport registration;
vi.
other expenses that are not listed which will be taken to the
Wellness Committee for review.
(a)
Receipts are required for reimbursement and must be submitted no
later than November 30th to the Finance Manager to be considered
for reimbursement. Employees will receive a one-time lump sum
reimbursement following submission.
(b)
Participation in the program is voluntary.
POLICY OBJECTIVES
5.
The objectives of this program is to:
(1)
Improve understanding of workplace issues that impact the health and
wellbeing of Truro employees;
(2)
Provide a work environment that will support employee health and
wellbeing;
(3)
Build the knowledge, skills and ability of employees to take control over
their wellbeing by helping individuals become actively involved in
improving their personal health.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
6.
The following outlines the roles and responsibilities of staff with regard to the
Workplace Health and Wellness Policy:
(1)
Workplace Wellness Team: the Wellness Team consists of a group of
volunteers who are interested in and committed to enhancing the health
and wellbeing of employees. The Wellness Team will:
(a)
assess employee wellness needs by actively seeking input from
employees and managers;
(b)
develop and implement wellness initiatives to address the needs of
employees;
(c)
provide information that employees can use to decide on
participation in health promotion programming;
(d)
encourage and actively seek input from employees and managers
in regards to wellness needs;
(2)
Management Responsibilities:
(a)
keep employees up to date on healthy workplace activities and
programs;
(b)
support and encourage employee involvement in the wellness
program as a component of employee involvement in professional
development;
(c)
offer training to employees who want to become involved in the
program for development reasons;
(d)
contribute ideas, opinions and expertise to the work of the
Wellness Committee;
(e)
participate in the program, activities, and resources provided
through the wellness program and provide healthy food options for
meetings, training and other events associated with the
municipality.
(3)
Human Resource Responsibilities:
(a)
work with the Active Community Coordinator to administer the
workplace wellness budget;
(b)
review and revise human resource policies that impact employees'
health to ensure that they support and are consistent with the
Workplace Health and Wellness Policy.
COMMUNICATION, TRAINING AND IMPLEMENTATION
7.
A healthy workplace policy requires department wide participation. Employee
participation can include developing, implementing and reviewing health actions
and policies, involvement in planning lifestyle health promotion programs at
work, identifying programs, devising solutions and then implementing and
evaluating those solutions.
(a)
employees are encouraged to participate in any or all programs that are
made available to them.
(b)
on a yearly basis, the Town of Truro employees will be surveyed to
determine which initiatives are important to them. These results will be
compiled and analyzed by the Workplace Wellness Team to develop
sessions and initiatives for the coming year.
(c)
any workplace wellness initiatives will be communicated through email
and notices posted at workshops.
EVALUATION
8.
The Workplace Health and Wellness Policy will be evaluated through use of data
and trends indicating outcomes. A program review will be conducted on an
annual basis to determine if employee workplace wellness needs are being met.