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Melinda Mah

What Makes a Healthy Work Environment? - Healthy Environments - 0 views

  • Physically inactive employees cost employers $488 more per year in more in sick time, benefits and lost productivity
    • Melinda Mah
       
      It's to the employer's and owner's advantage to encourage good health in the medium- and long-term.
  • Employees who smoke cost companies $3,396 more each year
    • Melinda Mah
       
      Yet another reason not to smoke - it makes sense considering all the ill effects of smoking that we now know about.
  • Mental and nervous disorders have replaced musculoskeletal conditions as the top conditions causing long-term disability.
    • Melinda Mah
       
      Now that it's become the more common thing, perhaps some of the stigma will go away, especially when it comes to fear of being fired or not promoted in a workplace.
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  • encourage workers to take responsibility for their own health, safety and wellness and contribute to creating a healthy work environment
    • Melinda Mah
       
      No one understands a person's health like that person.
  • create environments that make the healthy choice the easy choice
    • Melinda Mah
       
      This is important to do in many aspects of life. If fast food wasn't junk food, people would probably still choose it because it's easy.
  • promote work-life balance and make work a healthy life experience
    • Melinda Mah
       
      This shows employers care about their workers. It also means that there will be higher retention. For companies who are afraid that young people will leave after a year or two at their company and who refuse to train young people, it seems like this would be one of a bunch of ways to encourage employees to stay with that company. Treating employees well and caring about them makes tham more likely to stay.
  • jobs are challenging
    • Melinda Mah
       
      This is a good point that success only comes when jobs are challenging. Many people in low-paying jobs are unhappy because they do the same thing day-in, day-out, and it doesn't require much thought.
  • employees have adequate resources to do their job
    • Melinda Mah
       
      This reminds of jobs where employees have to bring in their own stuff to make their workplace happy, or even functional. Specifically, this reminds me of the elementary school teachers who are given a tiny budget that isn't even adequate for providing everyone with pencils for a year, let alone all the books, paper, markers, chalk and other teaching supplies.
  • Lower absenteeism
    • Melinda Mah
       
      Definitely true. If I had absolute independence in middle school, I would have skipped a lot of my classes and gone to do something else more interesting - like go to the library and read a bunch of books. As well, many people will show up but not actually do work. Because many people are paid either a) an hourly wage or b) to show up during certain hours, it encourages workers to be less effective with their time.
  • lexibility – allowing employees to have some capacity to adapt their workday to respond to family issues such as a child becoming ill or one who has special needs, school visits and parent-teacher interviews or special needs of elders. It typically includes family responsibility leave for employees. Supportive supervisors/managers whose management style values staff and is characterized by a desire to help employees achieve better balance between work and the rest of their lives. A culture that is family friendly - overall attitudes, beliefs, values and taken-for-granted ways of doing things that support work-family issues as legitimate workplace concerns, and as an opportunity to develop ‘new ways of working’.  Options include maternity, paternity, family and personal leave provisions. Alternative work arrangements – options are available to employees including daily or scheduled flex time arrangements, job-sharing, reduced hours, compressed work week, family leave options, part-time work, gradual retirement, telecommuting, other leaves and sabbatical options. Such alternative work arrangements are seen as ways of working, and employees using them are not sidelined, marginalized or belittled. Recognition of child and elder care issues including support for child care, providing access to a service regarding child or elder care, establishing on-site child care or, developing a consortium with other employers in order to provide emergency child care. This includes accommodating the needs of employees who are breastfeeding their children.
    • Melinda Mah
       
      In this list of reasons, all except one are family-oriented. I'm guessing only parents and children count as making a "family" for many people. Personally, I don't plan to have kids, and one of my parents passed away shortly after I finished high school. I hope this flexibility extends to family needs for couples who won't/can't have kids. Also, I wonder if this flexibility will extend to pet emergencies? What counts as a valid pet who is member of the family? For example, I can see a workplace sympathetic to a dog or cat, but maybe not to hermit crab.
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    A page of the BC Ministry of Health website that outlines what makes a healthy work environment. It's most important for the business itself to promote health because it makes it easier for all employees to be healthy and productive. Annotated Link: https://diigo.com/05nyj6
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    A page of the BC Ministry of Health website that outlines what makes a healthy work environment. It's most important for the business itself to promote health because it makes it easier for all employees to be healthy and productive. Annotated Link: https://diigo.com/05nyj6
shan-v

Work-Life Balance Quiz - Canadian Mental Health Association - 0 views

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    Of course an online quiz is no substitute for proper counselling, but this resource can help people to start thinking about whether their work/life balance in working for them or whether they should consider changes so they can get the most from their career. I chose this resource not only because of this week's discussion post topic, but also because of Chapter 6 of The Shift, where a healthy work/life balance is shown to be an essential part of the Crafted Future narrative.
Melinda Mah

Planning your 'career curve' - Fortune - 1 views

  • Older adults have tended to think about one career curve
    • Melinda Mah
       
      Same as Gratton's thought.
  • Gen Y’s, however, should be thinking of multiple curves. Quite likely, you will have ups, downs, and do-overs. For you, the career curve framework might better be called career carillon, because the line of your career is likely to resemble a series of bell curves
    • Melinda Mah
       
      Interesting that it specifically addresses the Gen Y. Does this mean Baby Boomers are exempt? I'd say Baby Boomers will also experience the career carillon since they are living into their 90s and are good to work for another 10, 20 or more years. Then there's Gen X who are still fairly young and have half of their careers left still - they will probably experience career carillons. Also, what about Gen Z? Will Gen Z have these career curves, or will Gen Z be even more fluid in their careers?
  • What other priorities do you have for your life? How much time would you like to devote to work?
    • Melinda Mah
       
      This is a good point. I have many other priorities and interests in my life. I am able to handle 9-5, five days a week, but realistically I would prefer either fewer hours per week or to work one of the weekend days so that I would have a free day during regular work hours.
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  • Lots of people say they’d like more flexibility in their work arrangements, but what would that really mean for you? How much spontaneity or predictability do you need to accomplish the other priorities in your life?
    • Melinda Mah
       
      I like some routine, but I get bored if my analytical and creative sides are not engaged. If I have the time to take care of myself and keep my energies levels up, then I am more open to spontaneity. I like being able to roughly make my own schedule, but I like other people setting up a few times where I need to be doing X task. 
  • How much money do you need at this stage of your life? What standard of living will be comfortable for you?
    • Melinda Mah
       
      This is a good point. This is when tracking expenses comes in handy to figure out how much one is spending, and then adjusting from there. Personally, when I started tracking my expenses, I was a little shocked by how much I spend, and it made me spend less because I was more aware of my spending.
  • Challenge
  • Responsibility
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    A short article on how to think in terms of a career carillon instead of a single career curve.
amycloutier

Forget Work Life Balance - Seven Paradigm Shifts for The New 24/7 Normal - 2 views

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    This site takes a different look at work life balance. Although it doesn't address working late hours on personal time, it does offer some interesting ideas.
colinsarkany

Half of Toronto-area workers have fallen into 'precarious employment': study - The Glob... - 0 views

  • The widely held belief that employment leads to economic security and social well-being has become out-of-step with an increasing number of people in today’s work force.
  • Everyone else is working in situations that are part-time, vulnerable or insecure in some way. This includes a growing number of temporary, contract and on-call positions. Jobs without benefits. Jobs with uncertain futures. This significant rise in precarious employment is a serious threat – not only to the collective prosperity of the region, but also to the social fabric of communities
  • precarious employment is hurting everyone
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  • many workers to piece together year-round, full-time hours by working multiple jobs. In addition, working conditions are more uncertain
  • being precariously employed is worst when you’re living in low income, our research confirms this increasingly is an issue that affects people at every income level
  • job insecurity is about more than just poverty. Its impacts are far-reaching, affecting all parts of our lives, redefining how we contribute to our economy, give back to our community and interact with our families. Precarious work can make it more difficult to make ongoing volunteer commitments and donate to charities
  • Trends that have caused nearly half of our work force to engage in insecure employment show no signs of slowing down
  • Training and education models with a life-long learning focus can help workers build the skills to continuously improve their employment prospects.
  • What we need today is a renewed public policy framework that will be supportive of those in precarious employment and responsive to the challenges associated with this shifting labour market
shawnaderksen

Gender Differences in Precarious Work Settings.: EBSCOhost - 3 views

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    In this week's course notes the idea of the precarious worker caught my attention. Many health issues as well as discriminatory issues are seen while doing precarious work as it is not long term and there is constant change. This article outlines and defines what the precarious worker is and the gender differences in the precarious work environment. To give one example, the article states that women represent more precarious workers than men being 33%:12%. This automatically gives way to questions regarding sex discrimination in full time work and brings in the idea of women trying to have a work/life balance for their family.
fawneferguson

Flexible Work Arrangements - 0 views

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    As we explored, many of the "traditional" workplace settings are being forgotten, and new ways of working are being introduced, as more people want more of a work-life balance, and as companies downsize their workforce. This article explores the benefits of flexible workplaces and the benefits they have for employees. However, it does not explore the negative impacts this kind of work can have on employees
meganrowe

Perceptions of a Triple Bottom Line Approach to Doing Business among Generation Y Cana... - 2 views

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    Lynda Gratton comments about the future work world of Generation Y- they are a generation that has respect for diversity and human differences, and have grown up educating themselves on climate change and sustainability. This article can build on Gratton's description of Gen Y, as it describes the results of a survey of the attitudes of 546 millenials towards work in their future. The survey results do indeed show that millenials are interested in a work life that supports sustainability and social responsibility, but it adds the differences between male and female Gen Y'ers. The studies find that females are significantly more interested in environmental protection and social responsibility than are most males (more typically interested in profit maximization). While I believe this article may be fairly controversial and polarizing, it's interesting to further study the attitudes of what is my own generation.
christinawright

Work/Life Balance - Canadian Mental Health Association - 0 views

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    Assessing our mental health is not as simple to do as measuring our physical health. There are no scales or endurance tests that rate mental fitness. But with the help of the Canadian Mental Health Association's Mental Health Meter, you can reflect on your unique strengths and identify areas where your level of mental fitness could be improved to help you cope with all of life's up and downs.
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    As a volunteer for the CMHA, I am an advocate for their website and useful resources! As part of this week's readings on what we are looking for in our working lives and what trade offs we will need to make, I feel that these resources are a helpful read. Take the time to see where you can make improvements to your mental fitness! I like to schedule "Christina time" every week :)
jscharrer

Generation Y: why young job seekers want more than money - 0 views

  • those born between 1980 and 2000, are less interested in financial gain than their parents, and more concerned with job fulfilment.
  • The y-generation has a holistic outlook on the world, and social enterprises help enable this
  • Those born after 1980 have also grown up with the internet, and so Generation Y are the first working-age generation to be considered "digitally native"
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  • growing up with the internet has given Generation Y a better insight into society's core problems
  • At the global level, we are more likely to have travelled abroad, to have friends from other countries, or simply to have grown up with the internet for a core part of our lives.
  • Older generations have gained greatly from the pursuit of wealth and this has left many young people wondering if there is more to life than getting rich quick
  • Others believe social enterprise offers graduates a sustainable alternative to charitable giving.
  • Young people want to simultaneously reach levels of financial wellbeing as well as achieving social good.
  • By prioritising job fulfilment over financial gain, Millennials are sure to shape the workplace in years to come. However, we will have to wait to see exactly how this generation changes workplace dynamics.
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    This article related to chapter 6 of the The Shift, where Gratton outlines how Gen Y-ers like John and Susan seek social engagement over personal financial success. It also discusses a recent rise in 'social entrepreneurship', where young graduates are creating their own social change start-ups as a way to fulfill both their need for employment and sense of social responsibility.
kthoonen

A Simple,Helpful Guide to Overcome Consumerism - 0 views

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    In "The Shift", Gratton mentions 'the traditional deal at work: to be paid, to consume stuff and bring happiness'. In the future, we need to make choices to live a more balanced life. Our experiences will bring us more satisfaction and happiness than buying things with money. This guide may help us see the benefits of owning and wanting less.
andreafaulkner

The 5 best skilled trades jobs in Canada - Canadian Living - 1 views

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    In this Canadian Living Article, the author describes what he considers to be the top 5 skilled trade jobs in Canada at this time. I think this could come in handy for job seekers looking to explore the skilled trades and I really appreciated that for each of the trade jobs listed, this article linked further sites containing more detailed information.
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