Workplace wellness toolkit launched (08/12/11)

NB

Dec. 11, 2008 

MONCTON (CNB) – New Brunswick businesses are being encouraged to focus on workplace wellness initiatives thanks to a Wellness at Heart Workplace Wellness Toolkit launched today. 

The series of tools in the toolkit are designed to help New Brunswick organizations promote healthy workplace environments by assisting in the development or enhancement of a comprehensive workplace wellness program. Every day wellness programs are proving to be successful at lowering health care and insurance costs, decreasing absenteeism, and improving performance and productivity in workplaces. This kit will demonstrate how to best assess needs, develop a plan of action, implement, promote and evaluate wellness programs.

The initiative stems from a working partnership established in 2007 between the Heart and Stroke Foundation of New Brunswick, the College of Psychologists and the New Brunswick Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport.  

“We are pleased to be a partner in the development of this Toolkit to help New Brunswick businesses focus on wellness,” Wellness, Culture and Sport Minister Hédard Albert said. “Our government has made wellness a major priority and we recognize that people in our workplaces must be well to be productive. To be a self-sufficient province, we must be a well province. By adopting healthier lifestyles, employers, employees and their families take responsibility for their own wellness and collectively take action to beat the wellness crisis.”  

The partners focused on 4 pillars when creating this tool. Healthy Eating; Physical Activity; Tobacco-free Living; and Psychological Wellness. The collaboration resulted in the production of a guide to comprehensive workplace wellness programming, which ultimately sets quality standards for workplaces in New Brunswick. 

“The future success of organizations in New Brunswick is dependent upon having well-qualified, motivated and healthy employees.” Heart and Stroke Foundation of New Brunswick CEO Dan Connolly said. “As a foundation we are dedicated to working with employers in this province to make changes that will have a lasting effect on the health of New Brunswickers.”  

“The College of Psychologists of New Brunswick is proud to be a partner in the development and promotion of the Toolkit,” College President Christophe Surette said. “Psychological wellness is as essential to a comprehensive workplace wellness program as is good physical health. Psychological wellness implies amongst other benefits the ability for a person to cope with stress, be motivated, adapt to changes, deal with setbacks and embrace challenges. The benefits are enormous for both the employee and the employer’’. 

The toolkit was launched at a meeting of the New Brunswick Business Council (NBBC).

“We are here today to endorse this toolkit and the partnership that is taking workplace wellness in this province to a new level.” says Denis Losier, Chair of the New Brunswick Business Council. The Business Council has identified wellness as one of four key building blocks to self-sufficiency. Mr. Losier said, “The Council will be using the toolkit in its program to promote healthier and more productive workplaces, and has developed, through JD Irving Ltd., an implementation guide to help New Brunswick businesses of all sizes in introducing and improving workplace wellness programs”. 

 Click here to view the toolkit or call 1-800-663-3600 to obtain a copy!

Click here for the Implementation Guide