PEO CANADA

A friend of mine confessed that she once warned her husband not to swallow his gum because it would stay in his stomach for seven years. She has since learned that her mom was only telling her this because she didn’t want her to eat it. After I closed my gaping jaw, and stopped giggling, I realized that many of us may live parts of our lives according to myths told to us in our past. The truth is that, while gum doesn’t fully digest in you, it will pass through in the same lump it was swallowed with. 

Below is a list of some common myths you may have heard and even lived by for a short period of your lives, along with some extra information explaining the truth or myth behind it.

You can tell what the sex of a baby will be based on how the mother is carrying – This is completely false and comes from Old English Folklore. It was once believed that a woman was carrying a girl if she was carrying the baby up high and a boy if she was carrying the baby down low. It was believed that girls needed more protection so they carried higher than the boys. There is no scientific basis to back this up. It is, simply put, an old wives tale. http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_newborn/pregnancy/myths_tales.html

If you don’t eat your carrots when you are a child you will go blind as an adult – Yup, we all heard this one when mom wanted us to finish those carrots! While there is some basis in truth for this, it is very little. Those who have a healthy diet in both childhood and adulthood are not going to have their vision affected simply because they failed to eat carrots. Those who live in countries where they might not get enough Vitamin A are in danger of going night blind. However, if their diet is supplemented with foods rich in Vitamin A, such as carrots, their vision can be improved.

http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/ask/health-fitness/792

Feed a cold but starve a fever – This is another old wives tale that has no basis in reality. Anyone who has a cold and or fever needs a certain amount of nutrients and fluids to get better. Without them, the body has a more difficult time fighting off the cold and or fever.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/12/07/par.sick.myths/index.html

When you shave, the hair grows back thicker and faster – A study that was done 80 years ago actually proved that this was not true, but many people still believe it today. Hair is dead. So shaving it is not going to make it grow faster. What make hair grow are the follicles beneath the surface of the skin, and what comes out is dead by the time it reaches the skin’s surface. It appears to be darker and thicker because it hasn’t been exposed to the sun or any chemicals for very long.

If you eat turkey, it’s going to make you sleepy – Well, we’ve all thought this around the holidays. But, in reality, the sleepiness we feel is from eating a large meal, not from eating the turkey itself. It used to be thought that the tryptophan in turkey is what made us sleepy, but it has recently been discovered that ground beef and even pork have more tryptophan than turkey.

Colds and flu are at their most contagious before any symptoms appear – This is untrue. Colds are at their most contagious when the symptoms are at their worst. This is the timeframe when you are most contagious. While you should wash your hands often and take other preventative measures throughout the life of a cold, you should be especially diligent when the symptoms are at their worst.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/12/07/par.sick.myths/index.html

For more health and wellness myths, visit our resource at:

http://health.thefuntimesguide.com/2008/12/health_myths.php

When we imagine the types of employees who get workplace injuries, we often think of those who exert a lot of physical energy. While it’s true that employees in these work environments may be at greater risk for injury, office workers are also at risk.

Unfortunately, many office jobs require that we perform repetitive motions to fulfill our duties. For this reason, Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI’s) are the most common injuries occurring in the office. Positioning the body in unnatural positions can put strain on areas such as the wrist and spine.

Our physical differences are endless, yet many of our workstations look exactly alike. We spend several hours a day sitting at them; why not make them fit us?  Avoiding discomfort and possible injury could be as easy as making a few simple adjustments to your work environment. 

Work Surfaces

Generally, the work surface should be about the height of the elbows when the arms are hanging straight down while seated. When customizing your work surface:

·         Keep frequently used items close at hand. Move the telephone closer to you or place frequently-used binders on your desk rather than on an overhead shelf.

·         Free your work area from clutter by removing unnecessary files and office supplies, have only what you need. Your legs should be allowed to move freely underneath the desk.

Chairs

·         Adjust the height of your chair so your knees are at right angles when you are seated.

·         The space between the front edge of the seat and the back of your knee should be the span of two or three fingers. This will minimize pressure on the underside of your leg.

·         Adjust the lumbar support so it rests in the small of your back.

·         While seated, bend your elbows to 90 degrees and relax the shoulders. If your armrests do not allow for this position, do not use them while keying or using the mouse. If armrests are too high or too low, have them removed or get a new chair without armrests.

·         Avoid sitting for long periods of time by alternating between sitting and standing, or simply get up and stretch. Aim to move your back, neck and shoulders at least every 10 minutes.

·         Keep your feet flat on the floor and lean into the backrest at all times. Consider using a footrest if necessary.

Monitors

·         Monitors should be directly in front of you at about arms length.

·         The top line of text on the screen should be at eye level, most of the text will be slightly below eye level.

·         To avoid eyestrain, focus on something farther away (e.g. a clock 20 ft. away) for a few seconds every hour. Tilt your monitor down if glare is noted on the screen.

Keyboards

·         Position your keyboard so your wrists are straight when elbows are at 90 degrees. Adjust your chair height or your keyboard platform to do this.

·         Elbows should be kept as close to the body as possible with wrists relaxed and straight.  

·         Use the keyboard instead of the mouse to perform computer commands whenever possible and learn the shortcuts for your operating system so you minimize wrist strain.

Mouse

·         Position the mouse at the same height as the keyboard. Keep it within easy reach.

·         Keep a light grip on the mouse, moving it with the whole arm, and initiating movements from the shoulder.

Telephones

·         Do not cradle the telephone between your ear and shoulder. Consider using a headset that can easily plug into your telephone.  If you do not use a headset, hold the receiver with one hand.

Documents

·         If you need to look back and forth from the screen to the documents, place your hard copy on a document holder, close to and at the same height and viewing distance as the monitor.

Your workstation can be made to fit you and the type of work you do.  Remember to:   

1.       Check that you are using good posture to reduce the stress on your body.

2.       Adjust your chair to support your back and minimize awkward postures that can lead to muscle   tension, fatigue, and soreness.

3.       Rearrange your workstation layout to avoid repetitive, prolonged, and awkward movements when you use the monitor, keyboard, mouse, documents, and other items.

4.       Take frequent breaks to avoid prolonged sitting and eyestrain.

Practicing good work habits and applying ergonomics at work can go a long way in helping you work safer.

*Information obtained from WCB Alberta and Work Safe BC websites.

Summer has arrived! Camping, swimming, hiking, picnics, and numerous other activities that normally aren’t as attractive to everyone during the cold winter months, are now here for the taking. All of which are made that much more fun with the warm rays of the sun falling all around us.

So what are you waiting for?! You’ve traded in your long sleeve sweaters and snow pants for sleeveless shirts and shorts to keep cool during the hot summer days; and hopefully add a little colour to your skin to erase the pasty effects of the long cold winter months. But we also need to remember that while we’re shedding our clothes in summer celebration, we need to protect our skin from the sun too. 

Just like we added layers on layers to keep the cold out only a few months ago, now we need to trade in the flannel long-underwear for creamy sun tan lotions and wide brimmed hats.                            

Why you ask?… remember that tanned skin is really damaged skin from ultraviolet (UV) radiation; radiation that comes from our sun, and even from tanning beds. 

The more we tan our skin, the more damage we are inflicting. 

Really?… Tanning beds too?  YES! 

OMG-Facts.com says people who use a tanning bed prior to vacationing in hot countries to develop a base tan to protect themselves from UV rays are only adding more radiation to their skin.

“Your risk of melanoma more than doubles if you began using tanning beds before the age of 35. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends banning the use of tanning beds by children under the age of 18.”

 http://www.omg-facts.com/view/facts/3647

Currently 32 States in the US have regulations for the use of tanning beds by minors including minimum age restrictions and parental consent. http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=14394 

For information on the use of tanning beds in Canada, visit http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/life-vie/lamp-eng.php .

Protecting yourself from the sun can be done in a few single steps:

·         Check the daily UV index – available from local radio and TV stations.

·         Apply sunscreen before heading out and wear protective clothing which include wide brimmed hats and loose long sleeve shirts/pants.

·         Limit the amount of time you’re going to be in the sun.

Visit http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/sun-sol/protect-protegez/sun-solaire-eng.php for more great information.

I believe that in order for employees to excel and be successful in their job or career their workplace needs to be mentally healthy. It is tough to be motivated when your work environment is mentally toxic. Especially during these tough economic times, a healthy workplace is essential and benefits both the company and its employees. However, many organizations during a recession are too busy thinking about cost reductions, staff layoffs, and salary and benefit cuts to worry about implementing a physiologically healthy workplace program. A mentally healthy work environment can increase productivity, performance and work quality. There was an interesting article in the Calgary Herald about the importance of having a mentally healthy workplace and how simple it is for organizations to adopt.

Click on the following link to read more:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Mentally+healthy+workplace+vital+even+recession/2678401/story.html

How are you doing on your New Years Resolutions? Most of us begin each New Year with wonderful intentions to get fit, eat better, lose weight or, in general, attain a better level of wellness in our lives.

However, usually by this point, most of us have already faltered. We need to learn to take baby steps towards our goals and not to give up if we encounter a set back.

Wellness is multi-faceted: Physical, Mental and Emotional concerns all affect us each day. Since all of our body’s systems are connected, our family and social life, work environment and spirituality all play an important role in our overall wellness.

Increasing your Physical Wellness can start with simple activities such as a 10 minute walk, or taking the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. Rather than force yourself to go to the gym, crank up your favorite playlist and start dancing and singing around the house. Remember the olden days and how we loved to skip? A skipping rope is an inexpensive and fun way to start getting some exercise. A more popular activity is to join your kids with the Wii fit and challenge each other. Make Fitness Fun! If we get accustomed to taking small steps to physical activity, we may start to enjoy the good effects and look to extend our activities and the length of time we are willing to commit. Our diet can also have a direct affect to physical wellness. Strive to eat a wide variety of food and abide by the rule - ‘everything in moderation’. Also, remember the other biggie - Drink lots of water and rehydrate your body.

Improving Mental Well-being by taking the time to enjoy lounging in a soothing bath, relaxing and losing yourself in a good book, or learning a few yoga techniques can go a long way to reducing stress and improving our body and soul. If you’re committed to making this year even better than last, your first step is to stop feeling guilty for doing the things you enjoy. What matters isn’t what you choose to do, but that it makes you feel good about yourself. Make time to let your mind wander - you never know where your dreams may lead. Daydreaming can relax the mind, boost productivity and allow you to consider a wide range of possibilities for yourself. Try a little reading, a little soft music - whatever makes you feel nurtured and relaxed. 

Emotions and well-being also go hand in hand. Getting in a good nights sleep can do wonders for your day.  Try getting to bed 30 minutes earlier every night for a week and see how the extra sleep affects your mood. If you are so lucky and have the time, try taking a nap. Make sure you don’t nap for much longer than 20 minutes or you’ll wake up groggy. Take your nap early in the afternoon so you don’t have trouble falling asleep at bedtime. Taking time for yourself is necessary but don’t forget that taking the time to connect with our loved ones will also reap rewards. Cuddle your kids, hug your spouse, and share some laughter.

We tend to take care of everyone else before we take care of ourselves. Let’s give ourselves a break and get back on track – one step at a time.

Wellness is that quality that gives us the sense that everything is under control, which in turn allows us to focus fully on what we are doing without distraction from stress, disease, or conflict. We all know instituting a workplace wellness program improves the health of employees, decreases employee absenteeism and thus saves the company money. But how do you implement such a thing and how much money is the company going to have to spend to get it off the ground? Most wellness resources tell you that the success of a workplace wellness initiative is based on 3 to 5 basic elements and the strategy resulting from those key steps.

1.       Support from senior management – this means owners, managers and team leaders need to be on board with the plan.

2.       Create a Vision – should have both management and employee involvement in determining the goals of the wellness initiative. Example: improved general health, well-being & attitude, reduced turnover and competitive advantage in your industry.

3.       Select your wellness Representatives – depending on the size and culture of your environment select a committee or team to promote, support and administer the program.

4.       Engage Employees – find out what topics are of most interest, determine how information would best be distributed and who will participate.

5.       Manage the program – get started and determine how best to keep the plan going, how well it’s being received, continue to review the success of the program and whether it is meeting the goals of the initiative.

Now that we’ve established the ideas you can use to create the initiative, let’s discuss what kind of wellness promotions can be implemented with little or no cost involved.

Encourage Healthy Eating

• Provide healthy alternatives for snacks in the office kitchen by bringing in apples, oranges and bananas to supplement or replace the vending machines. This cost can be supported by employees or shared between management.
• Start a healthy recipe cookbook file on your companies shared drives.

Promote Active Living

• Encourage employees to walk to a team member’s office instead of calling or messaging with a question.
• Allow flexible working hours to provide time for interested employees to walk, run or climb stairs during or before their work day. 

Provide Resources & Education

• Get a subscription to a health magazine to keep in the break area or encourage employees to share the magazines and books they receive at home. 
• Have wellness reps send out weekly hints & tips to healthy lifestyles from free wellness newsletters and brochures.

Promoting wellness in your workplace can be as simple and inexpensive as you need it to be. The best part is that it can grow and develop as your company sees “fit”.

You’ve heard about it, seen it and potentially dealt with it. An employee with significant health issues trying to carry on working while struggling with a serious illness. You’ve also no doubt seen the impact on your organization.

Some managers/supervisors are able to be empathetic while still being responsible to their organizations – these managers are generally the ones that have had more experience and or may have been through a serious illness themselves. I have found time and time again proper handling of these situations is something you cannot learn from a text book. You have to learn by experiencing it.

It’s a fine line for a manager to walk: trying to balance goals and expectations with reduced coverage due to sick leave.

You may be familiar with this: “I need somebody who can be here, someone I can count on…”? I’ve heard this from many different supervisors, not from just one industry or demographic, this viewpoint seems to be universal. I like to remind managers that they should treat employees: “As they would like to be treated; with respect and dignity”. It’s not the manager’s fault that the employee is sick but they need to know how to handle it in the best way possible.

So how do we assist inexperienced managers?

Steps every supervisor should consider/discuss with their employee:

·               Ensure that the employee is receiving the assistance they need. Usually the health issue is dealt with by the provincial health care system but the psychological aspects may have not been addressed. Recommend the employee utilize all available resources such as: EAP, non-profit support groups, community groups etc.

·               Verify company policy with respect to sick time/disability and ensure that the employee fully understands what is covered and more importantly what is not covered

·               Sick time maybe needed sporadically after initial treatments and for multiple doctors visits – both supervisor and employee need to plan how to deal with these

·               Establish a protocol for additional sick time needed (e.g. sick note after x number of days)

·               Explore whether working reduced hours or working from home maybe an option to make the most of the best productive hours in the day for the person

·               Determine how much information will be discussed with other employees in the department

·               Establish guidelines on communication between employee and supervisor – e.g. updates weekly initially and monthly thereafter – situations can become unmanageable very quickly without good communication

Ok, so what’s the reward to spending time and effort assisting employees?

Planning – the more communication that happens the easier it is to plan

·               While the employee productivity may decrease during modified duty periods – some work is better than none – and the employee is better able to return to regular duties as they are not out of the loop completely

·               Retention and loyalty of the employee – employees who are treated well are more likely to stay with an employer – no retraining costs

·               Employee recognition – shows other employees how you treat illnesses

·               Employer recognition – bragging rights - my company looked after me

·               Ethics – employers have a certain responsibility under Human Rights legislation to accommodate

·               Good “karma” – it just makes you feel good to know that you did the best you could for an employee in a difficult position

So to recap, I have found that communication is the most critical key and that empathy breeds loyalty.

What is pandemic influenza?

Influenza is an infection of the lungs and airways caused by an influenza virus.  Pandemic

influenza occurs when a new influenza virus, with an ability to spread easily from human to

human, circulates worldwide.

Pandemic influenza presents a new biological hazard into the workplace, and Health Canada (2006) anticipates a 20 to 25 percent work absenteeism rate during pandemic influenza.  It has been more than 35 years since the last pandemic and the historical average has been every 25 years.

The symptoms of H1N1 influenza virus in Canada have been generally mild and are similar to the symptoms of seasonal influenza. Symptoms may include:

·         Fever;

·         Cough;

·         Fatigue;

·         Muscle aches;

·         Lack of appetite;

·         Some people have also experienced runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

With so many people expected to become ill from this virus, the impact on your business can be significant.  An important strategy to combat this virus, not only in your work life but in your daily life, is prevention.  A constant regimen of hand washing, covering your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing (preferably with a tissue) and keeping distance from crowds during a pandemic will slow the spread of the virus.

Employee education about pandemic influenza is also important in stopping the spread of the virus.  A well outlined policy in conjunction with a company emergency preparedness plan will help everyone within your organization understand their role during a pandemic.

Any pandemic will be a balancing act for employers who have to weigh employee health and well-being with productivity.  Having a contingency plan for employees that become ill or are caring for an ill family member working from home for example, will go a long way to reducing a company’s losses during a pandemic.  

The time to plan for the upcoming season is now.  It is too late to start planning after the flu season has started, which is traditionally from October to April.  Has your company started planning for the pandemic? 

http://www.health.alberta.ca/health-info/influenza-H1N1.html

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/influenza/