College secures healthy workplace recognition
By Lethbridge Herald on January 8, 2022.
Lethbridge College has been acknowledged for the third straight year as an employer that fosters a physically and psychologically safe and healthy workplace.
The award acknowledges efforts to continually improve physical, mental and social health and social responsibility in the community.
Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month is celebrated in October with support from Excellence Canada, an independent not-for-profit organization that is committed to advancing organizational excellence across Canada. CHWM was set in motion in 2001 with the introduction of Canada’s Healthy Workplace Week. The intent of the web-based initiative is to build awareness of the importance of healthy workplace health for the short and long-term success of organizations and for the well-being of their employees. The week eventually extended to become Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month, a longer program duration which gave workplaces more time to plan, promote and execute programs and activities for their staff.
In 2021, Lethbridge College launched its LC Cares: Stronger Together Health and Wellness Strategy to promote an inclusive healthy learning and work environment for all students and employees; its Coming Together in a Holistic Way Niitsitapi Strategy that continues its commitment to truth and reconciliation; and hired an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategist and coordinator to identify and overcome systemic barriers that impede individuals from underrepresented groups.
“This award is a way for us to continue to look at what we’re doing every year to support a healthy workplace,” says Laura Morden, Human Resources consultant and acting co-chair of the Health and Wellness Strategy Committee.
“The nomination looks for continual improvement. Our institution’s work of promoting a healthy workplace never stops, and we see great work happening across our college.”
Other highlights from 2021 include the college working collaboratively with fellow post-secondary institutions in the region to advance physical wellbeing by organizing a TrackIt Challenge in May and June that attracted 250 participants from Lethbridge College alone as employees completed the equivalent of nearly 65,000 kilometres of physical activity over four weeks.
Lethbridge College, the University of Lethbridge and Medicine Hat College also united in September to hear a presentation by Sheldon Kennedy about his work with the Respect Group. The college recommitted to Respect in the Workplace Training, created by Respect Group.
Mindful of the ongoing precautions related to COVID-19, the college continued to support group and community activities that could be done safely, including Movie in the Coulees, a community event in June, and convocation events that celebrated graduates while safely sharing the celebration with family and friends.
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