Graham Lowe - Creating Healthy Organizations: How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees to Achieve Sustainable Success

CREATING HEALTHY ORGANIZATIONS

How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees to Achieve Sustainable Success

How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees to Achieve Sustainable Success

GRAHAM LOWE

Graham Lowe 2010

Rotman/UTP Publishing

Toronto Buffalo London

www.utppublishing.com

Printed in Canada

ISBN 978-0-8020-9980-8

Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-based inks.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Lowe, Graham S.

Creating healthy organizations: how vibrant workplaces inspire employees to achieve sustainable success / Graham Lowe.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8020-9980-8

1. Employee motivation. 2. Job satisfaction. 3. Employee health promotion. 4. Quality of work life. 5. Leadership. 6. Corporate culture. 7. Organizational effectiveness. 8. Organizational change. I. Title.

HF5549.5.M63L69 2010 658.314 C2010-900545-7

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).

To Ella and Penny

Producing this book was a collaborative enterprise. Many individuals generously shared with me their ideas and experiences. Others provided me with opportunities to learn first hand about how they were creating healthy organizations.

The framing of quality of work life and organizational performance in health terms goes back to work I did between 1999 and 2001 at Canadian Policy Research Networks, especially projects with Grant Schellenberg and Harry Shannon, with encouragement from Judith Maxwell. My immersion in the research on workplace health promotion deepened when Health Canada contracted me to write two discussion papers, one on healthy workplace strategies and the other on healthy workplaces and productivity. Deborah Connors and organizers of the annual Health, Work and Wellness conference in Canada connected me over the years with a dedicated network of workplace change agents, from whom I learned much. Ongoing discussions and collaborations with Greg Banwell and Craig Thompson at Wilson Banwell Human Solutions also helped to shape my thinking about healthy organizations.

As a consultant, workshop leader, and conference speaker, I have had the privilege of hearing and seeing hundreds of examples of individuals and organizations moving down a healthy trajectory. Several organizations have agreed to share their stories here. In this regard, I would particularly like to thank Mike Martin at Teck Comincos Trail Operations, Richard Gotfried at Trico Homes, Jeff MacPherson at the City of Edmonton, Leanne Bilodeau at University of British Columbia Okanagan, Jeff Fielding at the City of London, David Minns at the National Research Councils Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation, Marie Sopko at Nexen, Karen Jackson at Trillium Health Centre, and Seow Ping at the Singapore Health Promotion Board.

Jennifer Dixon provided research assistance with . Joanne McKechnie helped to analyse the data from Great Place to Work Institute Canadas 2007 50 Best Workplaces in Canada list that I use in various chapters. I gained an inside view of outstanding workplaces during the 2005 to 2008 period, when Joanne and I were co-principals in the Great Place to Work Institutes Canadian affiliate before selling to new owners. Continued access to the institutes data is appreciated. I also draw on survey data from Rethinking Work, a joint venture with Ekos Research, where Susan Galley was a creative source of ideas on workplace issues.

I also want to acknowledge the input I have received from the numerous participants at my workshops and conference presentations. More than anything, these conversations confirmed to me the need for a practical guide to creating healthier organizations.

Jennifer DiDomenico at the University of Toronto Press offered the right balance of encouragement, advice, and patience needed for me to complete this project.

CREATING HEALTHY ORGANIZATIONS

How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees to Achieve Sustainable Success

As the corporate hub of Canadas boom-bust energy economy, Calgary experienced a white-hot real estate market for most of this decade. Home prices in the Alberta city of 1 million people skyrocketed as buyers lined up to outbid each other. Then, in 2008 the global financial crisis and plummeting oil prices knocked the bottom out of Calgarys housing market. Home sales that year dropped about 50 per cent, unsold property piled up, and prices fell. It is now a buyers market, but fewer people are buying, fearful about an uncertain future. Construction is a cyclical industry, caught in the updrafts and downdrafts of the economy. Yet despite knowing the good times could not last, many companies were caught off guard in 2008. Some closed their doors completely; others cut their workforce by 30 to 40 per cent.

However, at least one company Calgary-based Trico Homes likely will emerge from the economic crisis even stronger. The reasons are both simple and complex: Trico Homes is a healthy organization. It has designed, marketed, and built over 4,000 homes in the Calgary area and the interior of British Columbia. The company has won numerous building industry accolades. It has been recognized as one of the 50 Best Managed Companies and 50 Best Workplaces in Canada. But these accomplishments are not what make Trico a healthy organization. What is important is how it achieved these results. To understand the how, we have to appreciate Tricos operating philosophy in other words, its corporate character. The companys character is rooted in a culture that blends social responsibility, caring values, and a performance-oriented ethic of teamwork.

The Trico philosophy is expressed in its vision and grounded in its values. The company vision is to enhance its customers lives while enriching the community. Wayne Chiu, founder and CEO of Trico Homes, believes that a company should leave a legacy by contributing to the communities in which it does business. For Trico, philanthropy involves more than writing a cheque its about building lasting partnerships that strengthen communities. Trico has earned a reputation as a community leader through its partnerships and employee volunteering with the Kids Cancer Care Foundation, Bow Valley College, GlobalFest, UNICEF Canada, Volunteer Calgary, and Immigrant Services Calgary. Recently, Trico Homes initiated a $1.5 million partnership with southeast Calgarys Family Leisure Centre in support of a significant expansion program and the establishment of the Trico Centre for Family Wellness.

The corporate values are T.R.I.C.O. trust, respect, integrity, community, and opportunity. Trico cultivates trusting and respectful relationships among employees, trades, suppliers, and community partners. All feel part of the Trico extended family. Employee surveys found high positive scores on management integrity and credibility, fairness, respect, team spirit, and pride. During the boom years, staff turnover stayed well below the industry average. Peoples interests and passions are tapped through training and career development opportunities. At weekly team meetings, a no bad ideas philosophy encourages creative input from employees. When Tricos employees speak for themselves, here is how they described, in an anonymous survey, why it is a great company to work for: