Creating Healthy Organizations: Taking Action to Improve Employee Well-Being, Revised and Expanded Edition

How can you future-proof your organization by making it humanly sustainable? Creating Healthy Organizations answers this question, showing how to forge stronger links between employee well-being and the future success of any organization. The book makes a compelling case for resilient and humanly sustainable businesses by focusing on improving employees’ well-being. Employee stress, burnout, work-life conflict, and disengagement remain significant workplace problems. Yet, there are important signs of progress. The healthy organization concept has begun moving into the mainstream of corporate wellness. Scholarly research has advanced beyond making a business case for workplace health promotion to showing how successful interventions are based on a culture of health and closer ties with occupational health and safety. More companies are addressing mental health issues, striving to make workplaces psychologically healthy and safe. Expanded environmental sustainability frameworks provide an opening for the more sustainable use of human resources. As well, extensive tools are now available in many countries to guide actions aimed at developing healthy, safe, and thriving workplaces. These recent workplace trends and resources highlight the need for an updated, concise, integrated, and practical analysis of the challenges of creating a healthier organization, the hurdles that must be overcome along the way, and the key success factors that can guide the improvement process. Creating Healthy Organizations, Revised and Expanded Edition fills this gap in knowledge and practice, guiding those committed to making their organizations healthier.

Table of Contents:
Figures  Preface   Acknowledgments   Introduction  The Healthy Organization Ideal   Looking at Your Organization through a Health Lens   Helping Change Agents    Leveraging Where You Are Today Learning from Your Peers  Chapter Overview   1. The Healthy Organization  Integrating Well-Being and Performance  Healthy Organizations in Action   A Healthy Organization Model    Vibrant Workplaces   Inspired Employees   Beyond Engagement   The Capabilities of an Inspired Workforce   Learning  Collaboration    Culture and Leadership    Culture and Leadership in Action  Better Workplaces   Sustainable Success    Stronger People-Performance Links Healthier Employees and Communities Making Well-Being a Priority   2. Beyond Workplace Health Promotion  The Wellness Paradox   Healthy Workplace Pay-Offs and Potential  Wellness Returns on Investment    Healthy Lifestyle Programs Addressing Chronic Health Conditions Targeting High-Risk Employees   An Organizational View of Health and Wellness Limitations of Workplace Health Promotion Comparing Health Promotion and Organizational Perspectives   Leveraging Workplace Health Promotion Organizational Solutions for Wellness   Rethinking Absenteeism  Present but Not Productive  Healthy Psychosocial Work Environments  Talking about Health and Performance  3. How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees  How Employees Experience Healthy Organizations  Envisioning Vibrant Workplaces    Envisioning an Inspired Workforce   How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees   Focusing on Work Experiences    Defining Good Jobs  Healthy Workplaces through Employees’ Eyes   Why Some Workplaces Are Healthier than Others  Why Employees’ Perceptions Matter Closing the Inspiration Gap   The Dynamics of a Healthy Organization    4. Positive Cultures  What Is Culture?    Culture as Competitive Advantage   Unhealthy and Healthy Cultures   Unhealthy Cultures   Healthy Cultures   Culture Change   Cultures Can Be Revitalized and Can Evolve  The Culture-Strengthening Process Strengthening Values    The Importance of Values    New Values    Renewed Values    From Values to Behaviours    Revitalizing Your Organization’s Culture   5. Inclusive Leadership  Leading the Way to Healthier Organizations    Leading at the Micro Level   Who Are the Leaders?  Widely Distributing Leadership Responsibility Qualities of Inclusive Leaders   Leading with People Skills   Gaps in People Skills  Follow-Through on People Commitments  Setting the Tone Focusing on Leadership Behaviours    Living the Guiding Principles   Leadership to Build Supportive Workplaces Leading Change    6. Healthy Change  Getting on a Healthy Change Trajectory   Focusing on the Journey   The Role of Culture and Leadership  Five Principles for Healthy Change   Understanding Change Readiness  Aligning Structure and Culture  Linking People Initiatives to the Business Strategy   Widen the Circle of Involvement   Make Time for Learning and Innovation Change as Renewal   7. Sustainable Success  What Makes Success Sustainable? Social and Environmental Dimensions Human Resource Dimensions  Ingredients of Sustainable Success   Renewing Relationships with Society Corporate Social Responsibility Evolves    The Changing Face of Social Responsibility   Good Corporate Citizen, Outstanding Employer   Making Sustainability Strategic   Vibrant Workplaces Support Social Responsibility Renewing Workforce Capabilities    Workforce Diversity Strategies    Inspiring Three Generations of Workers  Long-Range Workforce Planning   Making Progress    8. Measuring Progress  Using Evidence for Action   Practical Challenges of Using Evidence   Thinking Ahead  The Value of Qualitative Consultations Measurement Tools   Measures   Tools  Design Options   Return on Investment  Using Surveys for Healthy Change   Survey Guidelines   Finding a Clear Direction from Survey Data   Using Survey Results for Leadership Development  Integrated Performance Reporting   Examples of Effective Performance Reporting   Triangulating Your Existing Data   Guidelines for Measuring Improvements   Healthy Organization Measures Are Good Public Policy  9. Designing a Healthy Organization Strategy  Notes   Index

About the Author :
Graham Lowe is president of The Graham Lowe Group Inc., a workplace consulting and research firm, and a professor emeritus at the University of Alberta.

Review :
"Graham, you have eloquently provided organizational and HR leaders with a framework for how and why to integrate employee health and wellness into everything the business does. Without healthy employees there can be no business sustainability; this is really not rocket science. Leaders have to stop talking about it and understand they have an important role in creating healthy organizations. Especially today, as the world continues to change, as mental health issues and isolation-loneliness continue to grow in our working population, as eco-anxiety increases, as geopolitical tensions mount, as financial discrepancy from the rich to poor widens, and as changes in AI technology shape the future of work. It is likely that being a human being will not get any easier. As you say in this book '...work is a determinant of health and health is a determinant of work.' You have provided a vault of valuable information the reader can glean and learn as they read and reflect on your ideas and research." --Dr. Bill Howatt Chief of Research Conference Board of Canada "Finally, we have under one cover an action-oriented review focused on the What, Why and How of integrating employee health and well-being into the organizational fabric of any business - to return value to employees, shareholders and community stakeholders alike. This new edition is a must read for every health professional who is responsible for providing business leaders with strategic and tactical advice on maximizing workforce well-being and productivity. Graham has provided us with a comprehensive evidence-based analysis, drawn from the operational experience of numerous multinational organizations, and laid out as a process roadmap for empowering imbedded leaders to create sustainably healthy organizations." --Ken Lindemann, MD, PhD, Director, Corporate Medical Advisors "Graham Lowe is a national treasure. His insights challenge us to both understand the importance of improving the world of work and guide us towards the solutions" --Cam Mustard, President & Senior Scientist, Institute for Work & Health "In this book Graham Lowe provides an authoritative & meticulously well-researched vision of what a healthy workplace can be. Employers today are confronted with a bewildering array of workplace health interventions to choose from if they want to invest in the wellbeing of their workforce. This book confidently guides them and other practitioners through this evidence towards some practical & pragmatic solutions which have been shown to work. It is much to Graham Lowes' credit that he avoids the trap of over-medicalising workplace wellbeing by focusing on the vital topics of culture, leadership, job design and rehabilitation. This is an important book which should be on the desk of all those charged with responsibility of implementing a workplace health strategy." --Stephen Bevan, Head of HR Research Development, Institute for Employment Studies "In this updated edition, Graham Lowe has created an accessible and practical guide that is highly relevant to the current and ever-changing nature of work and workers, including those that fall outside the traditional organizational structure. Backed by solid research, consideration of regulatory and legislative developments, and practical examples, this book provides a comprehensive model to assist organizations to create a workplace environment that supports the physical and psychological well-being and engagement of workers, enhances organizational success and sustainability and meets societal expectations of corporate responsibility." --Dr. Merv Gilbert is a Director at Vancouver Psych Health + Safety Ltd