Healthy Workplace Award winners work hard, play hard

In accepting Dal’s Healthy Workplace Award on behalf of everyone in Information Technology Services (ITS), Dwight Fischer held up a little yellow circle.

“It all started here,” said Fischer, Dal’s assistant vice-president, Information Technology Services. “This is the inner ring of what we used to put on disc backups. Our guys in the basement of the Killam, the data centre guys, they work hard – but with an abundance of these things, they started a friendly competition that’s gone on for 30 years or more.”

Nowadays, the annual ITS ring toss showdown is a big deal – one of the largest events that the department hosts each year for its more than 150 employees.

“People train for this,” said Fischer with a laugh. “It’s serious.”

The ring toss is just one of the countless activities and initiatives that made ITS a worthy recipient of this year’s Dalhousie Healthy Workplace Award. The prize recognizes departments, units or areas that demonstrate a commitment to the health and wellness of their employees.

The winner is chosen by Dal’s Healthy Workplace Collaborative, which includes representatives from across the university. The nominations from various departments are evaluated along six dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, interpersonal/social, spiritual and environmental.

Making a difference

In the case of ITS’ submission, all of those areas were covered. From the department’s dedicated cyclists, to its ping pong showdowns, backyard BBQs, “Hurrahs to ITS” shout-outs, food bank donations, curling events, softball team . . . the list of team-building and support activities seemed to go on and on.

“We play together, we work together,” said Fischer. “Our jobs require us to spend a lot of time sitting. Therefore, it is vital, in everything we do, to get up and move around more during the day, to keep the blood flowing, more to the brain and to the heart. It makes a difference in everything we do and to those around us.”

Eight other departments received certificates as runners-up this year. They include:

•    Facilities Management
•    Faculty of Management
•    Faculty of Science, Dean’s Office
•    Faculty of Dentistry
•    Faculty of Health Professions, Dean’s Office
•    University Secretariat
•    Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick
•    Atlantic Health Promotion Research Centre

These nominees will be profiled in upcoming editions of Today@Dal, the university’s employee newsletter.

“We had such terrific submissions this year,” said Janice MacInnis, coordinator of organizational health at Dalhousie. “They were truly inspiring.”

“I just want to say how terrific this is,” added Dal President Tom Traves. “To hear about all the initiatives that go on, and the fun that’s obviously had, the good spirit, it makes me proud about Dalhousie as an institution that we have so much commitment and engagement happening across the university.”