Working from home has become the new normal for most workers in Canada since the COVID-19 pandemic began and forced employers to rethink their working strategy. Research has shown that WFH has positive effects on the worker such as Increased Productivity, Better Performance, Fewer distractions. With WFH comes more responsibility on the worker to ensure that the work is being completed. Working from home gives us time and space to focus better in the comfort of our own home. Unfortunately, it can also lead to feelings of loneliness and social isolation when you are working alone with no colleagues around you to share thoughts or ideas. This is why having a strategy on how to effectively work from home is essential for workers to do their job as normally as possible.

Do you ever come home from work feeling unsatisfied? Do you ever dread going to work in the morning? Find out the top 5 factors from our Healthy Worker Survey that you identified impact your level of satisfaction with your current position and some ways to enhance those areas.

In the movies, existential anguish is considered heroic and deep. In real life, the goal is to experience as much happiness as possible, to be at peace with the world and grateful for what we have. But how does one define happiness? What are the basic principles of living a happy life. Here is a look at how researchers define happiness.

The word happiness is synonymous with quality of life or well-being. It denotes that a life is good – but what is good about that life? According to research published recently in the International Journal of Psychology, there are certain elements conducive to happiness:

Domestic violence constitutes the behavior and actions of one person to gain control and power over someone they are involved with in an intimate or personal relationship. Such behavior includes physical, sexual, emotional, verbal and intellectual abuse and violence. It can be prevalent at work and remain hidden from everyone where a fellow worker can be the victim, or even the abuser. When signs of domestic violence appear at work, it may create a situation where the employees or employer would have to step in to support the victim or handle the abuser. Not only does this create a difficult situation for the worker involved in domestic violence, but it can also be a safety risk for other workers. The question remains, how can you help your fellow worker?

Harassment and bullying at work can have an impact on your health and well-being. In fact harassment and bullying may have a psychological impact including causing stress, anxiety, sleeplessness, fatigue, frequent colds, migraines, high blood pressure, and depression. Speaking up about harassment in the workplace is not easy, but this information is meant to help you identify steps you can take to address harassment and bullying at work.

“Tall poppies” is a term that originated in Australia to describe a phenomenon that is by no means restricted to that continent. It happens when a high achiever who rises above the rest – like a poppy that grows taller than the others in a field – becomes vulnerable to those who want to undermine or destroy their achievements or reputation. “In a society that prides itself on egalitarian principles, rising above the pack is considered antisocial and countercultural,” says Carol Vallone Mitchell, author of a book on the subject.[1] “Tall poppies generate hostility and elicit a host of undermining behaviors to bring them down a peg,” she says.

Work-related burnout is the inability to manage work demands that exceed your ability to cope – is often due to diminished resources: diminishing time, mental and energetic resources, and often a consequent diminishment in the willingness to invest the effort needed to complete work tasks.

Blue Monday. The third Monday in January is designated as the most depressing day of the year is not actually founded in scientific research, but it has still be adopted as factual.  The days are long, the jovial holidays have passed and it’s cold and bleak outside.  These factors can impact how we are feeling so here are some tips on how to beat the Blue Monday Blues. Not all of these suggestions will work for everyone, but it is important to find what works for you.

Elderly are delaying retirement, and young people are storming into the workforce. This presents an inevitable forecast of what most workplaces already do and will continue to look like, and that is an age diverse environment. Technically, it is now possible to have five different generations (from Baby Boomers to Generation Z) working together. Majority of the workforce however can be divided into two groups, Millennials (generation born between 1980 and 2000) and Generation X (generation born between 1961 and 1979). Misunderstandings due to the differences between generations can cause conflict and have a negative effect on performance and general satisfaction of work life. Learning about how the other operates and the values they hold can help to understand and relate to each other better, leading to stronger relationships. Diversity in the workplace is a great asset within a team and an organization, but it takes openness to learn about their perspective to reap full benefits.

It is common knowledge that life expectancy in Canada is increasing. Living long however is most desirable when it is accompanied by living well and healthy. According to statistics gathered in Toronto, 74% of seniors describe their general health is good, very good, or excellent, and 93% say that their mental health is good, very good or excellent. And yet, diabetes, dementia, and injuries resulting in emergency visits or hospitalizations are on the rise among those 65 and older (Healthy Aging in Toronto, 2017). Healthy, or successful aging is an outcome of many factors. Some of those factors are beyond our reach, but there is a path you can follow. It is never too late to adopt healthy behaviour or discard unhealthy ones, become more socially engaged, or reap benefits from more supportive environments. Let’s see the formula for healthy aging!

Feeling overextended at work? Burnout is a growing problem among office workers. It results from an accumulative overload of occupational stress, and causes adversarial mental or physical health conditions. When a person’s adaptive capabilities are overextended, repeatedly, burnout can occur. Researcher Evangelia Demerouti, who authored an article in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation identifies burnout as “intensive physical, affective and cognitive strain that is a longterm consequence of adverse working conditions.”

Happiness may be elusive, but there is one thing we know for sure: being healthy makes you happy, and being happy makes you healthy. Being happy and healthy propels you to face the world in a positive way, every day. Just having a reason to smile lowers your blood pressure, combats stress and boosts your immune system. It builds confidence, and that helps you to achieve your goals. Best of all, it’s contagious: being happy makes other people happy. So how do you get there?

In 2014, 23.0% of Canadians aged 15 and older reported that most days were ‘quite a bit’ or ‘extremely stressful’. Since 2003, females were more likely than males to report that most days were ‘quite a bit’ or ‘extremely stressful’. In 2014, the rate for females was 23.7%, while for males the rate was 22.3%.

Canada Labour Code defines sexual harassment as “any conduct, comment, gesture, or contact of a sexual nature that is likely to cause offence or humiliation to any employee; or that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived by that employee as placing a condition of a sexual nature on employment or on any opportunity for training or promotion.”

This website provides evidence based information about healthy aging. The this site and its social media network will  brings you the best available related research evidence at the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal