How do you invest in the wellness of your employees?
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EDMONTON JOURNAL edmontonjournal.com WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2014 D7 COMMUNITY QUESTION: How do you invest in the wellness of your employees? Members share ways they support employees’ health Jen Salamandick, partner at Kick Point (kickpoint.ca), says a climate of trust helps her company look out for employees’ best interests. “We only employ people we trust explicitly so we are able to have an ‘unlimited vacation’ policy, which doesn’t limit the time employees can spend away from work recharging so they can do the best work possible.” “We supply the office with healthy snacks: fruit, veggies and nuts. Each employee is given a gym membership and a health spending account for massages, naturopaths or however they choose to use it. We also make sure the office allows for some fun. We have lunch and movie days, early dismissal for long weekends and recently we took our staff to see Cher!” — Gay Andrews, executive vice- president and COO of Caplink Financial Corporation — caplink.ca “I let them maintain a work-life balance, offer a gym membership, and keep the environment positive.” — Kevin MacDonald, business consultant and owner of PU Technologies Inc — putechnologies.tk “Be a leader who ensures that staff health and wellness initiatives are built into an organization’s policies and procedures.” — Robert Manolson, creator of and facilitator at Powerful Play Experiences — powerfulplayexperiences.ca “Two of the biggest stumbling blocks to employee wellness that people face are dealing with and communicating with co-workers and bouncing back from mistakes. As a motivational speaker, I invest in employee wellness by helping people see and get past these stumbling blocks so they can be happy, motivated and productive at work.” — Barbara May, founder of Stumbling Blocks at Work — stumblingblocksatwork.com “We provide an on-site gym or subsidized membership to a gym, a weekly on-site (insurance-covered) masseuse, a health spending account added to your benefits package, a social committee that may be funded by the company to help with team bbq; family picnics; movie nights; etc….Incorporate fun into team building activities and you’ll have healthy, happy and engaged team members.” — Ashif Mawji, CEO of NPO Zero — npozero.com “If all you’re focused on is the bottom line, you’ll never surpass your basic needs. Let your employees find balance between all their needs: social, personal, fun, achievement and others. When you can achieve this balance, your employees will exceed your expectations.” — Deirdre St. Luke, owner of Deirdre StLuke — dstluke.com “Good people are hard to find. To keep them happy, we pride ourselves on our core principles: respect, open communication and teamwork. Keep people learning, give them work-life balance, and make them feel valued.” — Margarita de Guzman, principal archaeologist at Circle CRM Group Inc. — circleconsulting.ca “We provide a health stipend of varying value based on our hierarchy, health and wellness tips, health website links to educate, an office gym, and a catered food court with healthy food, green juice etc.” — Selva J, owner of Bodhi Solutions — bodhisolutions.ca “We provide yoga sessions twice a week, a massage therapist monthly and have an in-house chef to make healthy lunches for clients and staff! We grow vegetables on our roof garden, too.” — Shafraaz Kaba, partner at Manasc Isaac Architects — manascisaac.com “As a company we are recognizing that the culture of an enterprise is equally important to its strategic imperative and operational approach. By choosing to invest time and effort into creating a culture that appreciates flexibility and authenticity, we show employees how much they are valued. By investing in health and fitness benefits, employees know their mental and physical well- being in their professional and personal life matters.” — Heather Layton, founder of Livit — livitfit.ca You and your business can be featured here, too. Join the community at capitalideasedmonton.com UPCOMING: Have an event that Capital Ideas should know about? Contact us at [email protected] PHOTO BY SAM BROOKS/CAPITAL IDEAS BUSINESS OWNERS HELPING BUSINESS OWNERS SIGN UP at capitalideasedmonton.com JOIN US! Taking the leap into entre- preneurship can be a scary prospect, but sometimes all it takes is a push in the right direction. With that in mind, Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business, is asking you to share: What was the tipping point to start your own business? You can answer the question in two ways: • If you’re a member, you’ll find it in today’s Cap- ital Ideas email, or • Visit capitalideasedmonton.com We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website address, on July 30. CAPITAL QUESTION: What was the tipping point to start your own business? These answers were gathered from the Capital Ideas community in response to a question posed by Sam Jenkins, co-founder and CEO of Wellnext (getwellnext.com). Watch for another community question next week. Congratulations to Louise White-Gibbs, managing direc- tor of the Edmonton and region chapter of eWomen- Network and a partner at Gibbs & Co. Promotional Mar- keting. She won two tickets to E-Town, Edmonton’s entrepreneurial festival, by submitting a question for the Capital Ideas community to answer. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. We heard about lots of pain points that we’ll be quizzing you about in the coming weeks. The floor is still open for more questions. Visit capitalideasedmonton.com/ask to pose yours. And don’t forget to pick up your tickets to E-Town, which happens Sept. 11 and 12 at the Shaw Conference Centre. Speakers include Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of XPrize; four-time Olympic gold medal- list Hayley Wickenheiser; trendspotter Estelle Metay- er of Competia; Daryl Katz, chairman and founder of Katz Group; and singer-songwriter Raine Maida. Visit e-town.ca. Inquiring minds go to E-Town ESOPs: An effective tool for business growth and exit planning A seminar and webinar on employee share owner- ship plans When: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Where: 10230 Jasper Ave. or online Admissions $25 or $40. Details at abfi.ca Creative Mornings A talk on the theme of heritage with writer Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail When: 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Where: CKUA (9804 Jasper Ave.) Admission: Free. Details at creativemornings.com/cities/edm Network and Learn The Business Link’s monthly mixer When: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Where: 10160 103 St. Admission: Free. Details at canadabusiness.ab.ca TEC Edmonton Venture Angels Bootcamp Introduction for startups to investment and the in- vestment community Where: TEC Edmonton (4th floor, 10230 Jasper Ave.) Admission: $600 per company. Learn more at tecedmonton.com Are you ready for entrepreneurship? A workshop on the life of an entrepreneur When: 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Where: AWE Edmonton Office (#308, 10310 Jasper Ave.) Admission: $29 to $39. Learn more at awebusiness.com JULY JULY AUG AUG AUG 24 25 19 16-17 07 E-Town A festival for the entrepreneurially minded Where: Shaw Conference Centre (9797Jasper Ave.) Admission: $49 to $399. Details at e-town.ca. SEPT 11-12
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Capital Ideas members share how they help their employees stay healthy Originally published in the Edmonton Journal Business section on July 23, 2014
Transcript of How do you invest in the wellness of your employees?
E D M O N T O N J O U R NA L e d m o n t o n j o u r n a l . c o m W E D N E s DAy, J U Ly 2 3 , 2 0 1 4 D7
COMMUNITY QUESTION:
How do you invest in the wellness of your employees?Members share ways they support employees’ health
Jen Salamandick, partner at Kick Point (kickpoint.ca), says a climate of trust helps her company look out for employees’ best interests. “We only employ people we trust explicitly so we are able to have an ‘unlimited vacation’ policy, which doesn’t limit the time employees can spend away from work recharging so they can do the best work possible.”
“We supply the office with healthy snacks: fruit, veggies and nuts. Each employee is given a gym membership and a health spending account for massages, naturopaths or however they choose to use it. We also make sure the office allows for some fun. We have lunch and movie days, early dismissal for long weekends and recently we took our staff to see Cher!” — Gay Andrews, executive vice-president and COO of Caplink Financial Corporation — caplink.ca
“I let them maintain a work-life balance, offer a gym membership, and keep the environment positive.”— Kevin MacDonald, business consultant and owner of PU Technologies Inc — putechnologies.tk
“Be a leader who ensures that staff health and wellness initiatives are built into an organization’s policies and procedures.”— Robert Manolson, creator of and facilitator at Powerful Play Experiences — powerfulplayexperiences.ca
“Two of the biggest stumbling blocks to employee wellness that people face are dealing with and communicating with co-workers and bouncing back from mistakes. As a motivational speaker, I invest in employee wellness by helping people see and get past these stumbling blocks so they can be happy, motivated and productive at work.”— Barbara May, founder of Stumbling Blocks at Work — stumblingblocksatwork.com
“We provide an on-site gym or subsidized membership to a gym, a weekly on-site (insurance-covered) masseuse, a health spending account added to your benefits package, a social committee that may be funded by the company to help with team bbq; family picnics; movie nights; etc….Incorporate fun into team building activities and you’ll have healthy, happy and engaged team members.” — Ashif Mawji, CEO of NPO Zero — npozero.com
“If all you’re focused on is the bottom line, you’ll never surpass your basic needs. Let your employees find balance between all their needs: social, personal, fun, achievement and others. When you can achieve this balance, your employees will exceed your expectations.” — Deirdre St. Luke, owner of Deirdre StLuke — dstluke.com
“Good people are hard to find. To keep them happy, we pride ourselves on our core principles: respect, open communication and teamwork. Keep people learning, give them work-life balance, and make them feel valued.”— Margarita de Guzman, principal archaeologist at Circle CRM Group Inc. — circleconsulting.ca
“We provide a health stipend of varying value based on our hierarchy, health and wellness tips, health website links to educate, an office gym, and a catered food court with healthy food, green juice etc.” — Selva J, owner of Bodhi Solutions — bodhisolutions.ca
“We provide yoga sessions twice a week, a massage therapist monthly and have an in-house chef to make healthy lunches for clients and staff! We grow vegetables on our roof garden, too.”— Shafraaz Kaba, partner at Manasc Isaac Architects — manascisaac.com
“As a company we are recognizing that the culture of an enterprise is equally important to its strategic imperative and operational approach. By choosing to invest time and effort into creating a culture that appreciates flexibility and authenticity, we show employees how much they are valued. By investing in health and fitness benefits, employees know their mental and physical well-being in their professional and personal life matters.”— Heather Layton, founder of Livit — livitfit.ca
You and your business can be featured here, too. Join the community at capitalideasedmonton.com
“When you have an idea, the first thing you should do is think it through. Do lots of research. Talk to lots of people in the startup space….try to see if someone else is doing that idea. If they’re not doing it, find out why they’re not doing it. You should know your idea inside and out.”— Deepak Gupta, co-founder of LoginRadius (loginradius.com)
RSVP AT CAPITALIDEAS30.EVENTBRITE.COMWHEN: AUG. 20, 11:45 A.M. TO 1 P.M. WHERE: THE EDMONTON JOURNAL (10006 101ST ST.)
UPCOMING:
Have an event that Capital Ideas should know about? Contact us at [email protected]
PHOTO BY SAM BROOKS/CAPITAL IDEAS
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SIGN UP atcapitalideasedmonton.com
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JOIN US!
Taking the leap into entre-preneurship can be a scary prospect, but sometimes all it takes is a push in the right direction. With that in mind, Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business, is asking you to share:
What was the tipping point to start your own business?
You can answer the question in two ways:• If you’re a member, you’ll find it in today’s Cap-
ital Ideas email, or• Visit capitalideasedmonton.com
We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website address, on July 30.
CAPITAL QUESTION: What was the tipping point to start your own business?
These answers were gathered from the Capital Ideas community in response to a question posed by Sam Jenkins, co-founder and CEO of Wellnext (getwellnext.com). Watch for another community question next week.
Congratulations to Louise White-Gibbs, managing direc-tor of the Edmonton and region chapter of eWomen-Network and a partner at Gibbs & Co. Promotional Mar-keting. She won two tickets to E-Town, Edmonton’s entrepreneurial festival, by submitting a question for the Capital Ideas community to answer.
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. We heard about lots of pain points that we’ll be quizzing you about in the coming weeks.
The floor is still open for more questions. Visit capitalideasedmonton.com/ask to pose yours.
And don’t forget to pick up your tickets to E-Town, which happens Sept. 11 and 12 at the Shaw Conference Centre. Speakers include Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of XPrize; four-time Olympic gold medal-list Hayley Wickenheiser; trendspotter Estelle Metay-er of Competia; Daryl Katz, chairman and founder of Katz Group; and singer-songwriter Raine Maida. Visit e-town.ca.
Inquiring minds go to E-Town
ESOPs: An effective tool for business growth and exit planningA seminar and webinar on employee share owner-ship plansWhen: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.Where: 10230 Jasper Ave. or onlineAdmissions $25 or $40. Details at abfi.ca
Creative MorningsA talk on the theme of heritage with writer Danielle Metcalfe-ChenailWhen: 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.Where: CKUA (9804 Jasper Ave.)Admission: Free. Details at creativemornings.com/cities/edm
Network and LearnThe Business Link’s monthly mixerWhen: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.Where: 10160 103 St.Admission: Free. Details at canadabusiness.ab.ca
TEC Edmonton Venture Angels BootcampIntroduction for startups to investment and the in-vestment communityWhere: TEC Edmonton (4th floor, 10230 Jasper Ave.)Admission: $600 per company. Learn more at tecedmonton.com
Are you ready for entrepreneurship?A workshop on the life of an entrepreneurWhen: 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.Where: AWE Edmonton Office (#308, 10310 Jasper Ave.)Admission: $29 to $39. Learn more at awebusiness.com
JULY
JULY
AUG
AUG
AUG
24
25
19
16-17
07
E-TownA festival for the entrepreneurially mindedWhere: Shaw Conference Centre (9797Jasper Ave.)Admission: $49 to $399. Details at e-town.ca.
SEPT
11-12
