UNION STRATEGIES TO TAKE ACTION ON WORKPLACE STRESS
FACILITATOR NOTES Union Strategies to Take Action on Workplace Stress Facilitator Notes
Union Strategies to Take Action on Workplace Stress Facilitator Notes (June 2015) 2
Participant Materials - Table of Contents (This table of contents for the Participant Materials booklet is provided for the Facilitators for easy reference.)
Statement of Respect ……………………………………………………………...3
Course Outline …………………………………………………………………...…4
Course goals and objectives ………………………………………………………5
What are psychosocial hazards in the workplace? ……………………………..6
Task Sheet 1: Psychosocial hazards ……………………………………………..7
Examining Employer Interventions for Stress ……………………………………8
Task Sheet 2 Reducing workplace stress: Tactics checklist …………………...9
Collective agreements, JHSCs and Grievances: using the power of your union …………………………………………………………………...... 12
Task Sheet 3: Union Tools for Change ………………………………………….15
Workplace Stress Surveys and The Workplace Stress Measurement app…..16
Task Sheet 4: The COPSOQ Survey ……………………………………………18
Last Update: June 23, 2015 Union Strategies to Take Action on Workplace Stress Facilitator Notes (June 2015) 3
Statement of Respect
Harassment or discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated at OPSEU functions. Whenever OPSEU members gather, we welcome all peoples of the world.
We will not accept any unwelcoming words, actions or behaviours against our union members.
We accord respect to all persons, regardless of age, political affiliation, including people of colour, women, men, First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, members of ethno-racial groups, people with disabilities, gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgender/transsexual people, and gender diverse persons, francophones and all persons whose first language is not English.
In our diversity we will build solidarity as union members.
If you believe that you are being harassed or discriminated against contact ______(specify names) * for immediate assistance.
* It is the event coordinator’s responsibility to designate at least two qualified persons. The names and phones numbers of such persons must be listed. One of the designated members shall be female.
Revised September 2013
Last Update: June 23, 2015 Union Strategies to Take Action on Workplace Stress Facilitator Notes (June 2015) 4
Facilitator Materials and Preparation
Supplies and Equipment
• A Flipchart with lots of paper • A good supply of non-toxic markers. (Only use black and blue) • Round stickers, various colours • A laptop • Speakers for laptop • A projection screen or blank wall, and extension cord if needed
Materials
• Facilitator notes (1 copy per facilitator) • Participant materials (1 copy per participant) • Psychosocial Hazard card handouts (to be handed out after exercise 2.1) • Copies of COPSOQ Survey Analysis to be handed out to each participant after completing Task Sheet 4 (colour copies, two sides) • CD with PowerPoint presentation and video from I love Lucy • Copies of Health and Safety Representation booklet (to be distributed as a reference resource only) • Book by David Posen: (for winner of a draw) • Large envelope and paper (to collect names for draw)
Room preparation
• Make the room as inviting as possible • Set up tables so that participants can work in groups of 6 to 10 • Tape a long piece of paper on the wall, and mark off a line with the numbers 1 to 10 (this will be used with the round coloured stickers provided)
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0____1____2____3____4____5____6____7____8____9____10
• Tape flipchart paper with the following “psychosocial hazards” headers on the walls around the room:
o Work demands
o Work organization
o Relationship
o Work values
o Work/life balance
o Offensive behaviours
• Cue up the PowerPoint presentation
• Set up the laptop to show the video and PowerPoint presentation provided. Copy the two files from the CD onto the desktop and test to make sure they open on your laptop.
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Course Outline
Time Activities
15 mins Getting started • Welcome • Statement of Respect • Course goal and objectives • Guidelines for participation • Introductions • Activity: chart your stress 30 mins Demands of the job • Activity: identifying the kinds of stress we experience in the workplace • Group discussion: What is our experience of workplace stress? 30 mins Assess your stressors • Video: I Love Lucy • Activity: Complete the employer tactic checklist • Assess individual vs organizational focus
15 mins Break 45 mins Relieving root causes of stress • Collective agreements, JHSCs and Grievances: using the power of your union • Group Activity: What is one thing that would improve stress in your workplace? What would be the best way to bring about that change? 40 mins Influencing change • Workplace stress survey: How members can work collectively to change root causes of workplace stress 5 mins Wrap-up/commitment
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Course goals and objectives
Goal Develop capacity of workers to take action on workplace stress using a Health and Safety framework and union tools.
Objectives
• Identify workplace factors that negatively affect workers’ health and well- being
• Gain familiarity with terminology associated with workplace stress
• Share some stories from your workplaces and strategize how to resolve some of the issues using the tools provided
• Develop strategies for influencing change in the workplace
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1:30 to 1:45 1. Getting Started
1.1 Logistics (5 mins)
Welcome everyone and introduce yourself as the facilitator(s). Also introduce Divisional Executive Members, and any Board Members in the audience
Ask for a volunteer to read out the Statement of Respect.
Review the module goal and objectives
Ask participants to turn electronic devices off or on silent/vibrate”
Ask each participant to write their name on a piece of paper and put it into a large envelope (provided). Explain that there will be a draw at the end of the class for a book by David Posen. Show them the book, and explain that was written by one of the keynote speakers.
Label a flipchart sheet “Parking lot”. Say that questions we cannot deal with during the session can be placed on this sheet and if time permits at the end we will take them up. If we cannot answer the questions, we’ll take the sheet away and promise to find the answers and let the participants know what they are.
Identify the location of the washrooms, any emergency exits and let participants know when the break time is.
1.2 Warm-up exercise: Chart your stress (10 mins)
Tape a long piece of paper on the wall, and mark off a line with the numbers 1 to 10
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Use coloured stickers to indicate the number on the line.
Ask: Who here is experiencing stress? Are you experiencing stress at home? At work? Is anyone one here not experiencing stress? Say: Stress comes from both home and work. All of you may be experiencing some of this in your own life.
Ask: Where are you on the following chart with regards to your stressors?
Place a sticker on their location from 1 to 10, where 1 is almost no workplace stress, to 10 is unmanageable workplace stress.
Wrap up:
Ask and have a mini-discussion: how do you feel about where you are on the chart? Does your level fluctuate? How many of the causes of that stress do you have influence over? The home stuff? The work stuff? What do you have the most control over?
Say: Now we are going to dig down a bit and talk about what kinds of things stress us out at work.
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2. Psychosocial hazards
2.1 What are psychosocial hazards? (30 mins) Refer participants to Task Sheet 1 in the Participant Manual
Task Sheet 1 Psychosocial hazards In your group, create sticky notes for the following categories of stress you experience in the workplace: • Work demands
• Work organization
• Relationship
• Work values
• Work/life balance
• Offensive behaviours
Ask participants to work in pairs
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Explain: Psychosocial hazards in the workplace can be divided into six categories, which you can see on the flipchart paper around the room.
Review the definitions of the terms as follows:
• Work demands Quantitative demands: not having enough time Work pace: having to work fast Emotional demands: work that involves emotional issues
• Work organization Influence: having influence over your work Possibilities of development: able to learn new things, take initiative Meaning of work: feeling that your work is important and meaningful Commitment: feeling that your workplace makes a positive contribution
• Relationship Predictability: being kept well informed, having enough information Recognition: being appreciated and treated fairly Role clarity: knowing what is expected and having clear objectives Leadership: supervisor has planning skills, values your job satisfaction, listens and helps
• Work values Trust: information from management is trustworthy, management trusts workers Justice and respect: conflicts resolved fairly, work distributed fairly
• Work/life balance Low job satisfaction Work/family conflict
• Offensive behaviours Undesired sexual attention, threats of violence, physical violence, bullying, harassment and discrimination
Say: Write down on your sticky notes at least three different factors that stress you out in the workplace.
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When they are ready, say: If you are comfortable, place your post-it notes under the most appropriate “psychosocial hazards” headings and explain why you chose that heading.
Discuss the clusters posted. Ask what they notice about them.
Ask: are there any gaps? Is there anything we should add? Would you move any of these items to different headings?
Note: Often there are many responses under the “Offensive Behaviours” category.
Say: Often offensive behaviours are part of the problem. Whenever you find a lot of harassment and finger-pointing that is usually an indication of other workplace issues.
Say: Knowing and using these categories makes it less about the person and more about the problem. It makes it easier to identify the problem and act.
Hand out the green Psychosocial Hazard cards provided.
Explain that they can keep these with them as a useful reference tool.
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3. Assess your stressors 3.1 Examining Employer Interventions for Stress (25 mins) Refer participants to Task Sheet 2 in the Participant Manual
Say: Employers have a responsibility to ensure that health and safety are a priority in the workplace.
Explain that stress can be managed by: • addressing its root causes (primary intervention – this is kind of like the health and safety concept “at the source”) • by trying to minimize the stress while it is happening and lessening the effects to prevent it from getting worse (secondary intervention – this is kind of like the health and safety concept of “along the path”) • or by managing the effects of the stress after the fact, when a person is suffering (tertiary intervention – this is kind of like the health and safety concept of “at the worker”).
Ask participants to use the checklist included in Task Sheet 2 and a) Identify the ways their employer addresses stress in the workplace by putting a Y for yes or an N for no in the left-hand column. b) Mark whether tactics are successful, in need of improvement or not successful, in the appropriate columns on the right of the checklist.
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Task Sheet 2 Reducing workplace stress: Tactics checklist
Y/N Tactics Effective Needs Not improve- effective ment BEFORE Primary (at the source—addressing root cause): Maintenance of manageable workload Regular collaborative review of work organization Supportive direct supervisor Supportive work environment Timely addressing of health and safety hazards Work provides opportunities for learning or advancement Clear roles at work Transparent communication practices at work Flexible schedules Mental health awareness or training Leave to attend appointments during the day Employer engagement survey Occupational health department or professionals at work Education leave Strong collective agreement language regarding stress issues Workload assessment procedures Workload collective agreement language Active and cooperative JHSC participation Strong commitment to grievance process
DURING Secondary (along the path—early intervention): Employee Assistance Program (individual or family) Wellness activities (fairs, nutrition, non-smoking, etc.) Exercise club discounts arranged by work Wellness activity fund provided by employer Health publications or pamphlets provided in the workplace
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Y/N Tactics Effective Needs Not improve- effective ment Wellness committee at work Workplace fitness centre Exercise classes at work
AFTER
Tertiary (at the worker—to help recovery): Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) Employee Assistance Program (individual or family) Strong commitment to accommodation Supportive return to work protocol Sick leave (long or short term) Compassionate leave Workplace benefits and health care
Ask: How many have marked YES for 15 or more of the items? How many have marked YES for less than 15?
How many have marked YES for 10 or less?
How many have marked yes for 5 or less?
Discuss: Now let’s talk about where the effort to change comes from—the individual or the organization. Who has responsibility for action with the following tactics: the employer or the individual?
• A discounted fitness membership • An EAP program • Workload assessment procedures Discuss: We never see an organization on the treadmill, do we? And we never see the organization going to counselling. While it is very important that management provides opportunities to help and support individuals, it is also important to recognize the organizations need improvement too.
• What is your employer doing to change the workplace?
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• How successful are those efforts?
• Can you see the difference?
NOTE: Most workplaces do very little to address stress at the institutional level. Most interventions are to change or support an individual. Wrap up by saying: Employers can address stress issues by taking responsibility for themselves and their organization or by putting the responsibility to change back on the workers. It needs to be a bit of both.
We want to make sure the organization is also making changes. Workers can’t do it all themselves.
For an employer to take responsibility they must identify and make changes in the workplace.
A worker takes responsibility for workplace stress by changing the way they behave at work or at home, and by seeking stress management assistance outside of the workplace.
Often, workplace stress does not “start” with the individual. It originates or “starts” with the organization, but then impacts us as individuals, causing us mental distress that can lead to other health problems over time.
A worker can stop smoking, eat right, exercise, and take training to improve themselves and to be resilient, but doing all that does not build a healthy organization.
Sometimes the stress is just seen as part of the job, and we may not realize that aspects of work can be changed to reduce stress much in the same way that “traditional” health and safety hazards are prevented.
As workers, it is essential to realize when it is beyond our ability to change our stressors. We also need to know when it is beneficial and possible to intervene, when it requires intervention from the employer side, and how best we can encourage employers to make changes that reduce stress. And it can’t all be achieved by changing the worker. Both the individual and the organization need attention.
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3.2 Video: I love Lucy – the Chocolate Factory scene (5 mins)
Show the video
Ask: How is the employer negatively affecting this workplace? Which of the psychosocial hazards categories apply?
What if the two ladies did not get along?
Note: You can see how quickly a workplace becomes toxic. What if the supervisor were approachable? That would make a positive difference.
Break (15 mins)
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4. Relieving root causes of stress
4.1 PowerPoint presentation (20 mins) Collective agreements, JHSCs and Grievances: using the power of your union
Introduce the presentation by saying: We will now look at how members can work collectively to change root causes of workplace stress. Show PowerPoint slides 1 to 10
Slide #1
Slide #2 “In Canada, 27% of working adults reported that, on most days, their lives were ‘quite’ or ‘extremely stressful.”
Working in a unionized workplace means you have some important tools that can be used to protect you from workplace stress.
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Slide #3 There are different ways you can use the power of your union to help maintain health: Bargaining, your health and safety committee, and grievances.
Slide #4 Your collective agreement is a health document. You can negotiate Collective Agreement language to protect and enforce health and safety standards including workplace stress management.
Slide #5 What type of “Health Provisions” could you negotiate in your Collective Agreement? Be prepared to report back.
Slide #6 Language that improves work conditions and health: …that the employer shall adopt Canada’s “National Standard on Psychological Health and Safety” …that the employer shall take reasonable precautions to prevent psychosocial hazards from affecting workers’ health …that the employer shall engage in, and consult with, the union in identifying specific strategies to improve psychological health and safety in the workplace …language on paid leave, wellness funds, hours of work, promotions, benefits, work organization, work demands to name a few…
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Slide #7 The Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) or your health and safety representative — is NOT just for slips, trips and falls… • They can advocate on your behalf and with you • Inspect the workplace once a month • can identify and recommend solutions to address workplace stressors • Can make written recommendations and receive written responses from the employer • Can add workplace stress as an item on the committee agenda
Slide #8 Work Demands can be improved by the following: • Prioritize tasks • Allow input from workers • Reduce unnecessary tasks • Schedule work to avoid deadlines which are too short or grouped together
Slide #9 Your JHSC can also recommend changes to work organization: They can: • Change the flow of work • Re-bundle work • Use different tools and routines • Note that potential solutions will be different in each workplace.
Slide #10 Grievances are an important health and safety tool. They are one tool for setting and enforcing health and safety standards in the workplace, including workplace stress. Grievances can also support JHSC efforts.
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4.3 Group Activity: Improving our workplaces (25 mins)
Ask: What are changes that would improve stress in your workplace?
Ask participants to turn to Task Sheet 3 in the Participant Manual
Ask participants to each select one of their suggestions from the “Psychosocial hazards” activity, and to bring back the post-it note from the flipchart paper.
Ask each table to brainstorm the best ways to bring about changes for at least three of them.
Ask them to present their solutions back to the group. Task Sheet 3: Union tools for change In your group, write down the three selected suggestions on the left.
Write down what union tools would be best to bring about that change in the right-hand column.
Change #1 Union tools:
Change #2 Union tools:
Change #3 Union tools:
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5. Influencing change 5.1 Workplace stress surveys and The Workplace Stress Measurement app (10 mins)
Show PowerPoint presentation slides 11-13
Slide #11 Say: There are a couple of good smartphone applications to measure and manage stress. You can download these later if you are interested in exploring them further. They are available on Google Play, the Apple App store, or BlackBerry World.
Slide #12 Say: OPSEU worked with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety to help produce this smartphone app called “Measure Workplace Stress”. The app allows the user to fill out the COPSOQ questionnaire and have their responses automatically scored. Ideally, this survey should be done on a group basis, but this app lets the user get a feel for what is in the survey and also gives ideas on how to improve workplace psychosocial conditions.
Slide #13 Say: Stress Check by Azumio is another application you may want to try. It estimates your stress level by measuring your heartbeat.
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5.2 Do your own survey (30 mins)
Say that a survey can be a useful tool. It can be done at the individual, organizational or committee level.
Discuss pros and cons of doing an individual survey:
Pros:
• Workers can answer anonymously
• Gives everyone a way to be involved
• Is an important mobilizing tool
• Collects important data to support recommendations for change
Cons:
• It takes a lot of time and organization
• Can be difficult to get a good response rate
• Can be seen as a time-waster if things are really bad
• It may be difficult to reach everyone with the survey
Sometimes a survey gives us our own source of data that we can use to encourage an employer to act. The information we collect goes a step further than casual or anecdotal information. Sometimes a survey can show the true extent of the problem, which can also urge an employer to act.
Say: let’s try out an individual survey.
Ask participants to do the four-page Copenhagen Psychological Questionnaire (COMSOQ) Survey in their Participant Manual.
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Explain that the survey is four pages long, and will take approximately five to ten minutes to complete. The results are for their own use, and will not be shared.
When they have finished the survey, distribute the self-scoring COPSOQ analysis sheet provided, and ask them to fill it out.
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Task Sheet 4: The COPSOQ Survey
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Wrap up this section by asking what participants’ experiences were in filling out the survey.
Say that this is an example of a tool that they can use in the workplace.
Caution: do not do a survey unless you plan to take action. A survey must be part of a larger plan.
6. Wrap up/commitment (10 mins)
Show PowerPoint slide 16 with the light bulb image
Ask whether there were any light bulb moments from this course.
Ask everyone to write down one thing they will do to improve stress in their workplace when they return.
Say: We will now draw for a book by Dr, David Posen. Draw name from the envelope and ask winner to come up and accept their prize.
Thank everyone for participating.
Last Update: June 23, 2015