CPHR Atlantic Webinar: Understanding the Relationship Between Health, Work and Worklessness FREE

Description

People are warned all the time of workplace hazards but not so much about the health hazards of not working. When an individual is off work due to illness or injury, there can be significant negative impacts to both physical and psychological health and wellbeing.  The Canadian Medical Association’s Policy Statement from 1997 stated “prolonged absence from one’s normal roles, including absence from the workplace, is detrimental to a person’s mental, physical and social well-being.” Additionally, research has found that the relative risk of increased mortality for being unemployed is greater that that of diabetes, hypertension, smoking, obesity, or poverty. Worklessness is also associated with increased rates of suicide, obesity, heart attack, depression, alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, and more.

We need to help workers, employers, physicians, healthcare providers, and others understand the importance of stay-at-work and/or return-to-work.  We also need to change the thinking that the workplace is a harmful environment when a person has an illness or injury. It is usually in the worker’s best interest to remain in the workforce.   Returning to work as soon as possible after an illness or injury must be encouraged. When an individual is removed from the work environment for a prolonged time, serious and often long-lasting adverse events can occur. 

This presentation will cover the connection between health and work, the detrimental effects of worklessness and what employers can do to support workers and remove barriers to return to work.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the relationship between health, work and worklessness.
• Understand why it is usually in the worker’s best interest to remain in the workforce.
• Understand what employers can do to support early and safe return to work and remove barriers. 

Dallas Mercer, President and CEO, Dallas Mercer Consulting

Dallas Mercer is the President and CEO of Dallas Mercer Consulting (DMC). She founded DMC in 2002, growing it into a nationally recognized leader providing workers’ compensation, sick leave and occupational health and safety services to employers. Her team now includes nearly 50 employees with offices in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and New Brunswick.
 
Dallas holds a Bachelor’s degree from Memorial University and is a long-standing member of the Wallace McCain Institute. She has completed seminars in “Leading High Growth Business” (Harvard Business School), “Certificate in Disability Case Management” (Dalhousie University) and “Alternate Dispute Resolution” (Windsor Law School). 
 
Dallas’s list of awards and accolades is impressive. In 2023, she was named by Atlantic Business Magazine as one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Business. In 2022, she was inducted into Atlantic Business Magazine’s Top 50 CEO Hall of Fame, and in 2020, she received the Canada Innovation & Entrepreneurship Woman Entrepreneur Award (CANIE).   In 2019, at the 27th Annual St. John’s Board of Trade Business Excellence Awards, Dallas received the Marketing and Promotional Achievement award as well as the Business Excellence Award.  Also in 2019, she was named the Wallace McCain Institute’s “Carpe Diem” Award winner for Alumni of the Year. Atlantic Canada Business Magazine has recognized Dallas as a Top 50 CEO in 2017, 2018 and 2019.   Dallas and DMC won the Newfoundland and Labrador Organization of Women Entrepreneurs (NLOWE) RBC Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence in 2015. She was named one of the Top Ten Business Leaders to Watch by Atlantic Business Magazine in 2012, a year in which DMC also won the St. John’s Board of Trade Business Excellence Award for Growth in Sales and she received NLOWE’s Innovation Award.
 
Dallas’ passion and vision extend beyond the drive to represent employers. Her education and advocacy include workers’ compensation boards as well. She regularly engages with key industry leaders to analyze the needs and gaps, and to challenge the status quo and find new ways to increase positive outcomes for all stakeholders. Since she began DMC, Dallas has been sharing her vision and educating employers and industry leaders by holding seminars and workshops across Canada. 
 
Dallas is a proud Atlantic Canadian who resides in Paradise, NL with her husband and son.

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