CICA WELL BEING
CICA’S FOCUS ON WELLBEING IN THE WORKPLACE CICA provides free wellbeing platform & EAP for all members and staff. CICA NOW PROVIDE A FREE WELLBEING platform as well as an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or its member companies and their staff. The partnership with human resource firm Lifeworks, which supports over 26 million people worldwide, was launched by CICA on 9 September to coincide with R U OK Day. “The last couple of years have been extremely challenging, not just for our members and their staff, but also for our society more generally, and we wanted to provide our members with as many additional resources as we could,” stated CICA CEO Brandon Hitch. “The majority of our members would be regarded by most as small to medium enterprises, who don’t always have the time and resources to help their staff through difficult times, so we wanted to help make a difference for them and our industry.” The platform is a combination of proactive apps that have a variety of resources relating to five key areas: • Personal wellbeing and health • Relationship issues • Family issues • Substance abuse and addiction • Workplace challenges. These include articles, videos, and podcasts as well as links to other resources, backed up with a traditional EAP and manager’s hotline. “This is a well-rounded approach offers proactive resources on the apps, as well as the traditional reactive EAP,” said Hitch. “Traditionally, EAPs have been counselling services offered when an employee is in crisis, and were quite 24 / CAL January 2022
often limited to frontline workers or larger employers, due to cost. It is our hope that employees will receive assistance before they are in crisis. “Current literature explores the notion of presenteeism, where an employee may be physically at work, but isn’t as focused or productive as they could be, quite often due to factors outside of the workplace. We see this as a way of decreasing the prevalence of this issue.” The platform is underpinned by two phone-based applications. One is called LifeWorks, which offers five quick surveys to examine the employee’s overall wellbeing, as well as helping to determine what resources should appear on their newsfeed within the app. The other is the lift session fitness app, which provides a wide range of workouts that can be done anywhere. Traditional EAP counselling services are predominantly provided on a telehealth basis and are completely confidential with 24/7 availability. Calls are triaged and prioritised depending on immediacy of need. A phone-based manager’s hotline provides support to managers, who may lack the confidence or experience to deal with a particular situation, such as
interpersonal conflict or other leadership issues. The hotline equips them with the necessary assistance and guidance, developing skills to manage situations. “We believe this is a first in Australia, for an industry association to provide these benefits to their members, and in turn their employees free of charge. We want to see it make a difference for people right across the crane industry,” said Hitch. This service is provided free to CICA members and their employees, and is confidential. If you are a member and would like to find out more, contact CICA membership manager Paul Arztenhofer at paul@cica.com.au or call 04 9093 9274. www.cranesandlifting.com.au
