Meet Gary Aziz …
Gary is a Bunjalung man and the owner of the Green Leaf Cafe in inner Brisbane which specialises in indigenous vegetarian ‘bush tucker’. He and his wife Rena have owned the café for five years and have a permanent team of five staff including three chefs and two produce growers. They have 15 casual staff they need to manage who include part-time students. They rent a large garden plot from which they source most of their produce. They also have an arrangement to source indigenous food ingredients, organic milk and cheese from boutique farmers outside Brisbane. It is a busy, sometimes hectic work environment. Although Gary loves the business, he recognises the toll this type of business can take on one’s personal health and wellbeing as well as that of his staff. He and Rena take work-life balance seriously and try to instil a healthy work environment for their staff.
His duties include:
- managing the activities of the restaurant including purchases and hiring
- identifying signs and sources of strain on health and wellbeing (both physical and mental) within job roles and key performance indicators (KPIs) of self and others
- ensuring there are policies and procedures to manage the health and wellbeing of self and staff
- following legislative responsibilities to provide a safe working environment for self and others.
In this module, you will learn the skills and knowledge that enable Gary to perform his role relating to managing his personal health and wellbeing:
- Review health and wellbeing framework
- Develop and implement personal health and wellbeing strategy
- Review personal health and wellbeing strategy.
There will be opportunities for you to develop your knowledge and skills throughout the module, so you are ready for your assessment. This includes looking at Green Leaf Café policies and procedures relating to health and wellbeing.
Let us begin by asking Gary the following three questions.
There are three main reasons why we must focus on developing a healthy workplace.1
- Firstly, from an ethical perspective, making sure that people are not exposed to any type of harm is simply the morally correct thing to do.
- Secondly, from a business perspective because the most successful businesses are those with the best track record when it comes to health and safety. Ensuring that staff are healthy also reduces their absences, which in turn maximises productivity.
- Thirdly, from a legal perspective because there are laws that require employers to protect their staff from injuries and illnesses. Complying with these laws allows an organisation to stay in business.
Restaurants can be incredibly stressful environments and we want to do the best we can to limit stress. If I become stressed my work effectiveness diminishes and I am unable to manage the café and the employees effectively. I have foot problems and from experience, I know that if I don’t manage this it can become a chronic problem. As the owner, I try to provide work processes that benefit the health of employees and prevent the development of chronic disease risks in the workplace, such as sleep disorders or physical problems that can mean we lose staff.
I have worked in many cafes and restaurants over my career and there seem to be three ways that a workplace can affect personal health and wellbeing. Firstly, the way that work is done – this is sometimes referred to as ‘work organisation’. For example, in the old days we pushed or carried boxes of foodstuff but today we have a policy that requires boxes to be transported using a trolley.
Secondly, the actual physical environment of where work is done. This includes the kitchen, food preparation areas, outside dining areas, cool-rooms and storerooms. Legislation and visits from local health inspectors have become tighter over the years and that is a good thing as it has made the physical environment safer and a nicer place to be.
Thirdly, the staff themselves. This includes their attitudes and the physical, emotional and mental capacities and the behaviours that they demonstrate. As the owner, it is essential that I ‘walk the talk’ when it comes to practising behaviours that promote the personal health and wellbeing of everyone.
From my perspective, I am a much better partner, father, community member and boss if I am in good shape. The old saying ‘a bear with a sore head’ – that’s me when I am not managing my personal health and wellbeing! When we are all looking after our own personal health and wellbeing the whole workplace atmosphere improves. Productivity is higher, downtime is less, workers job satisfaction is higher and that means lower absenteeism rates. Finally, our customers also benefit and want to return. So it is good for repeat business and for recommendations on apps such as Trip Advisor and Facebook. Nobody wants to be in a café when the team is under stress.
