Take Action

Sign the Charter

Healthcare organizations across the country have recognized the need for healthy work environments to support the sustainability, quality and safety of healthcare in Canada.The QWQHC encourages organizational and systems leaders to signal their commitment to improving quality of worklife in the health workplace by signing the Healthy Healthcare Leadership Charter.

The QWQHC believes that success can be achieved in the near term if health leaders and their organizations commit to:

Quality of worklife measurement and reporting
Implementation of improvement strategies
Continuous knowledge exchange

While the Charter may initially be considered as symbolic, its potential is far reaching. By virtue of the growing list of Charter signatories, a defined community of interest supportive of quality of worklife in healthcare is undoubtedly emerging. This network of organizations reflects an alignment of approaches to workplace and workforce renewal across the country and presents a stronger voice calling for increased quality of worklife for healthcare providers.

Close to 50 systems/organizations have signed the charter to date, representing many more work sites actively engaged in improving quality of worklife. Regardless of where Charter signatories are on their path to promoting healthier healthcare settings and implementing positive change, they each bring important perspectives, practices, and experience that can be shared with others. View the Charter Signatories.

As a collaborative interested in enabling the work in the field of developing healthier work environments in healthcare, the QWQHC continues to explore opportunities for coordinated knowledge exchange and increased partnerships and collaboration with current Charter signatories. By building continued momentum for change and forming a growing community of leaders that work together to make workplaces healthier, this approach will enhance system-wide capacity to implement evidence-informed practices, support quality of worklife measurement and ultimately foster innovation across the system.

Steps to sign the Charter:

Signing the Charter is a signal of an organization's commitment to improving the quality of worklife in the healthcare workplace. As a first step, begin by discussing the Charter and its guiding principles at a senior leadership team meeting to determine if the Charter aligns with your organization's values and strategic priorities.
Encourage senior leaders to complete the Quality Worklife Self-Assessment and Action Planning Tool to determine where your organization may already have developed leading practices, where you think you need more improvement, and finally, which priority activities your organization is planning to implement over the upcoming year.
Sign the Charter - include senior leaders, board chairs, union leaders, medical and nursing leaders, etc. Be as inclusive as possible; include all those leaders who will need to be engaged to effectively address quality of worklife issues in the organization. You may wish to customize the Charter by attaching your own logo, or providing some additional organization-specific context.
Inform the QWQHC that your organization has signed the Charter. Send photos, stories, copies of your signed Charter, and the organization's priority areas of focus over the coming year to information@qwqhc.ca. The QWQHC will profile your organization's leadership and will identify opportunities to network with you in the future (e.g. uncovering leading practices, connecting you with other organizations that are working on similar issues, and focusing new pan-Canadian efforts on developing tools and supports for 'hot topics').
Promote the signed Charter and what it symbolizes to your organization, staff, board members, and community, through internal communication strategies and any external networks that your leaders may belong to.
Check our website regularly to see what Charter signatory organizations and other quality of worklife Champions across the country are up to. Get inspired and keep the momentum of building healthier healthcare work environments going.

If you have any questions, please contact the QWQHC Secretariat at 613-738-3800, ext. 448 or via e-mail at information@qwqhc.ca.