In the Frontlines: CanStage’s
Commitment to Health
Work, work, work, and more work. Who has time to put
down the pen, brush, script, or instrument when there’s
always more more more to do? Marna Pihl says “Simple.”
She tells us how CanStage sets positive examples for promoting
a healthy workplace.
Even on the busiest of weekdays at CanStage, anywhere from
10 to 14 women will file out of their offices, yoga mat
in tow, and head to the gym around the corner for a lunchtime
Pilates class.
To an intern both familiar with the long, hectic hours
arts organizations typically demand and accustomed to feeling
she does not have enough time to work out, this ritual is
surprising and refreshing.
It is a ritual that demonstrates CanStage’s commitment
to promote a healthy workplace. An overwhelming majority
of CanStage employees manage to make regular exercise a
priority, whether it is attending Pilates classes, rowing,
boxing or running marathons. How do employees find the time?
Many people, including Executive Producer David Abel, believe
strongly in the benefits of lunchtime workouts. He discovered
early in his career that trying to do more work during his
lunch hour actually reduced his productivity.
“So instead,” he says, “I take that hour
to work out, and when I come back it feels like 9 a.m. all
over again.” He began to encourage others to work
out at lunchtime too.
General Manager Celia Smith swims, practices yoga and attends
the lunchtime Pilates classes. She recalls when she first
started working at CanStage: “I was having a hard
time fitting workouts in…The key thing was when I
found out I could do [my workouts] in the middle of the
day. I thought, ‘Oh, this is great!’ ”
Artistic Producer Martin Bragg appears to have set the
initial example for promoting a healthy lifestyle at work.
Bragg trains for triathlons at lunchtimes and teaches spinning
at the Berkeley Gym. He used to bring his CD player into
the office for random 15-minute staff line-dancing breaks
during the day. Later, he began recruiting people for lunchtime
swims at the neighbourhood pool.
Bragg remarks that the Arts, especially theatre, is a crazy
business. “It is very easy to never have enough time.
But healthy minds make healthy people… I feel I should
support people’s desires to be as fit as they can.”
Katie Inverarity, Director of Marketing & Communications,
says, “It is great that the company is so supportive
of [lunchtime classes]. The classes are one hour and you
still need some time to have lunch and change clothes. They
also show their support by arranging payroll deductions.”
Many CanStagers cite the gym membership subsidy program
as being a key factor in encouraging a regular exercise
routine. The company advances the membership fee for employees
and then deducts a portion off their paycheques each week
over the course of the year.
So how do employees manage to tear themselves away from
their computers in the middle of the workday for a much-needed
break? Joan Bosworth, Director of Individual Giving explains:
“It is very easy to keep up when your colleagues are
going too – it acts as a support mechanism. And it’s
a bonding force in the workplace.”
The many runners at CanStage also give each other support
and feel they benefit from the company’s philosophy.
Carla Arnold, Customer Service Manager, is an ultra-distance
runner who often competes in marathons. She trains in the
morning and on weekends, but on occasion she has to miss
a day or two of work to travel to a marathon. Arnold says
that the company is “very positive and encouraging”
toward her running. “It helps that [the general manager]
and [artistic producer] are so physically active themselves,”
she says. “They relate, they understand much more
than others.”
Having such a powerful top-down example is quite effective.
Inverarity remarks, “I have found that in other arts
organizations I’ve worked at, some people will do
their own thing. But here, the people at the top of the
company are really motivated to live a healthy, active lifestyle.
It’s infectious.”
Smith adds, “It is important to remember that there
are some who have always been doing their thing before working
here. But I just think it’s a really positive thing
that, for someone who is new to CanStage, they are starting
out with a healthy approach in an arts organization.”
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