The Office of Staff Health and Wellness (OSHW) was created to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of all DCF staff. Staff health and wellness was determined to be one of the department’s transformational goals in the 2019-2021 Strategic Plan. The Office’s purpose is to engage staff in resources and supports that foster overall physical and emotional well-being, strong morale and a culture of inclusivity and empowerment. Staff’s professional and personal wellness is critical to fostering a safe work environment. It also helps to ensure a passionate and productive workforce.
Research shows that employees in good overall health are more likely to deliver optimal performance in the workplace. Emotionally healthy employees have a better quality of life, and they benefit from having a lower risk of disease, illness, and injury, as well as increased work productivity and a greater likelihood of contributing to their communities.
Since 2018, DCF has taken several steps to prioritize the health and safety of staff and made great progress in creating and implementing initiatives that develop and protect staff in the work it does daily to keep New Jersey families safe, healthy and connected. Some highlights include:
- Working with Alia Innovations, a national non-profit dedicated to child welfare reform, to provide training to senior leaders and managers throughout the organization regarding trauma and resilience, to support 10 monthly workforce well-being groups, and to provide monthly micro-learnings available to all DCF staff.
- Putting in place robust security measures in all offices and adding 9 new security officers.
- Training staff on a Safety Science approach to critical incidents through Collaborative Safety – a process that engages employees in safety related efforts, establishes approaches to analyzing adverse events and moves from a ‘culture of blame to a culture of accountability.
- Launching a Mindfulness Toolkit for staff, accessible through the portal, and an external web-based Mindfulness page, with a list of resources that can help staff to reduce stress and stay centered.
- Piloting state-of-the art mobile technology to safeguard staff in the field using Safe Signal, an alert messaging system that allows users to be monitored in real time and to alert law enforcement in critical or dangerous situations.
- Creating a staff specific COVID-19 resource page with safety guidance.
- Introducing a voluntary Flex-time program, allowing staff to organize their work hours in a manner that accommodates their personal and family obligations.
- Providing The CLIP ALL ACCESS PASS, allowing staff to gain round-the-clock access to more than 600 new training tools and courses for professional development.
- Launching a monthly DCF Real Talk series in which staff are interviewed about current and relevant issues impacting their emotional health.
Stay tuned, because there’s even more to come! Please email any questions, suggestions or concerns to DCF.Wellness@dcf.nj.gov.
