Category: Health and Wellbeing WorkpIace Issues

Health and Wellbeing is becoming an increasingly significant issue within the workplace. Employers are placing greater emphasis and investment on supporting employees with various challenges, whether they’re mental, physical, financial or social. This is fantastic news! A frequently asked question however, is who should oversee health and wellbeing in the workplace? Whose responsibility is it?

Some believe the answer is determined by the overall purpose of your health and wellbeing programme. Was it set up to help with high levels of sickness absence? To attract and retain the best talent? Was it set up to address mental health support? Or to educate employees about better nutrition?

While there is merit in this perspective and whatever the core reason for your health and wellbeing programme, we believe consideration needs to be given to the bigger picture.

Traditionally, ‘people issues’ fell to HR. Today, organisations’ are taking a more comprehensive and blended approach to supporting their employees. Health and wellbeing means different things to different people and has many facets, requiring input from different parts of an organisation. For example, HR undoubtedly still has a role to play, but so too do Occupational Health, Facilities Management, Recruitment, Employee Benefits, the C-Suite and so on.

Such a collaborative, blended approach to health and wellbeing means that the coordination of resources and the use of metrics become key in monitoring the services provided, their uptake, the level of investment and the return on that investment. Without metrics, any health and wellbeing programme will fall flat.

Metrics can be used over time to measure specified key performance indicators, to spot trends and correlations and to further enhance health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Health and wellbeing is slowly, yet increasingly being seen as an initiative that falls to many, rather than just one department. Potentially, this means that health and wellbeing programmes will be more comprehensive and robust, with more employees using the services on offer. Draw and coordinate the resources available to you across your organisation, use metrics to benchmark, monitor and ultimately, secure investment - your employees and your organisation will thank you.

With the first quarter of 2023 almost done, HR professionals and industry in general, now have a better understanding of employee and business trends going forward. In this article, we give you a summary round-up of these understandings and observations so far.

So how can employers help ease the challenges faced by their employees and what are the best approaches?
 

• Increase in People Analytics - making better use of people data from various sources within the business to inform business decisions and strategy is key. Using people analytics to inform your business’ direction can be incredibly insightful and powerful - correlations can be discovered, solutions can be found and actions can be taken, all of which will be evidence based. Unlock the potential of both your people and your business through establishing insight and context.

• Employee Feedback - Giving employees a stronger voice, makes them feel empowered and can lead to increased employee engagement. Having a feedback point accessible at all times, such as a designated chat channel or specific feedback system, as well as intermittent surveys, polls, allows their comments to be heard and valued - employers get a greater insight into what employees think, want, and need. Subsequently, this feedback can be used to manage employee expectations and for employers to incorporate employee feedback into future business decisions and strategy. In short, employee feedback can increase loyalty, engagement, productivity, and profitability, whilst also allowing businesses to track their return on investment.

• Implementation of Menopause Policies - so many women struggle with menopause and like any other health issue, it deserves due recognition. Despite the Government rejecting the call for Menopause to be recognised as a protected characteristic and to trial Menopause leave, it has however encouraged employers to give increased attention to supporting women experiencing Menopause symptoms in the workplace, by implementing Menopause policies.

• Continuation of Hybrid and Flexi-Working - during the pandemic work patterns changed significantly, as did people’s priorities. Convenience, flexibility, work life integration, and family time are now given far more importance than they previously were. In addition to this, since December 2022, legislation allowing employees to request flexible working hours from the start of their employment has come into effect. A key factor for businesses around the recruitment and the retention of employee talent.

• Recruitment and Retention - in a report published by Octopus, they state that ‘Post-COVID, many people are searching for a job that better aligns with their values or lifestyle. Others are not just quitting their jobs - but changing professions entirely - to pursue work that feels more meaningful to them….
   
  This poses a real challenge for employers because Britain is currently facing its tightest labour market in years. They are having difficulty finding and retaining employees as the great resignation takes its toll’

  Having issues around attracting and retaining talent and filling potential skills gaps, is forcing businesses to look at ways to make their organisations, job roles and employment packages more attractive and realistic for the world today - financial security, tangible benefits, flexibility and convenience, meaningful work and career progression, all being key. A comprehensive employment package will also reduce recruitment costs long term and will increase employee loyalty.

• Employee Benefits and Rewards will receive greater investment - to better engage, motivate and reward employees for the work they do, their overall contribution to the business, as well as supporting them with the everyday challenges they face.

   
  David Pye, Director At Leading Independent Consultancy Broadstone says ‘Businesses need to take a more proactive approach to both recruitment and retention, ensuring that their workers have access to what matters to them and that their employee value proposition is targeted and relevant. Good pay in the current inflationary environment is obviously important, but so are many ancillary benefit offerings such as employee wellbeing propositions and it appears key sectors have failed in many of these areas that could lead them to fail over the medium term’

  Octopus found that employees are crying out for more benefits which offer tangible financial support. In fact, 73% of employees want cash saving benefits, particularly now during the cost of living crisis. Support around childcare, food, travel, health and wellbeing and work life integration are where employers should focus their benefit package offerings.

  In the everyday work environment, initiatives such as clear career progression and development, spot bonuses, length of service rewards and acknowledgement for work well done all help to make employees feel valued and loyal to your business.

By bringing the above highlighted elements into your employee benefits package and your business management strategy, you’ll be able to fulfil the needs of both your people and your business. You’ll be able to support and reward your employees, to increase employee retention and engagement, to improve the levels of stability, productivity and of course, overall profitability to your business. People are a key asset to your business, invest in them wisely.

Quiet quitting is a term which has recently come to the forefront of workplace discussions. It's considered by some to have become more prominent due to the change in work patterns attributed to Covid lockdowns.

What is Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitting refers to individuals doing the bare minimum to fulfil their job role requirements. Very little else is carried out outside of their job description and their level of engagement drops. Quiet quitting highlights an issue around the employer/employee relationship, more specifically, a lack of trust around expectations of an acceptable workload and remuneration for that work and effort.

During a highly stressful time, Covid being a good example, quiet quitting is seen as a way to navigate change, to avoid any additional stress leading to burnout, as well as a way to maintain work/life balance. Quiet quitting gives individuals a way to take back control without having to have formal discussions with their Managers.

This change in individual behaviour is considered to have a wider impact on the workplace community and on team morale. By individuals taking a step back from their work and becoming disengaged, it can present a number of challenges for team peers, managers, and ultimately the organisation as a whole. In this article, we take a look at the signs of quiet quitting and how to potentially reduce it.

How to Prevent Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitting can be avoided through better communication and a clear and agreed alignment between employer and employee expectations:

• Listen to your employees and let them know they have a voice
• Keep your employees in the loop. Tell them in advance of any upcoming changes or challenges
• Keep any increase in workload to a minimum and ensure the employee knows that this is a temporary situation
• Understand your employees' work/life boundaries and career ambitions. Work with them as much as possible.
• Reward your employees appropriately whether that’s financially, time in lieu, or a focus on their general wellbeing
• Work on building rapport with your employees and respecting them as individuals
• Hold regular reviews or feedback sessions to stay current with employee opinion

How to Deal with Quiet Quitting

Quiet Quitting can be reversed through honest communication and a willingness to rebuild trust on both sides:

• Get things out in the open. Offer open two-way communication and initiate that communication in a non-confrontational, approachable manner
• Identify the specific areas of contention as seen by the employee and ask for examples
• Give context to these issues from your perspective and how they relate to the individual, the team, and the wider organisation
• Reach a solution that genuinely works for both parties by re-establishing agreed expectations and associated rewards
• Give your employee time to adjust and re-engage with their work through regular agreed review periods
• Demonstrate your commitment to your employee by sticking to agreed actions in order to rebuild the relationship
• Should these steps prove unsuccessful, conduct an exit interview

The world of work has changed considerably. Covid made us all adapt and rethink how we could continue to work, which soon led to us thinking about how we want to work. People’s priorities have changed and in turn employers are now looking at how to get the balance correct between hybrid, flexi and hybrid working, whilst still being productive, profitable and true to their employer brands. New phenomena and terms like the ‘mass resignation’ and ‘quiet quitting’ are frequent topics of discussion, shining a light on how it is best to retain employees and to attract new ones.

We take a look at a summary round up below:

Pay

Payment in line with responsibilities, experience, and performance is common practice. However, pay rise increases inline with cost of living is becoming a pressing concern. There are a growing number of people who work, however, their take home pay is no longer covering their day-to-day expenses, meaning they’re working in deficit, and ‘the working poor’ have been created. Whether employers can assist their employees to bridge this gap again is another budgetary and ethical dilemma being called into question. Where does the responsibility lie - the employer, the Government, or both?

In their latest collaboration, CIPD and Omni have published their Resourcing and Talent Planning Report 2022, to give practical recommendations on how employers can encourage employees to join and stay at an organisation, when pay increases become ‘exhausted as an option’. Three significant areas were identified - 1) flexible, hybrid and remote working 2) upskilling existing employees 3) increasing diversity by advertising through more varied sources

Zofia Bojorek a Senior Research Fellow at The Institute of Employment Studies emphasises that employers need to ‘ensure that work has meaning for employees’ and that our historic preoccupation with pay, simply isn’t enough. Valerie Beaulieu-James, Chief of Sales and Marketing at Adecco, reiterates this point by advising employers to avoid engaging in ‘blunt tool’ pay rises purely to retain staff and that more attention should be given to Line Manager Support

Line Manager Support

In order to retain good talent, Line Managers need to meet the requirements of both the organisation and the individual employees. Particular attention must be given to ensuring work loads, work patterns, and the work itself are fair and fulfilling, alongside good career progression, and the individual welfare of employees. Employees want to feel valued and heard by their employers, with fair performance recognition and pay. By achieving these things, employees are increasingly likely to feel engaged and loyal to the organisation they work for. Employee surveys and exit interviews have highlighted that a poor relationship between an employee and a Line Manager can result in the employee leaving their job, even if they found that job itself fulfilling.

Flexibility

Flexible working has become increasingly popular. Part-time, compressed or flexi- hours, reduced days, remote working, job shares, working from home, hybrid working, term-time working, career breaks/sabbaticals, and commissioned outcomes are all ways in which work patterns have evolved.

According to the CIPD, more action is needed to increase the uptake of flexible working where possible by employers’, as it’s believed ‘to increase inclusive, diverse and productive workplaces that suit both the needs of organisations and individuals’

Flexible working brings other benefits such as reduced overheads in terms of office space, better use of technology and potentially being able to operate more efficiently in line with customer requirements. From an employee perspective, flexible working promotes better work-life balance, job satisfaction, and overall wellbeing.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In an interview with Employee Benefits, Asif Sadiq MBE, Senior VP, and Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, highlighted the importance of creating a sense of belonging when it comes to employee retention ‘ creating a sense of belonging helps to achieve goals and retain staff. It's not hard to create this, we just need to focus on what matters. It’s the morally right thing to do to have diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies in place, and often businesses with more diverse workforce generate more income. It can be a critical element to drive success’ Sadiq goes on to say that in doing so ‘psychological safety’ can be achieved in the workplace and any privileges should be acknowledged and used to support those not in the room for conversations, not for apologies.

Company USP

According to Gemma Bullivant, HR Coach and Consultant ‘promoting your organisation’s USP’ is vital for employee retention. ‘What makes you stand out as an organisation, why people choose to join and stay, what you are doing and how you can leverage that to be even stronger’ is an extremely powerful way to communicate what you can offer your employees. It also demonstrates a business with a clear vision and identity.

Adapting work practices to fit with societal change is essential. Continued reviews and open, collaborative discussions between employers and employees can lead to positive working relationships which are beneficial for all. It’s clear that pay is no longer the only factor that employees consider when looking to join or stay at an organisation; balance, progression, welfare, and satisfaction are all central to their decision making. Employee retention helps contribute towards an organisation’s stability and performance. Holding onto and nurturing skilled workers, developing them further, and supporting their overall wellbeing, will only lead to a productive and profitable business.

Hybrid working has required organisations to adopt a blended approach to both business management and employee wellbeing. Rethinking how best to deliver health and wellbeing programmes to your employees needn’t be overwhelming - it’s time to consult, review and to get creative!

In this short guide, we give you seven pieces of advice which are key to getting health and wellbeing right for your employees and ultimately, your business.

Ask them - send out a poll or survey to staff to get a better understanding of what their current challenges are and where they’d like support. Have their challenges changed because of Covid? Because of a change in work practices? If so, how? What are their biggest stress points in life generally - at home, at work, as an individual? To support your staff competently, you first need to understand their requirements.

Maintain Balance - try not to favour one aspect of health and wellbeing over another. Find a way to keep all services accessible and possibly look and introducing new ones where necessary.

Prioritise - planning and optimisation - Accessibility is key. Firstly, who needs your support here and now? Who is currently struggling? Your organisation holds a wealth of information about your employees, so use it to identify who NEEDS which type/s of health and wellbeing service/s, how often and how they are best to receive this support.

Review Delivery Methods - hybrid working has undoubtedly brought about a greater reliance on technology and a greater level of autonomy to employees. So ask yourself, how can these two factors fit into your health and wellbeing programme without compromising the quality or the effectiveness of the services?

Can your services be accessed online or through an app - eg counselling sessions or fitness classes? Do they need to be face to face - eg counselling or physical therapies? Can they be in-office or at home or both - eg ergonomic desk assessments or physical therapies? Do they need to be delivered at a certain time or can they be accessed ad hoc - eg lunch and learns, webinars or Yoga classes?

Automation - self serve - give your employees as much control as possible in order for them to access services. In doing so, it makes your employees feel empowered and they are more likely to engage with your health and wellbeing programme, as well as within the business overall. Automation greatly increases convenience, accessibility and can be extremely cost effective.

Rotation - by offering services on a rotation basis - weekly, monthly or quarterly - it ensures that accessibility is optimised. Not everyone will be in the office at the same time, nor will they necessarily be consistent with the days that they do come into the office or work from home.

If certain teams or departments have decided to adopt a regular working schedule, it's worth adding this to your databases and working in a more informed manner.

The Personal Touch - Health and wellbeing programmes are all about personalisation and accessibility. Give careful consideration to outsourcing to a provider with which you have no in-person relationship, particularly around mental health. People often like to know they can talk to a person and that they can build trust and rapport with them over time, as well as getting immediate and bespoke feedback. Employees using mental health services are most likely making themselves vulnerable and talking about sensitive issues, which is where an app falls flat. Technology doesn’t offer meaningful or insightful engagement. An impersonal one-size fits all approach to mental health, will most likely have a low uptake and will be wasted money from your budget. Online or app access for online fitness classes however is a far more suitable use of online or app access.

The Stevenson/Farmer Review of Mental Health and Employers

The below information is a combined summary and quotation of the findings from both the Thriving at Work Review and the Government website www.gov.uk

Employers fulfilling their duty of care towards their employees is a broad subject with varying takes on how best to do so. One area of considerable focus has been mental health. In order to assess where organisations can do more, The UK Government has carried out an independent review as part of their Mental Health Reform initiative. Research carried out by Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer has been published through both The Department For Work and Pensions, as well as The Department of Health and Social Care to look at mental health from an economic and social perspective.

The Study assumes the position that the correct way to view mental health is that we all have it and we fluctuate between thriving, struggling, and being ill and possibly off work

We need to move to a society where all of us become more aware of our own mental health, other people’s mental health, and how to cope with our own and other people’s mental health when it fluctuates. It is all our responsibilities to make this change and employers are perhaps able to have the greatest impact and scope to make an impact and are the focus of this review.
 

Thriving at Work sets out:

1. What employers can do to better support all employees, including those with mental health problems to remain in and thrive through work.
2. A detailed analysis that explores the significant cost of poor mental health to UK businesses and the economy as a whole
3. How investing in supporting mental health at work is good for business and productivity.
4. All employers, regardless of size or industry, should adopt 6 ‘mental health core standards’ that lay basic foundations for an approach to workplace mental health.

Tala Oodit is an experienced HR professional whose career spans over 10 years across the FMCG, Luxury Retail and Entertainment industries. She has shared with Body Mechanics her top 5 tips on what makes a workplace successful.

Ruth McCarthy and Laura Williams, who are both colleagues and mother and daughter, on how the simple, powerful promise not to interrupt can transform communication, build trust and make a huge difference to people’s lives.

Who do you know who is a really good listener? What difference does it make to you if somebody allows you to finish your thought rather than interrupting you with their advice, information, unasked-for ideas? Listening to ignite thinking, rather than listening to reply and interrupt, makes a huge difference to how we experience each other.

The world we live in has become increasingly interruptive. Whether we are being interrupted by each other, by our own tech devices, by social media, by email, or Zoom calls, we rarely get more than a few seconds before something breaks into our thinking pattern. How can we expect to communicate with each other properly, or to think well, under these conditions?

Ruth says:

A great Thinking Environment starts with Attention. Listening well is the only way to really hear what somebody else is thinking and feeling, and listening without interruption actively improves communication and connection on both sides of any interaction or relationship. When people ask what I do, I say ‘I show people how to listen, and then we discover exactly how much and why that helps people to think’.

Because the quality of our thinking depends to a remarkable degree on the quality of attention that we are getting from the person with whom we are thinking.

When I read Nancy Kline’s first book Time to Think in 2007 it was a revelation. It crystallised so much that I felt about how poorly we communicate what we really mean. It all comes down to our listening.

Turn off the Advice

The world we live in actively rewards the advisors and the ‘experts’. We get paid for giving advice. In fact we compete with each other and in groups to be the first to give an answer. It means it's very hard to resist the impulse to come in on somebody else’s thinking. Especially as a mother.

Turn up the Listening

So learning how to turn off the advising instinct and ramp up the listening has been transformational for me as a parent. Understanding that my daughters can be 100% equal to me as thinkers (because they each have a brain, and each is fully equipped to think) was a huge breakthrough. Dialling down the anxiety, feeling more ease in the moment, trying to be a thinking partner rather than an anxious mother - it has made such a difference. My only regret has been not finding my way to it sooner!

Laura says:

I will always remember my first experience of a Thinking Environment. I was on the sofa at home, aged 25, trying to figure out where I was going wrong in my career and why I wasn’t happy. My mother just listened as I poured out all my thinking, my experiences to date - and after a little while, I started to see things differently, to make new connections - understanding myself and the jobs I’d done differently, seeing what was missing.

Keep Listening

And Ruth just kept listening, giving me attention that helped me to keep going, no judgement, no advice - she was training with Nancy at the time. After a while I said ‘What is this - this feels so different!’ and she explained a bit about the Thinking Environment. I was fascinated, and within 4 years I’d qualified with Nancy too and started my business to teach others and spread the word about this amazing ‘way of being’. The Thinking Environment and the Components which create it are such a dependable way to communicate, with loved ones, friends, colleagues - it’s foolproof. It’s changed my life, my relationships and given me the gift of a framework for independent thinking that I can now pass on to my children.

It all starts with Attention.

If we promise not to interrupt each other and listen with interest to where the person is going in their thinking, we communicate on a whole new level. We show respect. We are creating equality in the relationship. We hope you can try it too.