Introducing Workplace Wellbeing business case and actions that organisations can take

1. orgimprove.growthco.uk
WORKPLACE WELLBEING & MENTAL
RESILIENCE?
Helping to build a positive and productive workplace culture.

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Definition: According to the World Health Organisation, workplace wellbeing is “a state of
complete physical, psychological and social well-being. Not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity.” Building resilience is all about strengthening these three areas.
WORKPLACE WELLBEING AND MENTAL RESILIENCE

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Two reasons: your duty of care as an employer and the impact of happy and
healthy employees on your productivity and performance.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR EMPLOYERS?

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“You can only sustain engagement
if you have wellbeing”
- Professor Dame Carol Black

5. FACTS & STATS
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• Productivity Pitfall: Absences from work account for £18bn in lost productivity every year–
a figure that could rise to £26bn by 2030 - Centre for Economic & Business Research
• Future Concerns: The workforce is projected to get older with an average age of 39 in
2016 rising to 43 by 2030. By then, 40% of the working age population is expected to have
a long term condition - Public Health England/Work Foundation

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“At a time when there is a national
focus on productivity, the
inescapable conclusion is that it is
massively in the interest of both
employers and Government to
prioritise and invest far more in
improving mental health.
The UK can ill-afford the
productivity cost…”
-Thriving at Work Report 2017

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• Working Lives: The average employee spends a 1/3 of their life at work; equating to
90,000 days over their lifetime – Gettysburg College, 2017
• The Reach: 1:4 families have at least 1 member of the family with a mental health problem
– World Health Organisation and the number of employed people experiencing mental
health problems has risen over the last five years from a 1/4 to a 1/3 – CIPD 2016

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A healthy worker is
motivated, productive and
less at risk from diseases like
type 2 diabetes, heart
disease and some types of
cancer.
- British Heart Foundation 2016

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• Health Matters: In the UK, mental health problems are the largest burden of
disease at 28%, compared to cancer and heart disease which are both 16% -
Mental Health Foundation
• Lost days: Stress, anxiety and depression accounts for £70 million lost days per
annum, making it the largest cause of sickness absence – Department for Health

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“A healthier workforce means employees
are more motivated and productive, have
higher attendance levels and return to work
more quickly after episodes of ill health”
- Chartered Management Institute

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• Prevention better than cure: 15% of UK organisations don’t place any focus on the
mental health and wellbeing of employees, with 3/10 employees saying their company
does not do anything to promote mental wellbeing in the workplace - YouGov 2016.
And yet employers are bearing a cost of between £33bn and £42bn every year from
sickness absence, presenteeism and staff turnover - Thriving at Work Report 2017
• The Opportunity: Effective workplace health and wellbeing programmes can
increase productivity at work by 29% - British Heart Foundation 2016

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“The very best organisations understand
that to achieve sustainable results, their
people need to be performing at their peak,
both physically and psychologically”
- Paul Devoy, Head of Investors in People

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You’ve got the why, but what’s next?
One way to move forward with your workplace wellbeing strategy is to frame it
around three key focus areas – your approach as an organisation, as leaders and
managers and also support for your individual employees to embrace it too.

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As an organisation
Building a work culture and infrastructure that respects and embraces health and mental
wellbeing.
• Be Open: Encourage your people to suggest and deliver creative responses to challenges. Having
a consultative approach can help build confidence, collaboration and innovation which all supports
engagement.
• Be positive about change: Consider how your internal communications and managers can
support this, creating momentum and helping people to adapt and manage any challenges.

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• Values and Behaviours: Consider making health and wellbeing part of who you are as an
organisation – making it part of your culture and informing everything you do. This could then
inform how you approach projects, how you develop policies, your working environment and more,
as well as frame the behaviours you want to see from your people.
• Team effort: Think about stress awareness training across your team to help colleagues identify
and support each other before it becomes overwhelming.

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• Holistic: Health and wellbeing encompasses physical, social, psychological and lifestyle
considerations. Ensure you are considering each area and how they are supported across the
organisation.
• Measure: Take opportunities to gather feedback and measure impact on health and wellbeing.
Work out what success means to your culture. For example, if you want to create a more open and
supportive culture, an increase in mental health support can be a good thing – giving employees
the opportunity for earlier intervention and reducing long term impact for both them and your
organisation.

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“The twin goals of increasing levels of staff
wellbeing and engagement should be a
major priority for UK business leaders –
you can’t have one without the other”
- Emma Mamo, Head of Workplace Wellbeing

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As leaders and managers
Developing your leaders and people managers to be role models with the tools, techniques and
mind-set to support workplace wellbeing including the development of a safe environment where
employees are challenged and encouraged to thrive.
• Look at your capability or competence framework – consider extending your management
competencies framework to include the behaviours expected from managers to support health
and wellbeing within their team.
• Ensure managers are remembering health and wellbeing in performance reviews especially
when setting objectives. Consider the impact of people’s work on their health and wellbeing and
what support or flexibility they might need to achieve them.

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• Ensure managers are making time for regular opportunities for discussion
including one to ones. This will help to develop an open dialogue and build trust
so the ‘whole person’ can be better managed, including any issues that may
impact health and wellbeing.
• Build self-awareness amongst your leaders and managers so they can better
manage and protect their own health and wellbeing and how they approach and
react to issues within their team. More self-awareness can help them to develop
better team dynamics generally, reducing the risk of health and wellbeing issues
due to lack of managerial support.

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• Help equip managers with skills to manage flexible working within their team.
This could include helping them think of jobs in terms of roles, performance and
tasks rather than time. Also ensure managers consider resources, job design and
targets that are reasonable and achievable.
• A lack of managerial support is a key factor behind work related stress,
depression and anxiety according to the Labour Force Survey. Make sure your
people managers are supported to effectively manage and support their
team and where issues with stress arise, they are clear on expectations and
where to turn for further advice.

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As individuals
Where your employees are respected as individuals and given opportunities to
understand, embrace and thrive with their own health and wellbeing.
• Understand existing attitudes to workplace health and wellbeing as this will strongly
influence strategies and success.
• Efforts to support individual health and wellbeing will only work if they meet your employee’s
needs. Consider options such as flexible working carefully. Be open and consultative,
particularly where changes may need to be made.

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• Encouraging work-life balance needs to be specific to an individual – everyone has different
responsibilities to balance. With that in mind, make sure your managers focus on individual
needs but apply strategy fairly and consistently.
• Encourage a culture of self-help and awareness. Give employees the opportunity and
confidence to seek support and move forward without fear of stigma or negative impact on
their working life. Ensure any initiatives such as employee assistance programmes, medical
support or occupational health channels are clearly communicated and easy to access.

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• Ensure all employees are aware of tools and techniques they can use to support their own
health and wellbeing – they may not need them now, but better awareness could help them to
prevent or deal with challenges in the future.
• Make sure employees have the time and opportunity to build relationship and have regular
discussions with their managers, trusted peers or mentors. This supportive approach will not
only help to open dialogue and build trust generally, but can help employees and peers to
pick up on any health and wellbeing issues earlier.

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Further Support from The Organisational Improvement team:
• We hope you’ve found this SlideShare interesting and a good starting point for your
organisation to explore your workplace wellbeing strategy – helping you to improve both your
people practices and business performance.
• We want to help your organisation be happier, healthier and more sustainable. If you’d
like to talk to us about your approach to workplace wellbeing, please get in touch or find out
more about our workplace wellbeing support here.
• To find out more about The Growth Company: Organisational Improvement and what we’re
about, visit www.organisationalimprovement.growthco.uk, call us on 0161 237 4200* or
email orgimprove@growthco.uk
* Calls will charged at your standard network rate