This document provides an overview of health and wellbeing topics for employees including statistics on obesity, stress, and musculoskeletal disorders. It discusses managers' wellbeing and challenges such as unmanageable workloads and lack of influence over targets. Other sections cover financial stress, eye care, cycling to work schemes, implementing wellbeing programs, occupational health services, employee assistance programs, exercise, gyms, obesity, and mental health. Case studies and conclusions are also mentioned.

1. Health & wellbeing by Fluid February 2010

2. Page 2 Contents 3-4 Introduction to Fluid 5-6 Statistics 7-8 Managers’ wellbeing 9-10 Financial stress 11-12 Eye care 13-14 Cycle to Work scheme 15-19 Implementing a wellbeing programme 20-22 Occupational health 23-28 Employee assistance programmes (EAPs) 29-30 Exercise 31-33 Gyms 34-38 Obesity 39-51 Mental health 52-53 Case studies 54-55 Conclusion and questions

3. Page 3 Introduction

5. Selection- Attraction - Remuneration & Reward - Outplacement - Training & HR consultancy

6. Page 5 Statistics

8. Stress and mental health

11. Unmanageable workloads

12. Having little control over aspects of the job

13. Work interfering with home and personal life

14. Not having enough time to do their job as well as they would like

15. Working longer hours than they wanted to

16. Having little or no influence over performance targets

17. Being set unrealistic objectives

18. Not being involved in decisions affecting their job

19. Managers’ ideas or suggestions not being taken into accountManagers’ wellbeing

20. Page 9 Financial stress

22. Consider offering a helpline

23. Alert line managers to look out for signs for employees may be suffering from money problems

24. Review benefit packages; offering employees discounted goods could make a real difference

25. Consider bonus or incentive schemes to motivate employees

26. Consider offering flexible or remote working to cut employee travel costsFinancial stress

27. Page 11 Eye care

29. Cost to employer

30. Set-up time

31. How is scheme administered

32. Support given

33. Particular selling pointsEye care

34. Page 13 Cycle to Work scheme

36. Brand of bike

37. Type of bike

38. Safety items available

39. Number of stores where available

40. How is scheme administered

41. Home delivery/delivery time

42. Order online/mail order

43. Marketing support

44. Software linked to client’s software

45. Helpline

46. Set-up time

47. Cost to clientCycle to Work scheme

48. Page 15 Implementing a wellbeing programme

50. Be business savvy; align wellness goals with business strategy and highlight links between wellbeing, reduced absenteeism and healthier profits

51. Get the finance in place; initial funding is needed-but in the long term, financial savings should follow

52. Go back to the drawing board; take a fresh look at existing practices and be prepared to introduce a completely new system

53. Create a healthy culture; a wellbeing strategy should mean employees are treated with respect as well as being offered physical health benefitsImplementing a wellbeing programme 1 of 4

55. Think laterally; if possible use local practitioners who offer their services at a reduced cost

56. Push the barriers; don’t be afraid to suggest radical solutions to intractable problems

57. Take a balanced approach; keep employees on side by balancing a tough absence policy with ‘feel-good’ initiatives

58. Listen to your people; picking up on ideas from the workforce for wellbeing workshops is a great way of boosting moraleImplementing a wellbeing programme 2 of 4

60. Make the goals seem attractive, for example ‘become slimmer, more confident, more energetic, clearer thinking, more decisive’

61. Ensure individuals take more responsibility for improving their health by assessing working hours and working environment

62. Consider how significant investment in health could improve productivity and reduce absence levels

63. Focus on helping people to find ‘hidden’ problems such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levelsImplementing a wellbeing programme 3 of 4

65. Make sure that you involve other areas of the business, such as occupational health and health & safety-it is also important to build links between the OH professionals and line managers to ensure individual issues are managed as effectively as possible

66. Offer a health and wellbeing portal and lifestyle tests online, which is cost-effective and easy to distribute

67. Offering a different and more comprehensive screening for older employees does not fall foul of the age discrimination legislation

68. Consider hoe the information will be used-who will have access to it? How will you meet the requirements of the Data Protection Act?Implementing a wellbeing programme 4 of 4

69. Page 20 Occupational health

71. Helping employees on long-term sick leave return to work

72. Liaising with NHS/private medical employees

73. Reviewing absence records

74. Conducting interviews with employees relating to their sickness absence

76. Consider the practicalities

77. Know what you want

78. Source a provider

79. Be rigorous in the selection process

82. Telephone counselling

83. Face-to-face counselling

84. Referral to specialist advisers

85. Advice service for managers

86. Website with information resourcesEmployee assistance programmes 1 of 5

88. Make sure you know who you are buying from and who will be handling the day-to-day service-does the provider offer a direct service with its own trained counsellors or does it outsource to a third party?

89. As the market for EAPs develops they are being bundled into different products-seek advice on the best package for your organisation and be clear about what you are buying into

90. Pin down precise details-how many hours a day is the telephone service available and can it be accessed from home as well as work, and how many face-to-face sessions are available/for how long?Employee assistance programmes 2 of 5

92. If usage slips below 5% then something is going wrong-don’t assume that employees know that the EAP is ready and waiting, because research shows that active and regular promotion pushes up usage rates

93. You get what you pay for-is it just a token telephone service or is it an integral part of the overall HR strategy?Employee assistance programmes 3 of 5

95. Know your people and what they need

96. Benchmark different programmes

97. Work well with your supplier

98. Make the EAP part of the business strategy

99. CommunicateEmployee assistance programmes 4 of 5

101. Cost per head

102. Set up time

103. Essentials of the scheme

104. Manager training

105. Support given

106. Particular selling pointsEmployee assistance programmes 5 of 5

107. Page 29 Exercise

108. Page 30 Exercise

109. Page 31 Gyms

111. Ensure all employees receive fitness assessments and gym inductions before using the facilities

112. Put posters up around the office to remind your employees that if they are feeling stressed, a visit to the office gym will release frustration and revive themGyms 1 of 2

114. Find out what people want

115. Ensure management buy-in

116. Get the money up front

117. Market it long termGyms 2 of 2

118. Page 34 Obesity

120. Explain why size matters

121. Volunteers please

122. Tailor the programme

123. Walk the talk

124. Anyone for a banana?

125. Look beyond leotards

126. Avoid discriminating

128. It was largely thanks to ‘discovery’

129. The kids factor

130. How cases might be structured

132. There is no specific legislation to protect overweight employees from discrimination at work. Lawyers have successfully used the unfair dismissal rules for claimants, and claims may be possible under the Disability Discrimination Act, the Health and Safety at Work Act or even the Protection from Harassment Act.

136. 76% of employers believe British industry loses a great deal of talent because it does not know how to best deal with mental health problems

137. Around seven in 10 employers recognise that they don’t know enough about their legal position and obligations relating to mental health

139. Nearly three in every 10 employees will have a mental health problem in any one year-the great majority of which will be depressive and anxiety disorders

141. Develop a mental health policy

142. Perform a stress audit

143. Provide a counselling service

144. Train managers

145. Improve physical health

146. Remove unnecessary stresses

148. Empower employees

149. Boost vitality

150. Create a sense of community

151. Change the culture

152. Act on warning signs

153. Provide support

155. Raise awareness

156. Recognise early warning signs

157. It’s good to talk

159. Ensure employees are aware of ways to preserve their mental wellbeing

160. Promote a culture of respect and dignity for all, ensuring that employees are trained to recognise mental distress

162. Demonstrate that no one is refused employment on the grounds of mental illness or disability

163. Make reasonable adjustments to the work environment for people with mental health problems

165. Public sector employees take on average 24 days for each mental health-related sickness absence, compared to 20 days for private sector employees

166. Employees up to the age of 25 take on average 17 days for each absence, rising to an average of 36 days for employees in the 55-65 age bracket

168. Have a conversation in a neutral and private space, not your office

169. Make sure there are no interruptions-switch off the mobile phone

170. Be focused-you only need information that will help achieve the goal of supporting your employee

172. Use neutral language such as: ‘You seem very low today’

173. Always allow the person time to answer

174. Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and see things from their position

175. Make arrangements for a follow-up meeting to review the situation

177. Don’t attempt to initiate a conversation in front of everyone

178. Don’t initiate a conversation if you’ve got another appointment looming

179. Don’t attempt to diagnose-remember pressure such as: “What’s wrong with you then?” or “Are you stressed or something?”

181. Don’t push for an answer-be patient

182. Don’t rush in with another question before hearing the answer you’re being given

183. Don’t tell the person what to do

185. Page 53 Case studies

186. Page 54 Conclusion & Questions

187. Page 55 Conclusion Summary Questions