Wellbeing strategies in the workplace

This post looks at what companies could be doing through their wellbeing strategies and highlights approaches to tackling three key issues which cause problems at work….. 

1. Our Chair, Dr Paul Litchfield recently spoke at the University of Manchester Alliance Business School‘s first Vital Topic lecture of 2016 on Building Mental Resilience.  He said

“we need to think beyond the health of individuals in the workplace to address wider wellbeing issues.  That means encouraging employers to organise work in a way that promotes the health and happiness of their people. Work that is fulfilling and has purpose drives good health for employees and profitability for companies – a real win/win.  Occupational health schemes that only focus on traditional activities like health surveillance and sickness absence management are failing the firms that pay for them and the employees they serve.  We need to become advocates for wellbeing in the workplace and influence the way organisations are managed – that’s tough but it’s what we need to do if we are to remain relevant in the decades to come.”

Here, Paul and Oliver Heath, founder of architectural practice Heath Design talk about what companies need to do:

https://youtu.be/3HlAwYdxHSE

We have  found that many different people in the UK, including managers, see job quality as integral to promoting wellbeing. That is secure and interesting jobs with decent pay and that provide opportunities for taking decisions, using skills and working with others.

 → Public dialogue and consultation findings summary 

We need to test different approaches….  and we’re happy to help

→ Evaluating wellbeing impact guidance  

→contact us  

Reposted from The University of Manchester Alliance Business School site

2. HSE report on Stress, mental health & musculoskeletal health at work 

Musculoskeletal, mental health and stress complaints are some of the most frequently reported health complaints in the population. These account for a large proportion of sickness absence, loss of productivity, care-seeking and health-related benefit claims.

Prof Kevin Daniels, lead investigator of our Work and Learning team has co-authored a new report from the Health and Safety Executive  which outlines an approach to managing musculoskeletal, mental health and stress complaints in the workplace.

The intention of the report is to help those with specialised interests in health at work to minimise the occurrence of such work-based common health problems and look to reduce avoidable sickness absence, healthcare use and long-term disability.

The report provides information on:

• the importance of managing common health complaints
• the features of good jobs that can protect against common health complaints
• evidence-based guidance for occupational health and human resources specialists for developing processes to manage common health complaints.

→The full report from HSE