Taking the initiative with health at work

Sally O'Reilly

Health and work are inextricably linked. Any lingering doubts about this should have been silenced by the recent government report published by Dame Carol Black. The “Health Work and Well Being” report estimates that work-related illness costs the UK more than £100 billion a year, and directly affects around 2.2 million people.

But not only should the workplace be safer and healthier, so that work does not cause illness, it should also be recognised that working can itself boost well being. People who are less than 100 per cent fit can make a contribution at work, and being active means their health is likely to improve. Hence the suggestion that GPs issue “well notes” to patients of working age, which put the emphasis on what they are capable of doing, rather than what they cannot do.

So what is the role for councils here? As employers, local authorities share a common goal with the private sector, that of having a healthy, productive workforce. But beyond that they have a role within the community, and a new scheme supported by the PPMA should help senior managers take a lead role in promoting health across the working community, not just to their own employees.

The key to this is an understanding that the next generation of people management will be “Wellness Management” which is the fusion of health management, HR management and business improvement.

“Wellness management takes a holistic approach to well being,” says Carol Mills, HR director, Lancashire CC and the national lead officer on well being at the PPMA. “This is positive and proactive management, rather than focusing on dealing with stress management or waiting for people to become ill. And it looks at the root causes of absence, rather than simply dealing with the causes of absence.”

One issue for employers is that there is currently little emphasis on encouraging employees to take responsibility for their own well being at work. It is left to the employer to “solve the problem” once an employee is off sick. There is then an issue about whether line managers, HR or occupational staff should deal with absent staff, with lines of communication between these three groups not always as clear as they could be.

Ms Mills stresses that local authorities should be doing more to help staff take control of their own health. “Councils could offer advice guidance and coaching in this area; take up offers from gyms for cheap membership and publicise this to staff; run well-being events and develop tools to help staff self assess their health or offer advice to help them deal with issues themselves, “ she says. “They should also be encouraging staff through change programmes, competency frameworks and by promoting the values of the organisation.”

This is a view shared by workplace health management consultancy WellKom Corporate Services. “Wellness relates directly to performance,” says managing director Anthony Phillips. “And so far in the UK, wellness has been too narrowly defined. A medical will measure your health, but we want to look at where you are in life.”

This month (April) workplace health management consultancy WellKom Corporate Services is launching an online “wellness community” to help employees take control of their own wellbeing. This includes a web-based learning resource or ”Personal Wellness Zone” which gives employees access to a number of interactive materials designed to help them assess and improve their health and wellbeing, and includes an on-line diary and e-learning modules.

Mr Phillips would like to see local authorities taking a lead role in this, pointing out that those who have taken the wellness message on board – such as Kent and Lancashire – are those with the highest star ratings in terms of overall performance.

While she agrees that authorities have a vital role to play, Ms Mills believes that the key to success is knowing your organisation and understanding the particular needs of staff. “As community leaders it is incumbent on local authorities to lead the way in well-ness management,” she comments.

“The approach adopted should be the one that best suits the organisation and its people, not simply apply a one size fits all approach.”

Taking a more strategic approach to wellness is essential, and should lead to fully integrating wellness into people management policies.

“I would recommend that councils develop a well-being strategy to suit their needs, and I would suggest that some profiling of the organisation and of individuals will help in identifying the issues to be built into their plans. Working together with partners may also facilitate the delivery of a strategy in a more efficient way.”

Dos and Don’ts

• Find out more about wellness, how the UK performs compared to other countries and look at its effect on productivity

• Promote wellness across the organisation, and encourage staff to take responsibility for their own health and well being

• Make wellness an integral part of management of resources and staff

Don’t

• Assume that wellness is just about cutting absence management

• Expect to deal with this as an issue only when staff become ill and it’s a problem that you need to address

• Treat well being as an optional extra or add-on when managing staff.