The business of wellbeing

Sponsored by:

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Health & Wellbeing

In an increasingly competitive market,

attracting and retaining the right employees is vital to business success.

As the battle for talent intensifies, organisations are waking up to the fact

that salary alone doesn’t buy loyalty, and that ensuring employees feel valued and supported is vital to becoming an employer of choice.

However, some are still struggling to get workplace wellbeing right. In fact, research Unum commissioned last year found that a third of workers feel they are only ‘adequately or poorly’ cared for by their employer. What’s more, over a fifth said they felt their levels of wellbeing have got worse in the past three years.

With 30% of employees saying they would consider leaving their job if they didn’t feel cared for by their employer, these are findings which businesses shouldn’t take lightly. Employers should begin to take the wellbeing of their employees as seriously as they do their balance sheets.

However, putting employee wellbeing at the heart of a business is a challenge, not least because the way we work now is vastly different from how we did 30 or so years ago. New technology is just one driver changing the set-up of the workplace almost beyond recognition, enabling a growing number of remote workers and – in some cases – the increasing expectation that employees are ‘always on’. Meanwhile, for the first time there are up to five generations working alongside each other, each with their own values and ideals. This makes introducing a comprehensive and robust wellbeing strategy, which takes account of employees’ diverse and evolving needs, far from straightforward.

It is typically the HR department that is tasked with doing just that – but it shouldn’t be solely an HR issue. Ensuring wellbeing gets to – and stays at – the top of the business agenda requires the whole organisation to take it

seriously and for all senior managers to be aware of its importance.

With a recent survey of employers showing that 62% believe responsibility for employee wellbeing lies with the entire management team, it’s encouraging to see that the appetite is there. Yet there remains a crucial job for the HR department to do in order to drive this forward – from working with the senior leadership team to establish an open and supportive culture from the top down, to getting the finance team on board with a package of employee benefits that will help staff feel supported and financially secure.

It’s with all this in mind that Unum has worked with HR magazine to develop this ebook. We have spoken to experts from across this field to gather their best and most inspiring pieces of advice and examples of good practice, to set out how HR directors can make a case for a renewed focus on wellbeing across the whole business.

Looking to the future, there’s no doubt that companies which put employee wellbeing at their heart will be the ones that are more likely to prosper and thrive. Now, more than ever, is the time to start taking this seriously.

Joanne Abate, assistant vice president of global health management, Unum, the employee benefit specialists

Sponsor’s welcome

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Health & Wellbeing

In a knowledge-based economy, the creativity,

skills and productivity of people are increasingly the most important asset a business has. So, it’s both surprising and depressing that employee healt h and

wellbeing still isn’t being taken seriously by many organisations, seen all too often as ‘fluffy’ or an optional extra.

Last year, HR magazine surveyed more than 400 of our readers, from CEOs of small businesses to HR directors of multinational corporations and public sector bodies. What we discovered was a picture of a business landscape where health and wellbeing is tackled as a series of piecemeal initiatives and policies rather than as part of a comprehensive wellbeing strategy.

While almost half (47%) of readers run initiatives, only 17% had a strategy directly linked to business success. Worryingly, 11% had nothing in place and no plans to introduce a strategy. And a quarter (26%) said that their senior leaders viewed health and wellbeing of the workforce as a nice to have rather than a business imperative. When you hear that only 4% of respondents to our survey said they had worked out how to measure ROI when it comes to health and wellbeing, perhaps it’s not too surprising that many executives don’t fully understand the value investment in this area can bring.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t already evidence out there. CBI research puts the cost of absenteeism to the economy at £14 billion a year. Such a staggering figure makes it pretty clear that the continued view of wellbeing as an optional extra just doesn’t cut it any more.

The UK’s productivity remains in the doldrums, languishing at the bottom of the G7 group of countries. Yet, studies continually find that British people work some of the longest hours of employees in any European country. Poor employee wellbeing could well hold the key to this concerning disconnect.

If HR directors can get employee wellbeing on the boardroom agenda, everyone benefits. Individuals will feel brighter and more energetic. And, with the link between engagement and health and wellbeing pretty clear, employees will be more likely to give that discretionary effort that can make all the difference. The knock-on productivity gains will add value not only to individual organisations, but the economy at large. This is not a moral crusade – the effect is economic.

This ebook,which is kindly sponsored by leading employee benefits specialist Unum, offers a route map on how HR directors can build a robust business case for wellbeing. The best expert advice and case studies from forward-thinking organisations including Oracle, PepsiCo and GSK will be sure to give you ideas, whether you’re a wellbeing guru already or at the start of your journey. I hope some of the ideas contained in this ebook will help HR to make a difference in this business-critical, but often overlooked, area.

You can also sign up to watch our HR Lunchtime Debate on building a business case for wellbeing (turn to p14 of this ebook for coverage). Visit http://bit.ly/HRwellbeingLTD to view.

Katie Jacobs, editor, HR magazine

Editor’s welcome

“Are there any organisations in which the health and wellbeing of the

workforce and productivity and service quality are not inextricably linked?” Those are the words of Dame Carol Black, adviser to the Department of Health and Public Health England, and all-round wellness guru. Wellbeing matters in business, but does business realise it?

Talking about the cost of absenteeism to businesses is one way to get it on the

agenda. There is a lack of consensus when it comes

to quantifying the cost of employee absence to UK

businesses, but a recent figure from the CBI of

a whopping £14 billion errs on the conservative side.

Other estimates come in at more than double that.

Although the statisticians may differ in their conclusions, what is not open to question is that the

cost is enormous and that wellbeing matters can have a major

impact on organisational performance. A healthy, energised and high-performing workforce is vital to success in an increasingly competitive business world. But wellbeing still isn’t viewed as a boardroom issue.

Sickness absence comes with a myriad of direct and indirect costs to businesses, everything from sick pay to insurance to lost productivity, knowledge and time. It can also lead to attrition as employees

tired of shouldering the burden of a heightened workload look to jump ship.

Oxford Economics research commissioned by Unum puts the ‘brain drain’ cost of replacing a single member of staff earning

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How can HR practitioners build a robust business case for employee wellbeing? Read on to find out...

A healthy, energised and high-performing workforce is vital to success in a competitive world. So why isn’t wellbeing viewed as a boardroom issue?

Wellbeing in action: Cafcass

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Health & Wellbeing

Cafcass is the public body that represents children in family court cases. Its remit is to ensure children’s voices are heard and decisions made in their best interests.

This area of the law can be emotionally intense and stressful for the social workers and other employees involved in what may be acrimonious or distressing cases. Moreover, Cafcass employs a relatively high proportion of older people in its workforce. Consequently, Cafcass places a high priority on employee wellbeing. But increasingly in recent years it has sought to ensure it also derives organisational benefits from its investment in this area.

“When a few years ago we looked at what we were spending on wellbeing, it was classic Pareto Principle – we realised that 80% of spending was distributed across around 20% of the staff,” says Cafcass senior HR manager Daryl Maitland. “And it just happened to be the 20% of staff who were off sick the most. We wanted to do something more proactive in terms of preventing sickness absence rather than spending money when people are off sick. And we wanted to do that in a more equitable way.”

Ahead of the introduction in April 2013 of an employer-funded health

cash plan, HR wrote a “comprehensive business case on the basis of a return on investment through expected savings” addressing increases to productivity, reductions in sickness and so forth.

The cash plan gives Cafcass staff access to services ranging from acupuncture and inoculations through to optical and dental care, and provides £250 a year for things like physio, osteopathy and sports massage. These sorts of benefits have proved very worthwhile. In the first year of the plan, musculoskeletal absence was reduced by 38%. Overall, sickness fell by 15% and spending on occupational health declined 40%, due to savings from adopting a more structured, cost-effective approach. “The cost of the plan paid for itself in the first six months,” says Maitland.

Sickness has subsequently crept back up, but this rise was expected given the heightened pressures that social workers face and would likely have been far greater within Cafcass had the health cash plan not been introduced. The key to securing

continued investment in wellbeing initiatives such as this, Maitland argues, lies in “visibility to the executive end of the organisation” of ROI and other measures of effectiveness. Robust data demonstrating positive impact should be made available to business leaders as quickly as possible, he adds.

Cognitive behavioural therapy is also covered by the plan, and employees are able to self-refer themselves to alleviate stress – which is proving far more effective than under the old system when staff had to wait, often for months, for a referral from their GP.

The plan sits within a broader Employee Assistance Programme and wellbeing strategy which is increasingly focused on encouraging employees to take care of themselves. There are regular talks from experts touching on areas such as sleep, exercise, nutrition and mind management with a view to boosting physical health and energy levels.

As social workers are trained to make recommendations based on evidence, there is always a strong scientific basis for the seminars, coupled with recommendations on diet and exercise that are practical enough to fit into employees’ busy lives.

£25,000 or above at £30,614 – with this figure factoring in the time and investment it takes to bring a new employee up to speed, as well as the logistical and recruitment costs. Yet despite abundant evidence concerning the negative impact of poor staff wellbeing on performance, retention and absenteeism, HR directors often

find it a challenge to ‘sell’ the importance of health

and wellbeing. “For employers,

wellbeing is part of their visions and values, a way

of showing they care about

employees,” says Unum assistant vice president, global health and insurance programmes, Joanne Abate. “If you can engage people and understand what their risks are, through that action you can hopefully reduce the risks for your employee population.”

That of course is good news for employees as individuals. At the same time, it’s potentially a big fillip to the bottom line for those employers prepared to take wellbeing seriously. According to research by ICM, again commissioned by Unum, 30% of employees would consider leaving their job if they didn’t feel cared for by their employer. Furthermore, over a quarter of

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Health & Wellbeing

workers (26%) say they would be less likely to stay with an employer for the long term if workplace wellbeing was poor, while 21% would be less motivated and productive.

Early intervention is crucialWhen it comes to the crunch, it pays to react quickly. “There’s growing evidence that early intervention makes a difference,” says Stephen Bevan, director of the Centre for Workforce Effectiveness at The Work Foundation. “There are some

companies where if somebody comes back to them with a fit note, that’s either got a mental health problem or a musculoskeletal problem – which are the big two causes of sickness

absence – they don’t hang around. They know that things can potentially get more

complicated and worse if they are left for a long time, so they automatically refer them to occupational health.”

He adds: “In terms of organisations wanting to reduce complicated cases or the amount of long-term absence, the key thing

is to spot the signs of where a problem

Wellbeing in action: PepsiCo

PepsiCo employs around 5,000 people across the UK and Ireland. It has a wide range of employee types, from office workers to production workers and engineers in its factories, to food technologists in R&D, to lorry drivers in distribution roles.

In recent years, the company has introduced a more coordinated approach to health and wellness in the UK with a view to deriving business benefits from a fitter, more engaged workforce.

“We do health screening every year, which we find a very positive thing to do,” says Matt Freeland, senior HR director West Europe service delivery team and labour relations.

He adds: “It gives us the ability to look at different types of data. I should say it’s all voluntary – people choose whether they participate and the data is very carefully

managed. It’s not in any way attributable to individuals.”

Freeland says there is no indication that employees have concerns about how their data is used, adding that personal reports generated by the screening are welcomed positively. Analysis of anonymised data allows PepsiCo to pick up on any differences by geographical location, gender, age and so on – informing where attention will be focused.

Moreover, the process of collecting data is used to promote wellbeing. “It’s a good marketing tool,” says Freeland. “When the kiosk arrives on site, we put up posters and send out emails. We remind people of what’s available to them. We run sessions in support of it around an initiative that we have chosen to focus on. So we make the whole process of gathering data part of the messaging and communication of our desire to assist people to improve their health.”

Freeland acknowledges that measuring health is “very difficult”. However, he advocates using a “hierarchy of measures” approach. The way he went about this at PepsiCo was to adapt the four-level Kirkpatrick Model developed over half a century ago to measure the effectiveness of training. While Level 1 and 2 of Kirkpatrick look at how people react

and what they have learnt, Level 3 is about behaviour change, while Level 4 is all about the results – which in terms of wellbeing, Freeland concedes, is akin to the Holy Grail. “We recognise that ultimately you’ve got to try to measure impact on business. But it’s helpful to start at the lower levels by measuring things like participation.”

Among the things PepsiCo has looked at are levels of participation in gym membership and data relating to the consumption of food in its restaurants. It has also run campaigns promoting the use of wireless activity tracking monitors among workers to encourage people to be more active. Additionally, there has been some work in partnership with mental health charity MIND, mostly centred on awareness.

“Data is important, although not the only thing,” says Freeland. “Be prepared to experiment. There is some fantastic stuff available through technology these days. And involve employees in your strategies and solutions – we have health action teams on all our sites. These are project teams of employees who have volunteered to help with publicity and execution of projects because they have an interest in the subject. That’s been very powerful.”

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Health & Wellbeing

Wearable tech

Fuelled by people’s love of a good gadget, the wearable technology market is growing at great speed. According to IDC, vendors are on course to ship a total of 45.7 million units in 2015, well over double the 19.6 million units delivered in 2014. While tech

analysts Juniper Research project a massive surge in global

retail revenue from smart wearable devices, with sales expected to exceed $50 billion in 2019.

Activity trackers and other smart devices with health and fitness applications have entered the mainstream to the point that a number of organisations have integrated them into their wellbeing programmes. Indeed, in its report ‘Wearable Devices in Enterprise Programs’, ABI Research forecasts that by 2018 at least 13 million wearable devices will be incorporated into wellness programmes.

But while wearables have their uses, they are far from the be all and end all. “There is almost no evidence they make much difference other than to those people already taking exercise and eating healthily,” says The Work Foundation’s Stephen Bevan.

Unum’s Joanne Abate concurs, adding that while wearable technology may be used within some wellbeing programmes, in her opinion “it won’t be a mandated

part of any programme”.

might grow and therefore refer people early. Get line managers to be good canaries in the mine, spotting the early warning signs. You don’t expect them to be clinicians, but early intervention, proper rehabilitation and graduated and phased return to work make the biggest difference.”

People are working harder and longer than ever before but at the same time there is evidence that this culture can be damaging. A study led by University College London and published in The Lancet in August found that working 55 hours or more per week is linked to a 33% greater risk of stroke, compared with working a standard 35-40 hour week. The study, believed to be the largest in this field to date, also pointed to a 13% increase in the risk of developing coronary heart disease.

When considering wellbeing in this light, clearly there is an ethical obligation on businesses to behave responsibly and not to heap unrealistic or draconian expectations and pressures on their workforce – and to do what they can to encourage healthy living. In fact, some have come to see staff wellbeing as part of CSR, using the term ‘sustainability’ when marshalling the argument for investment.

Health and sustainabilityPharmaceutical company GSK aspires to a “healthy, resilient, high-performing workforce” and has focused its employee health strategy on four areas: healthy sustainable lives; energised and resilient workers; sustaining high-performing leaders; and healthy, high-performing workplaces. Metrics, which were aligned to the WHO Healthy Workplace Model, include uptake of its energy and resilience programme.

GSK puts significant emphasis on healthy leadership, with the expectation that all leaders worldwide should “release energy”. Examples of these aspirations include creating a healthy, engaged and inclusive working environment that is sustainable, engaging constructively with others and demonstrating a positive mindset. The release of energy that GSK looks for through its leaders behaving positively, and engaging constructively, should not be underestimated, according to vice president and medical director Ron Joines.

Bevan says The Work Foundation conducted research among NHS employees, which posed

the question: What could your employer do to improve your wellbeing at work? “They said: ‘Tell us what’s going on, treat us like adults, communicate with us more regularly and give us an opportunity to influence decisions that affect our future’. They didn’t say: ‘Can we have lettuce in the canteen or subsidised gym membership?’,” Bevan explains. “So the whole way that people think about their health and wellbeing at work is much broader than pedometers or healthy eating initiatives. These have a part to play, but wellbeing is to do with

By 2018, 13 million wearable devices could be incorporated into wellness programmes

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Health & Wellbeing

The challenges of an ageing workforce

Health of People of Working Age, a comprehensive European Commission report published in 2011, addressed the issue of an ageing workforce across the EU. It is an issue that is of relevance to both governments and employers. Longer life expectancies coupled with falling birth rates and rising health and social protection costs present a big challenge across the majority of EU member states. Falling numbers of people in work are coupled with rising numbers of those in retirement.

“Promoting the health of people of working age and enabling people to work longer in good health requires interventions that address the determinants of health,” said the report. “It also requires programmes that facilitate workers with a disease

or chronic health problem to be able to continue their job.”

The Work Foundation’s Stephen Bevan highlights the growing proportion of an ageing workforce who have at least one chronic health condition that will affect their ability to

work as being a problem with which employers will have to grapple over the next 10 to 20 years.

“If someone comes to work and they’ve got cancer or Crohn’s disease or rheumatoid arthritis – they are still able to work. Employers are for the most part clueless about how to manage that,” he says. All the more so in cases of comorbidity – where an employee has more than one such health condition.

The creeping realisation among a large chunk of today’s workforce that

they simply cannot afford to take early retirement will add to the number of older people in work – with many unlikely to be in the best of health. Companies are waking up to this ticking time bomb.

Given that tech companies are often associated with a young workforce, it may come as a surprise to learn that the average age of an employee at Oracle in the UK is 46. This has been one of the spurs to the investment that Oracle has made in wellbeing interventions.

“A lot of organisations are very focused on what is happening now, but it’s about taking stock and saying, ‘We can manage the current situation, but what is going to happen in five years, 10 years or even 20 years?’,” says Oracle compensation and benefits director UK Michelle Bradshaw. “That’s when wellbeing becomes very important – it’s about the hidden costs of running an organisation.”

the culture of an organisation, internal communications and being connected to the purpose of the business.”

The employee wellbeing issues facing the NHS are both widely known and enormous. According to estimates from Public Health England, the cost to the NHS of staff absence due to poor health runs to £2.4 billion a year (and this does not take into consideration the cost of cover or indeed the cost of treatment).

In a bid to tackle this immense problem, in September the NHS announced the launch of a programme to improve the health of 1.3 million staff, including serving healthier food, promoting physical activity, reducing stress, and providing health checks covering mental and musculoskeletal problems – the two biggest causes of sickness absence.

Speaking at the launch, NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens was blunt and to the point.

“The NHS needs to put its own house in order,” he said, adding that “creating healthy and supportive workplaces is no longer a nice to have, it’s a must-do.”

A compelling argumentSentiments such as these will come as music to

the ears of HR and benefits professionals who have long championed

investment in wellbeing. But while awareness of a problem is one thing, marshalling a serious business case for investment in

solutions is quite another. There is, after all, only a limited amount of

money available, and competing

The NHS needs to put its own house in order. Creating healthy and supportive workplaces is no longer a nice to have, it’s a must-do

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Health & Wellbeing

10 tips on making wellbeing work demands from within each organisation for a slice of the pie. Without a compelling argument, wellbeing initiatives will lose out.

Bevan takes the stance that “you are always going to come unstuck if you try and pretend that you can make money out of having a health and wellbeing policy”. However, he points out that there are many examples of how early interventions have helped – and saved money for the employer – by preventing people from developing more complicated health problems.

Less tangible to measure, but also important, is the impact of employee wellbeing on customers. “In some sectors, having continuity of service – people having energy and vitality and being physically and mentally healthy – does help to deliver a better customer outcome,” adds Bevan.

Indeed, in its 2014 report The Evidence – Wellbeing and Employee Engagement, Engage for Success analysed the multifaceted relationship between employee health and employee commitment and engagement. The report said there is sufficient research evidence to suggest a two-way, possibly “self-reinforcing relationship” in which healthy employees are more committed… and committed employees are healthier.

To return to our core theme of building a business case for wellbeing, it’s instructive to explore how technology giant Oracle set about securing budget and gauging the effectiveness of its activities in the wellbeing arena. Oracle’s HR function approached the company’s UK leadership team with a wellbeing proposition backed up by data showing the overall cost to the business of sickness absence – although this may well have been an underestimate given that, like most organisations, Oracle concedes it is not perfect when it comes to recording employee absence.

“When you start pulling that data together to look at what that actually costs the business and the impact on the bottom line – it’s then quite easy to build a strong case,” says Oracle compensation and benefits director Michelle Bradshaw. “The leadership team didn’t put any barriers up, but at the same time you could see their eyes glazing over.”

She adds: “The important thing is to provide the data in the first place because how it is going to pan out as you are working with

1 If a programme or intervention can be measured, do measure it. Evidence of effectiveness, behaviour change and ROI are fundamental to building a strong business case for wellbeing.

2 Use data and insights from your employees to shape future activity.3 Encourage people to work from home once a week if the role

allows this.4 If you have an Employee Assistance Programme, communicate

its existence and encourage employees to access it should the need arise.

5 Consider introducing workshops on mental resilience if you haven’t already done so.

6 Clarify flexible working practices and highlight your organisation’s caring culture.

7 Review the benefits package you offer on a regular basis and find out which benefits your employees value most.

8 Communicate the details of your benefits package to employees. Failure to do so may prove costly in terms of sickness absence or increased staff turnover.

9 Make sure information and guidance on health matters is easily accessible for employees and promote it to them.

10 Think long term – early intervention can nip health problems in the bud with the potential to help individuals stay healthy, saving organisations huge sums of money further down the line.

people, their behaviour and the psychology behind it, can in spite of the research be a leap of faith.”

The wellbeing programme was launched in 2013 and included elements such as providing staff with free fruit on Wednesdays. However, the primary focus during the first two years was on mental health awareness and building resilience. As with all knowledge-based businesses, job roles can be demanding and stress is a potential issue for Oracle employees.

Oracle set up a network of wellbeing champions across the business and ran a series of voluntary workshops on resilience – the focus was not on the causes of stress, but on ways of becoming more resilient. These proved popular: 540 employees attended.

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Health & Wellbeing

Attitudes in the c-suite

Research conducted by HR magazine in 2014 found that wellbeing is seldom seen as a strategic imperative at boardroom level. Rather, more often than not, wellbeing manifested itself as a series of piecemeal initiatives and policies instead of as part of business strategy. So clear were the findings that they were reported under the dispiriting headline ‘Why isn’t wellbeing a boardroom issue?’.

“I would say that most CEOs don’t see it as a business issue,” agrees The Work Foundation’s Stephen Bevan. “They are interested in how they are going to get good value from benefits – which include health and wellbeing – but they are not so interested in whether those benefits deliver healthier workplaces. The big connection they are not making, particularly in our knowledge economy, is that the health of their workforce is part of their asset base that they can use as a competitive advantage.”

Clearly there are organisations which do regard wellbeing as a valuable component of business strategy. “A strategy to promote a healthy, high-performing workforce is central to sustainable business success,” explains GSK vice president and medical director Ron Joines. “It contributes to a triple

bottom line: cost management, growth, and reputation.”

Health costs are typically the second largest people expense, after salary, in most organisations. They are often under-appreciated because they comprise direct and indirect costs and are spread across many budgets. Indirect costs are typically more than double the direct costs and so should be a matter of concern for the c-suite. Encouragingly though 2014 research from Finance Director magazine and Unum suggests things may be changing, as 86% of financial directors consider they have some responsibility for employee wellbeing.

A value-based health strategy, emphasising prevention, can often prevent 20-30% of costs by helping healthy people stay healthy, Joines points out – while targeted treatment and disease management can help to lower costs, reduce sickness absence and improve quality of life for people with expensive health conditions.

“Investments in health can also grow the top line by increasing individual and organisational energy and capacity,” says Joines. “Healthy people have more energy to devote to what matters most at work and home. By optimising physical, mental and emotional health, we create

individuals and teams that can be more flexible, resilient, innovative and engaged with customers. There are many programmes which have demonstrated this impact. Furthermore, companies are in the unique position to create built environments, policies and leadership practices which encourage and sustain healthy movement, nutrition and emotional health.

“Finally, every company has a ‘licence to operate’ within society. That licence comes with the expectation that they will protect and promote both employee and community health. A company that consistently does this through investments in health builds trust with individuals, governments, regulators and the public. Sustained focus is critical as trust is earned every day and can be lost by a single event.”

There are big advantages for those organisations that deliver such a sustained focus. As highlighted in Fit for purpose, the CBI’s 2013 absence and workplace health study, analysis of average absence levels reveals a gap of more than three days between the best-performing quartile of employers and the worst. For those employers at the bottom, it’s not bad luck that has landed them there.

In addition, Oracle brings all its wellbeing providers together for a quarterly Wellbeing Partner Forum, at which data is shared. Participants include its healthcare plan and insurance companies, occupational health and Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) providers. At the first forum to be held after the resilience workshops took place, Oracle’s EAP provider reported a spike in usage – the workshops were clearly the trigger for this.

Although workshop attendance and heightened EAP access indicated to Oracle it was heading along the right lines, the metrics that really mattered related to cost savings.

The cost of brain drain(*employees earning £25K or more)(*employees earning £25K or more)

(*employees earning £25K or more)

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Health & Wellbeing

getting 10 people around a table, having people walk along and talk,” explains Bradshaw. “I have to say, I always do my best thinking when I’m mobile. So that could actually be good for business results as well as for people.”

Track and recordThe way Oracle is engaging its staff through wellbeing interventions squares with how Unum’s Abate feels about justifying spend in this area. She recommends organisations track and record participation in programmes from clinical health screening to onsite coaching and fitness initiatives. “It’s not only asking people ‘How did you feel before you came?’, but also ‘How did you feel after you came?’,” Abate says. Engagement numbers can certainly provide insight into the impact of programmes, but as Abate has made clear, the key lies in identifying any opinion or behaviour change.

Internal communication is, needless to say, vital, not only in building awareness among employees of what the organisation is doing, but also in explaining that wellbeing initiatives exist to help people navigate their lives.

“I think mental health awareness is critical – helping folks understand how to reduce their stress,” says Abate. “Help them have a work-life balance and navigate the issues they face. Look at the pressures faced by the so-called sandwich generation, who care for both elder parents and young children. More needs to be done to let employees know there are resources available to help them navigate those issues. I don’t think that we do enough to say, ‘Have you called your

£3,618 Hiring temp workers

£767Management time spent interviewing

£196HR time spent processing

the replacement

£398Advertising for the new role

£454Agency fees

Research from Unum shows just how large the financial impact of staff turnover is….

When absence figures were scrutinised, it was discovered that over the course of two years

the wellbeing programme saved the business around £1 million. That

equated to a return on investment of four to one – which went down very well indeed with the board.

“The fact is, we had a baseline, we did something and then we measured again – and we can attribute these results to the work we have actually done,” says Bradshaw. “We don’t do anything without data. For me, that is the only way you can approach a potentially intangible and woolly subject like wellbeing. I’m delighted that we could provide true measurement.”

Oracle has also incorporated financial advice into its overall wellbeing programme, taking the view that if employees are worrying about debt or other aspects of their finances, it can contribute to mental health issues. Financial awareness workshops have proven to be incredibly popular, the company reports. Around 1,200 people have attended so far, roughly one fifth of the UK workforce.

More recently, there has been a new focus on musculoskeletal problems with the aim of boosting physical fitness too. Around 20% of Oracle’s employees work from home – some conceivably hunched over a laptop on the sofa, with the potential for back pain arising from bad posture and damage to overall health.

As well as providing advice on keeping healthy, Oracle is considering making some changes to workplace habits. “We are looking at things like walking meetings – rather than

£30,614The cost of replacing a single

employee*

£25,182Cost of bringing a new employee

up to their optimum

productivity level

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Health & Wellbeing

Is poor wellbeing losing you staff?

Research from Unum shows how critical wellbeing interventions can be to engagement and retention…

Employees who feel

cared for at work are

27% more likely to stay with their current employer

for more than five years, compared to employees

who only feel adequately or poorly looked after

30% of employees would consider leaving their job if they

didn’t feel cared for by their employer.

26% of employees said poor workplace wellbeing would make them less likely to stay with an employer long-term

21% said poor workplace wellbeing would make them feel less motivated and productive

66% of employees feel well looked after by their employer

34% feel adequately or poorly looked after

22% think levels of wellbeing have got worse over the last three years

65% of respondents said a good benefits package was

important to them

Employee Assistance Programme? Have you talked to the onsite coaches?’”

The importance of work-life balance was underlined by the findings of the American Psychological Association’s Work-Life Survey (September 2015). This concluded that employees who reported a better work-life fit were more likely to say they are motivated to do their best at work, are more satisfied with their job, have better relationships with their boss and co-workers, were less likely to say they intend to leave their job in the next year and were more likely to recommend their employer as a good place to work.

Moreover, the results suggested that this fit is primarily driven by employees’ control of boundaries around their work and non-work lives, as well as the extent to which they identify with their work role. Work identity and fit contribute to work engagement, with stronger work identity and feeling like work fits in well with the rest of your life related to higher levels of work engagement. All of which provides a compelling case in favour of investment in wellbeing and EAPs.

Some of this feeds into job design. After all, an employee who finds their daily job deeply unsatisfying will not experience a sense of wellbeing. Morale and wellbeing can be two sides of the same coin.

Having an unreasonable and unsympathetic boss is frequently cited as a reason for employee demotivation or misery. Clearly, organisations must work at embedding a culture where workplace bullying is totally unacceptable and where leaders have a fair degree of understanding and empathy for their teams.

GSK articulates this rather well in its expectations for healthy leadership, where “building trusting relationships within and beyond your team” is held up as a key tenet of executive behaviour.

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Health & Wellbeing

Line managersIt’s not always junior employees who bear the brunt of stress, however. “One of the things I’m really interested in, that often gets ignored, is the health of line managers,” says Bevan. “There is a lot of talk of line managers making people’s lives at work intolerable. But what about line managers themselves? Often they get ignored and the assumption is that once they have got into a managerial role they are somehow bulletproof and very resilient. Yet quite often they are the squeezed middle.”

For multinational companies operating at a pan-regional level and eager to introduce greater consistency and economies of scale across markets, wellbeing can present certain challenges. Fujitsu, for example, concedes that wellbeing is more advanced in its businesses in certain EMEA territories – the Nordic countries, for instance – than others. Not all of its European businesses offer an EAP, but the intention is to share best practice and introduce minimum standards across markets.

Some performance indicators have recently been designed and signed off at a senior level. According to Fujitsu HR director, specialists, Philippa Holroyd, these are not very challenging for those markets that are more mature in wellbeing terms, as the intention is to bring those territories that lag behind up to a comparable level as the company strives to develop a more common platform. One indicator is to ensure employees are able to easily access advice and guidance on wellbeing wherever they are located within the region.

“We did a lot of things in the past because it was felt that they were the right things to do,” says Holroyd. “Because of that, we didn’t set out any clear measures for success for when the interventions started. In future, we need to define very clearly what the measures for success are.”

One initiative where Fujitsu is looking to gain more data and insight is the health and wellbeing roadshows it offers in the UK – which provide health check assessments on blood pressure, weight and so forth. Previously, Fujitsu measured participation numbers and what attendees who went through the process thought about it. What this didn’t take into account was the number of employees who were disappointed because they couldn’t participate.

The plan for the next set of roadshows is to conduct a post-event survey of a random sample of employees to ascertain whether communications about the initiative got to them, if they understand that the facility was onsite and available and, if so, what they thought of it. Conversely, if they wanted to take part but couldn’t, what prevented them from doing so? By better understanding the barriers, the aim is to design future events that deliver greater impact and better value.

This is a goal shared by the many organisations that are taking wellbeing seriously. Issues relating to a healthy workforce have unquestionably grown in prominence in recent years. But if wellbeing is to gain real traction and advocacy at boardroom level, as in numerous other aspects of business today, data is fundamental. A compelling business case for ongoing investment cannot be constructed without concrete evidence of the positive impact for an organisation achieved by its wellbeing interventions.

Sluggish thinking and wobbly analytics are unfit for purpose. In the quest to improve the health of Britain’s workplaces, it seems improving the health of HR’s data is a crucial place to start. Get that right and CEOs will have no choice but to sit up and take notice. HR

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Health & Wellbeing

40 HR September 2015 hrmagazine.co.uk

he difference between what we can produce if we feel lousy and

if we feel good I reckon is as much as 50%.” CEO of

Cafcass Anthony Douglas’ pronouncement, during HR magazine’s most recent HR Lunchtime Debate, supported by employee benefits specialist Unum, on how crucial health and wellbeing strategies are to the success of any organisation.

Disquieting, then, that the debate – which also featured director of the centre for workforce effectiveness at The Work Foundation Stephen Bevan, senior HR director at PepsiCo Matt Freeland and assistant vice president of global health management at Unum Joanne Abate – also covered a still persisting tendency to overlook this area.

“For a long time too many organisations have been paying lip service to this,” said Bevan, adding that some employers still aren’t recognising the fundamental difference health and wellbeing can make to workers’ productivity and the bottom line: “I think it is still the case that too many businesses see health and wellbeing as a staff benefit, so it is run by the compensation and benefits team. Then it’s about attracting people and showing you’re a caring employer, putting

fruit bowls around the place and so on.”Bevan pointed out, however, that many

organisations are now realising the business benefits of a healthy, happy workforce: “There has been a big shift in terms of awareness, and a recognition that the wellbeing of employees is a strong, essential business issue,” he said.

Regarding the benefits Cafcass has reaped through a strong strategy here, Douglas said: “We made a simple equation, we put the money we spend on ill health into health and wellbeing, that was our starting point. We’ve had a return on that investment, it’s been massive.”

The health of their staff is something companies can simply no longer afford to ignore said Freeland: “In many western economies… there isn’t the funding to provide the same range of [public healthcare] services consistently. That’s almost forcing that issue into the employment arena.”

The employer’s roleThis wide-ranging debate explored how hard it is to strike the balance between looking after employees while not intruding. “I think we know enough now about how to help people prevent exposing themselves to risks of physical and physiological health

Health and wellbeing is slowly evolving from an employee benefit often seen as fluffy, to a strategic business imperative. JENNY ROPER discovers the key issues and obstacles facing HR

Not just a sticking plaster‘‘T

The panel agreed there is a tendency for businesses to overlook the strategic impact of wellbeing

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Health & Wellbeing

Now’s the time to start taking wellbeing seriously

SPONSOR’S COMMENT

hrmagazine.co.uk September 2015 HR 41

problems, but one of the challenges of course is that people bring health issues to work that aren’t work-related,” said Bevan. “And so a lot of employers are confused or anxious about perhaps encroaching too much in people’s lives.”

“I do think that organisations have to work out for themselves to what degree is it consistent with their values to step into the lives of other people,” said Freeland. “Certainly my preference is for an approach based on education and choice as opposed to telling people what to do, and becoming too paternalistic.”

Mental healthA particularly tricky area for employers to get this balance right in is mental health, all members of the panel agreed. “I think certainly the areas of mental resilience and mental health are growing areas and are possibly the most significant areas of concern, and possibly opportunities for large businesses,” said Freeland.

He said that employers must be mindful of the full spectrum of psychological states in any given workplace, and where it is and isn’t appropriate for them to intervene.

“What is important is that you’re clear about what line managers and other people in the business are capable of doing... sometimes lots of different areas get bunched together. That may include people who are feeling positive who feel a bit of pressure, right through to those who have been clinically diagnosed with mental health issues,” Freeland explained.

He added that organisations must be clear about “what isn’t appropriate for a line manager or even an occupational health worker to manage, and when you need to work with a partner company, or maybe even a medical partner externally.”

Data and technologyEmployee concerns regarding employer intrusion through wearable technologies were also discussed. Freeland said that: “People have different thresholds in terms of what they feel is an appropriate area for the organisation to get involved in or perhaps an inappropriate area, and that’s something you have to work out as you work through these initiatives.”

But he reported successful implementation of wearable technology at PepsiCo: “It has limitations and those limitations are that sometimes the change in behaviour is

Joanne Abate, assistant vice president of global health management, Unum

In today’s increasingly competitive market, the battle for the best talent is fierce. With the CBI recently highlighting the UK’s growing skills gap as the number one

workforce threat to the long-term health of the economy, businesses are under more pressure than ever to attract and retain the most talented workers.

While salary remains, naturally, a top consideration for employees, it doesn’t buy loyalty. Instead, other – often less tangible – things like office culture, leadership style and whether people feel cared for by their organisation are becoming increasingly important.

As a result, employee wellbeing is rising higher up the business agenda than it ever has before. And rightly so. Our research shows that 30% of workers would actually consider leaving their job if they did not feel cared for by their employers, while employees who do feel cared for are 27% more likely to stay with their current organisation.

When you consider the cost associated with replacing a member of staff earning £25K or more, is on average more than £30,000 when you take into consideration getting that new employee up to speed , it’s clear that wellbeing is an issue which businesses simply cannot afford to ignore.

But there’s still plenty to be done. All too often employee health and wellbeing is seen as solely the concern of the HR department, but this shouldn’t be the case. Ensuring wellbeing stays firmly at the top of the business agenda requires the whole business to take it seriously. For the finance team, for instance, sales and profit margins are – understandably – top priority, meaning wellbeing can risk falling by the wayside. So it’s the job of the HR team to explain just how essential it is to successful recruitment, retention, productivity – and, ultimately, to the bottom line.

As for introducing a robust wellbeing strategy in practice, while there’s no “one

size fits all” approach, there are a number of key principles which businesses can apply. For instance, implementing a continuous learning and development culture will motivate employees to engage with individual targets and responsibilities as part of the organisation’s broader goals; getting the leadership on board with this culture from the offset is equally important, in order to inspire employees through leading by example. Many organisations are also tailoring their workplace set-up to employees’ specific requirements by adopting more flexible working practices, and harnessing technology to give staff the option to work where and when they want in order to fit in with their routines and boost productivity.

Another highly effective way of showing staff that you care is through a comprehensive and flexible employee benefits package. A flexible package should allow employees to tailor elements to their individual situations and changing needs – which is particularly important at a time when, in many sectors, there can be up to five generations working alongside each other, each with their own values, cultures and ideals.

There are also some financial benefits, such as Critical Illness Insurance, Income Protection and Life Cover, which can be valuable to employees at any age. For example, Income Protection provides a back-up plan for the 1 in 10 employees who are unable to work for six months or more due to illness or injury during their working lives.

Looking to the future, the battle for talent won’t be getting any less competitive. To thrive, businesses need to be prepared both to attract fresh talent and to retain their skilled and experienced workers. And the HR department can’t do this alone. The board as a whole has a responsibility for employee wellbeing. They must wake up to the fact that a company which cares is an employer of choice – and it will be these companies which ultimately succeed.

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Health & Wellbeing

42 HR September 2015 hrmagazine.co.uk

TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU MEASURE THE HEALTH OF YOUR WORKFORCE?

relatively temporary… But the big advantage that we’ve definitely felt with this technology is that it’s a great way to engage people,” he said.

The importance of using health and wellbeing data from such devices, and through surveys for instance, was also discussed. Unum’s Abate said it is crucial employers don’t measure the impact of any scheme without acting on this data.

She added that HR needed to be more proactive in combining different data sets. “I think we have done a really good job of reporting incrementally on each of the programmes, but we haven’t pulled them together to take a look at how that employee is engaged across the spectrum,” she said, adding: “We don’t pull it all together comprehensively to see how the programmes are doing for this individual, we do it much more across aggregate population.”

Douglas stated that regular surveys are the most useful. “I think HR can produce really sophisticated metrics; without data we can’t act,” he said. “That’s not traditional

“Our experiences are that the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, and I think it’s really important for HR functions to be reasonably bold in that area.”

Abate agreed: “It really does help the stress levels to know that you can navigate your personal life and still be very, very productive at work, and I think that’s one of the messages we [the HR profession] haven’t been very clear on,” she said.

First stepsThe panel discussed other important first steps in getting a strong health and wellbeing strategy off the ground. Douglas cited health plans that allow employees to purchase add-on family support, career coaching, and online access to GPs, as successful elements of Cafcass’s approach.

Abate highlighted the importance of getting communications right. “I think one of the things is that we have to include this in our vision and values,” she said, adding: “It has to be front and centre”.

She added that testimonials from

number crunching data, but perhaps snap surveys of staff wellbeing. I think toxic cultures can form very quickly, especially in more dispersed organisations.”

Flexible workingTechnology’s role in potentially enhancing wellbeing through flexible working was also touched on. But so too were the dangers of the ‘always-on’ culture such technologies can create.

Bevan said: “I think that there have been a couple of companies in Germany who have experimented with turning off their servers and so on at the weekends, to stop people from being tempted to check their work emails. Another thing about flexible working – especially homeworking – that we are beginning to see is that there are some concerns about basic things: people’s sitting posture, are they walking around a home or are they working intensely, and [do they] have bad diets?”

“I think that there are challenges but also some massive benefits,” countered Freeland.

DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE A COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH AND WELLBEING STRATEGY IN PLACE?

YES, it is central to our business

NO, but we run several wellbeing initiatives

NO, but we are keen to introduce one

NO, and we have no plans to introduce one

25%

35%

14%

26%

NOT AT ALL

We’re WORKING ON our metrics

We TRACK PHYSICAL but not mental health

We TRACK MENTAL but not physical health

We TRACK BOTH mental and physical health and are ON TOP OF OUR METRICS

49%

27%

12%

9%

3%

The top five most pressing wellbeing issues for organisations:

Stress and mental health: 43%Musculoskeletal conditions: 31%

Ageing workforce: 25%Presenteeism: 22%

Lack of work/life balance: 20%

Major barriers to implementing a wellbeing strategy

Not enough budget: 32%Not enough time: 30%

Difficulty working out ROI: 24%Senior leaders aren’t

engaged with the agenda: 23%Employees aren’t

engaged with the agenda: 15%

47%believe wellbeing

strategy is HR’s

responsibility

HOW FAR HAVE SENIOR LEADERS IN YOUR ORGANISATION BOUGHT INTO THE CONCEPT OF WELLBEING?

They are ACTIVELY DISENGAGED

It is NOT DISCUSSED at senior level

It is OCCASIONALLY MENTIONED but seen as a critical business issue

They believe in the importance of a healthy workforce and SUPPORT THE AGENDA

They are totally bought in and LEADING THE AGENDA

7%

14%

15%

32%

32%

THE RESULTS OF THE HR LUNCHTIME DEBATE VIEWERS RESEARCH

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Health & Wellbeing

We have to include this in our vision and values. It has to be front and centre

hrmagazine.co.uk September 2015 HR 43

employees who have used their company’s health resources are a good way of communicating what’s available. “We have to do a better job communicating what these resources are so our workers can access them and use them,” she said.

Senior buy-inThe panel were very clear that all of the above would only work, however, with strong senior level buy-in, but also on the fact that achieving this support can be tough.

Freeland advised against “trying to persuade an entire board in one go with one argument”. He suggested instead that HR professionals “break that problem down a bit and find a sponsor”.

Bevan advocated an approach he’d seen at one company of getting the board to undergo a health risk assessment themselves. “They went to every senior member and said ‘we’re going to measure your BMI, your cholesterol, your blood pressure, how many hours you sleep and so on,’” he recalled, adding: “Then it was very easy for them to say ‘if we can get 10% productivity out of you, or if you feel more vital and energetic, just think what this can do for the workforce.’”

Douglas added, however, that responsibility for health and wellbeing sits firmly within HR, agreeing with those 47% of viewers of the debate who said it comes under HR’s remit. “I agree with that, because I think HR is a specialism; if it isn’t why would we have it?” he asked. “Wellbeing sounds quite easy but it isn’t. I think it is quite a complex business to make a real difference and a real impact, so I think it’s an HR specialism.”

Regarding just what’s at stake in HR getting this right, Douglas said: “I think good HR can help you change your life.” HR

To watch the HR Lunchtime Debate go to http://bit.ly/HRwellbeingLTD

Unum’s Joanne Abate tackles some extra audience questions from the HR Lunchtime Debate

What wellness schemes have you seen work and why? Do things like the Global Corporate Challenge work?Fundamentally, any programme which gives staff the opportunity to become more active and build relationships with colleagues should be welcomed

– and the Global Corporate Challenge is a great example of a scheme which does just that. Having said that, many similar ‘team building’ exercises are built around a mechanic which pits teams or departments against each other, and this does need to be managed carefully as it’s not for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with fostering healthy competition, but what’s more important is that these schemes are introduced as part of a tailored wellbeing strategy designed to fit the make-up of the workforce. In the past I have introduced schemes that incentivise employees with monetary rewards. This is an effective way to boost participation.

With non-employed workers now constituting 20% of the UK workforce, to what extent are organisations considering the wellbeing of this vital cohort?Organisations are increasingly waking up to the changing make-up of the workforce, but many are still struggling to get to grips with what this means for wellbeing. When it comes to ensuring that non-employed workers feel cared for, communication is key. Organisations need to make sure their non-employed workers are aware of the benefits available; it’s not just a one-off job, so this needs to be communicated on regularly. Bearing in mind many non-employed workers do their jobs remotely, employers need to think about the best way to share this information. It might be via the company intranet, or in regular email newsletters.

How do we get finance on board with investing in wellbeing?To create a robust case for wellbeing across the business HR professionals need to be able to communicate the tangible benefits. Investing in wellbeing pays back through higher levels of retention and lower sickness absence rates, which has a direct impact on a company’s bottom line. Research Unum has conducted with ICM shows that employees who feel looked after at work are 27% more likely to stay with their employers for over five years. With the cost of replacing key members of staff coming in at more than £30,000 per employee, investing in wellbeing isn’t just the right thing to do – it makes business sense.

What innovation should we be looking for from suppliers to enhance wellbeing?Giving individuals the tools to monitor their personal wellbeing so they can make their own adjustments to how they work – be that altering the set-up of their work station or taking time to switch-off – is a hugely effective way of establishing a culture with wellbeing at its heart. There are plenty of different services and innovations which can help you do this, so think about what best suits your workforce. Do many of your staff work remotely? If so, you could consider an app which allows employees to access information on-the-go via smartphone or tablet. Bear in mind, too, the priorities of different demographics.

How many wellbeing initiatives are looking at alcohol consumption?Advising on alcohol consumption can be a tricky area to get right without being seen to interfere unduly with employees’ lifestyle choices. However what employers can do is ensure that staff are given the tools and information to make their own choices when it comes to drinking alcohol, as part of broader materials on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

We are looking to launch a wellness programme. Is it better to start small and then build or try to cover the entire organisation at one time?There is no one-size-fits-all approach to introducing a wellness programme, and what works for one organisation may not work for another. In my experience it is often best to start small by running a few pilots, so that you can test what works. Listening to employees during this process is crucial; it’s rare to get it right first time, so be prepared to refine your approach. Once you’ve done this, recruit internal ‘champions’ who can support the roll-out.

Your questions answered

• Unum’s wellbeing hub contains six sections to guide you in pulling together a comprehensive wellbeing strategy, from reviewing your current strategy to managing sickness absence and communicating to key stakeholders Explore the resources at www.unum.co.uk/workplace-wellbeing

• Watch the HR Lunchtime Debate on building a robust business case for wellbeing, with experts includingThe Work Foundation’s Steven Bevan, Unum’s Joanne Debate and PepsiCo’s Matt Freeland

• The Work Foundation’s Centre for Workforce Effectiveness is full of useful resources one everything from resilience to dealing with long-term conditions

• Read The Lancet research on why working long hours can be hugely damaging to staff

• Discover the link between employee engagement and wellbeing, with Engage For Success’s report The Evidence: Wellbeing and Employee Engagement

• The CBI’s Fit for Purpose report analyses UK absence levels

• Need evidence on the importance of work/life balance? Check out the American Psychological Association’s Work/Life Survey

• Find out what ‘brain drain’ could be costing your organisation, with Unum’s Cost of Brain Drain report

If this ebook has inspired you to find out more about employee health and wellbeing, or to amend your organisation’s wellbeing strategy, the following resources are a great place to start.

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Wellbeing toolkit

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