Transcript
Page 1: O'Connor (2016) Engaging workers with maintaining their own wellbeing

Engaging workers with

maintaining their own

wellbeing

Frank O’Connor

1

Page 2: O'Connor (2016) Engaging workers with maintaining their own wellbeing

Many larger workplaces now have

wellbeing programmes

o Small workplaces too

o What can we learn?

� Reports, experience and

observations from almost 100

New Zealand organisations

o Diverse aims / outcomes

� Aspiration and achievement

� Problems and expectations

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Page 3: O'Connor (2016) Engaging workers with maintaining their own wellbeing

Information from …

Construction firms

o noticing and responding to change in mental health in self, workmates, contractors and customers in separate programme for staff and safety-accountable managers

Disaster responders

o training special assistance team members in recognising and responding to mental illness and distress symptoms found near critical incidents

Elite sportspeople

o player self-assessments of mental health, pressure or stress; symptoms of common illnesses with tools and strategies for each; giving and getting help from team-mates

Emergency services

o awareness of common mental illness symptoms and responses, self-care and fitness for work

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… and from …

Farming sectoro farm owner/manager awareness

of own and family mental health symptoms, strategies; sources of further help

Health promotion agencieso staff and stakeholders; how to

maintain and recognise what’s done now by individuals and teams to keep current levels of wellbeing; enhancing wellbeing; assisting recovery of wellbeing

HR & H+S managerso what mental health or illness

is; identify loss at work; managing alongside injury or wellness

Law keeperso challenging conversation

training for managers with employees about alcohol and drug use

Manufacturerso respond to mental distress

and illness; consent- and help-finding to risk-management

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… and also from …

Occupational health professionalso seminars on reducing their own

and their workforces’ losses to distress, fatigue and burnout

Power sectoro training all staff in recognising

change in mental health and safety behaviour; awareness of common illnesses and safety responses; intervening in bullying; managing fatigue

Safety-critical transport operators

o training to notice, assess and respond to changes in own and staff mental fitness for work; mental health awareness in self and others, including passengers

Territorial local authoritieso workshops on common losses

of mental capacity for work and using strengths still present; accommodating similar in members of the public

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Page 6: O'Connor (2016) Engaging workers with maintaining their own wellbeing

Expectations

Obviously

o The case of each

organisation is different

o Any data available are / will

be incompatible

What gains or concerns

might we expect to find?

o To what extent can we say

it's money well spent? Did they spend it again?

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Diverse Aims … and Outcomes

o “Making workplaces, systems and staff the best they can be”

o “Reducing barriers and promoting the values of health and wellness”

o “Embed science-based wellbeing habits into your organisation that will increase the happiness of your team (at home and at work) and boost engagement, productivity and creativity”

Outcomes seem desirable:o Know myths and truths

about mental illness and mentally healthy workplaces

o Identify what ways of working are effective and safe every individual

o Find sources and kinds of stress and how to some can be used to good effect

o Pursue mentally healthy ways of working with others

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A Taste: “Working Well Together”

“Research shows that a major source of workplace stress is other people”

o “Reflect on the impact of behaviour on others in diverse, complex work settings”

Outcomes:o Know what affects

relationships at work

o Recognise positive and negative influences of stress when working with others

o Use positive communication tools in their own situations at work

o Have strategies for dealing with difficult situations

o Understand what makes a resilient person

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… and in Call and Contact Centres

Call and contact centre

work has grown rapidly

o But shift-work causes fatigue

which:

� Increases accidents

� Decreases productivity

� Affects mood and eating

� Lowers resistance to illness

� Reduces effective teamwork

Practical and effective tools

and strategies:

o Maintain or regain good

mental health

o Sleep and eat well

o Reduce stress and fatigue

o Reduce impact of shift

work on social and family

life

o Keep relationships with

people working differently

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For Manager’s Leading Staff

Balancing ‘risk management’

in the light of:

o ‘mental harm’ section of HSE Act

o employees’ rights to health and privacy

o cost-effectiveness & productivity

Managing to get work done

while managing the impact of:

o organisational stress

o individual distress

o myths and misunderstandings

o ineffective communication

Outcomes:

o Describe mental healthiness in this workplace

o Notice positive and negative stressors and stress responses

o Recognise the characteristics that keep a person resilient

o Work with tools to help people to “rise again” after a setback

o Communicate better

o Maintain what is working well for staff in this workplace

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Managers’ Guide to Mental Illness

“Mental illness is more common in the community and … it makes sense that it is a growing issue at work”o “Unfortunately there are a lot

of myths and fears around people who experience mental illness”

o “… increase managers' ability and confidence in dealing successfully with the issues that may (or may not) arise”

Outcomeso Understand how and

where mental illness occurs

o Know their role with respect to staff with a mental illness

o Aware of stigma and discrimination

o Manage at-risk employees

o Take action when needed

o Familiar with workplace law relating to mental health

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Perhaps that is too much …

Rising to the challenge of

real work:

o Balancing personal and

workplace needs

o Knowing what to do when the

pressure is on

o Maintaining safe ways of

working for all

Self-assess and discuss:

o How I am – at work and

beyond

o How I maintain well-being

o What “balance” looks like

Find ways to:

o Use stress positively

o Keep life in balance

o Address key challenges

o Cut unhealthy practices

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Aspiration and achievement

With goals of improving

the work and the

workers, what do they

actually achieve?

o Aspirations and results rarely compared

Anecdote prevails

Unwilling to ask?

Unwilling to pay?

o Most achieved: recoveryMeasures of increased resilience?

Weak link from engagement?

Are aspirations too diverse?

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Good Delivery in Summary

Wide range of topics

o Work and family balance

o Capacity for working smarter / better

o Shift work and sleep

o Food and mood

o Innovation and creativity

o Productivity and balance

o Aging in the workplace

o Coping with change

o Common illnesses: distress, depression & anxiety, abuses

o Capacity for safe work

Competing goals

o Maintain and recognise current levels of wellbeing

or

o Build and enhance wellbeing organisation-wide

or

o Assist recovery of employees who have lost wellbeing

Variances matter

o Examples vs population data

o Issues raised vs strategies

o Practical tips vs intentions

o “Mental health” vs “illness”

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Notice … Assess … Respond

What do we do when our people become:

o Agitated

o Bullies

o Down

o Distressed

o Incommunicative

o Worried

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Keys to Effectiveness

Limit your scope

o Work and family balance

o Capacity for working smarter / better

o Shift work and sleep

o Food and mood

o Innovation and creativity

o Productivity and balance

o Aging in the workplace

o Coping with change

o Common illnesses: distress, depression & anxiety, abuses

o Capacity for safe work

Clarify goals

o Maintain and recognise current levels of wellbeing

or

o Build and enhance wellbeing organisation-wide

or

o Assist recovery of employees who have lost wellbeing

What’s the matter?

o Examples vs population data

o Issues raised vs strategies

o Practical tips vs intentions

o “Mental health” vs “illness”

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What problems?Number of early terminations

o Are the results any good? Sometimes very durable

o How are the initiatives chosen?Sometimes very personal

o How are they evaluated? Do it again next year

o Where is leverage most easily

found? Presenteeism productivity impact

o What are the promises most

likely to be kept? Small, public ones

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What’s Producing Well?

Promoteo Increasing health and

wellbeing as a contribution to motivation, capacity and then productivity

Maintain o Using sound practices to grow

and hold peer support, mental safety and fitness for work

Recovero Help those responding to or

recovering from losses of fitness for work or life in general

Frank O’Connoro +64 21 386-911

o [email protected]

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Stigma Costs Productivity

Mental illness stigma

o Prevents disclosure

o Delays treatment

o Slows recovery

Pervasive effect

o Employment

o Healthcare

o Housing

o Social welfare

� Impacts contribution in the workforce and in keeping communities healthy

Ways to reduce stigma:

o Protest

o Educate

o ContactCorrigan and Watson (2002)

Understanding the impact of stigma on people with mental illness

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Public Stigma …. and Self-Stigma

o Stereotypic negative belief

�Dangerousness

� Incompetence

� Character weakness

o Prejudice in agreement with belief, causing reaction

� Anger

� Fear

o Discrimination follows prejudice

� Avoidance

�Withhold help and employment or housing opportunities

o Negative self-belief

� Incompetence

� Character weakness

o Agreeing, and reacting

� Feels low self-esteem

� Feels low self-efficacy

o Self-discrimination

� Fails to pursue work and housing opportunities

Corrigan and Watson (2002) Understanding the impact of stigma on

people with mental illness

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Does a belief weaken if we pay

more attention to it? o Protest: Telling the public to

stop believing negative views

about mental illness may

increase stigma

� Instructing individuals to ignore

negative thoughts and attitudes

can increase them

� Suppression instructions reduced

negative attitudes, but not

discriminatory behaviour

o Educating on mental illness

often reduces stigmatizing

� May reduce stigma toward

persons with severe mental

illness in general, not

toward specific individuals

o Contact with persons with

severe mental illness is

associated with less stigma

� Allows others to get to see

beyond labels and mythsPenn & Couture (2002) Strategies

for reducing stigma toward persons with

mental illness

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