Health Work and Wellbeing (HWWB)
Keeping abreast of new initiatives whilst managing a busy day job can be a daunting task. Inevitably we kick some of them into the long grass either because there is no time to give them greater consideration or simply because we think they will disappear over the horizon without having had any great impact.
We think the Health, Work and Wellbeing (HWWB) strategy will be different and already there is evidence that the HWWB agenda will bring changes to our workplaces and that HR will be in the forefront of those changes.
Why do we think this initiative will be different? Because it is being centrally led by a Stakeholder Council which includes representatives from organisations such as the Institute of Directors, the Federation of Small Businesses, Local Government Association, the BMA, CBI, TUC and many others, all of whom have a significant interest in reducing absenteeism. Together they are a major force for change and in the lead is the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) which has an objective to reduce sickness and incapacity claims.
To put the initiative into a wider context; the focus on absenteeism started to gain momentum in November 2004 when the Department for Health published 'Choosing Health' and this was closely followed by the HSE's 10 Year Strategy to reduce absenteeism.
Research showed that about 40% (12.8 million) working days were lost to work related stress, anxiety and depression and so the Managing Stress Standards were born. They have been piloted over a two year period, largely in public sector organisations and during that time there has been a moratorium on non-compliance orders. It seems certain that the moratorium will end on 1st April 2008 and it will be interesting to monitor how many such orders are issued. Our website will carry an article about the Managing Stress Standards in the near future.
Hand in hand with Managing Stress Standards is ongoing research. Funded by government, Goldsmiths College are developing management competences which focus on reducing stress in the workplace whilst the Institute of Employment Studies (IES) are undertaking research on the wider issue of managing mental ill health in the workplace.
Moving away from mental ill health, it is thought that 33% (10.5 million) working days are lost due to work related musculo-skeletal disorders. There have been a number of HSE initiatives focused in this area including the 'Better Backs' initiative and some more specific strategies looking at noise and vibration both of which are very relevant to the manufacturing and construction industries.
So what does the HWWB agenda mean for your organisation? What it emphatically does not mean is that you will be compelled to offer your employees free gym membership! It does provide an impetus for you to revisit those areas of policy and procedure vital to ensuring an attendance culture and proper management of absenteeism in your organisation.
It is also an opportunity for you to take a closer look at your organisational culture and the management style it supports. We know that poor or autocratic management leads to high staff turnover, absenteeism and stress. We also know that a flexible, supportive and open management style leads to increased staff loyalty, innovation and reciprocal flexibility. Cullen Scholefield will be publishing articles on these subjects over the coming months.
If you are not encouraged to be proactive in the HWWB arena there is one thing we know you will have to consider as the year moves on. Currently GPs sign patients off work with a Med 3 which says that your employee is unfit for work because they are suffering from a specified condition. It is looking highly likely that the Med 3 will change to say that your employee is unfit to undertake some aspects of work - but fit to undertake others. How you manage a range of staff who are not unfit for work per se but are medically certified to be unfit for certain elements of their job is going to be a challenge we shall all have to meet sooner or later.
We hope that Cullen Scholefield's Circle of Peers will be able to share our experiences, thoughts and plans; develop good practice in this (and other) fields and above all ensure that none of us have to 'reinvent wheels' or feel alone as we pick our way through what is potentially a minefield.
