Employee wellbeing, can you afford not to protect the health and wellbeing of your employees?

According to a story in People Management (November 2024), which highlights a report published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), around 33.7 million working days have been lost as a result of work-related ill health or injury in the past year.  1.7 million workers reported experiencing work-related ill health and 776,000 cited stress, depression or anxiety as the cause, with 543,000 experiencing musculoskeletal disorders.  The cost of these injuries and ill health?  £21.6bn. 

There will always be an element of employee absence and times when even your best performing employees are not at their peak, striving for zero absence or issues is not the goal.  There are also wide-ranging factors which can have a knock on effect on employee health, according to a report by the Commission for Healthier Working Lives.  Unsurprisingly, those employees facing job uncertainty experience poorer health, especially mental health issues.  In addition, long hours, weekend working and shifts affect mental and physical health also leading to unhealthier lifestyles.  Being over or underemployed, the hours employees want to work vs the hours they do, demanding and stressful work, discrimination, bullying, poor work relationships and autonomy have all been found to increase ill health.

With a list that comprehensive it can be difficult for employers to know where to start and yet there is a duty of care to protect the health and wellbeing of employees, the financial cost notwithstanding. 

So what approach should you be taking?  Will in the first instance it is a good idea to understand what your absence figures look like and what the reasons for absence are.  Managers should be having conversations when their team members are off sick, in the form of check ins, agree when you will speak to your employee to find out how they are.  Conducting return to work interviews is a must for two reasons, one to ensure the employee is well enough to return to work and secondly to understand the absence and the reason for it. This may seem time consuming and unnecessary, but it is much better to catch any issues early as well as providing a supportive environment and if needed making reasonable adjustments.

Encourage open communication by creating an environment where employees feel it is safe to talk about challenges, struggles and issues.  Again, dealing with any problems early will allow you to get ahead of them and provide solutions. 

Make sure employees know who they can talk to if they are experiencing mental health issues.  Training is key for managers to be able to recognise and deal with wellbeing issues and mental health first aid training is widely available.

Understand whether you have an issue with presenteeism, do you have employees who show up for work even when they should be off sick and what is driving that.  On the face of it this may not seem like an issue, However, it is likely that they will not be as productive and will make themselves more ill, meaning when they do take time off they will be off for longer.

Do you have an “always on culture”, where employees are expected to answer emails or calls, however late or at weekends.  Make sure you have boundaries in place so that employees can switch off from work and rest.  Whilst the “right to switch off” is not law in the UK, the Government is consulting with employers about a code of practice, there is little information about what this will look like at this time.  However, having good practices in place now will mean you are one step ahead.

Ultimately, whilst health and wellbeing initiatives are useful what is important is the culture of an organisation.  Senior management need to prioritise the health of their employees through training managers, understanding absence and the reasons, fostering good communication and modelling good work practices.  Your bottom line, productivity and employee absence and turnover figures will thank you for it.  Need help contact me at bev@bdhr.co.uk.