Wellbeing at Work – can we afford to ignore it?

I have been wondering of late, particularly as we continue to battle the ‘credit crunch’, how well employees are managing to cope with the increased pressures they are facing. Talking to people in the public sector I am told, anecdotally, that stress is up and that many more employees are struggling to cope than was previously the case. Colleagues talk of the need for more ‘emotional resilience’; a strategic approach to ‘organisational wellbeing’; the ‘happiness agenda’ yet I wonder how much of this is taking a back seat as budgets get even tighter.

“If I was starting out again, I would be a care worker!” laughed Miranda when I asked her how she coped with the high levels of pressure in her work. I looked quizzically at her, unsure whether this high-energy, no-nonsense business woman was serious or just ‘yanking my chain’ as they say on the telly.

“Actually,” she corrected, “I did start out as a care worker, over 30 years ago now. Low wages, shift work, a really challenging client group who couldn’t be left unattended as several of them would self injure – I was down the casualty department on more than one occasion I can tell you! Hard work, lots of pressure, but the team spirit was fantastic – I loved it!”

“Crikey Miranda....” was all I could feebly muster. “That’s a long way from being a director”.

“Is it?” she replied, absent-mindedly sipping her coffee.

“So which of your many jobs would you say caused you most stress?” I persisted.
Miranda stared at me like I had just stepped off the Star Ship Enterprise. “Caused me stress? How could a job cause me stress?” Clearly amused by my apparent confusion, she relented a little.

“Sorry,” she said “I couldn’t resist it! Seriously, though, I feel it’s way too simplistic to say that jobs cause stress. Of course, aspects of work can be incredibly challenging, particularly in the current economic and political climate, but we’re on a slippery slope if we start to believe that we do not have control over how we respond to events. If I believed that events, or other people for that matter, had the power to make me feel or behave in a certain way, then I would have given up a long, long time ago!”

I smiled ruefully at this, knowing full well the considerable personal and professional challenges this woman had overcome in her life.

“Look at it this way,” Miranda suggested helpfully. “The exact same event can happen to two separate people and they won’t necessarily respond in the same way at all. It’s not the event, but the meaning we each give that event that makes all the difference”.

I nodded, thoughtfully at this. She was right of course – well at least partially. Her comments made me wonder, though, whose responsibility is wellbeing at work: the individual’s, the organisation’s, government’s, everyone’s?

I needed to buy some time to reflect upon this further. “Another slice of cheesecake?” I offered helpfully.
 
Some facts and figures
Regardless of who is responsible for addressing wellbeing at work, one thing is for sure: this is an issue that cannot be ignored. For those of you committed to driving the wellbeing agenda, you may find the following facts and figures useful when compiling your business case.
• In a July 2008 survey of over 800 HR professionals in organisations employing 2.3 million people, just under one-third reported an increase in work-related stress compared with the previous year.
[Source: Absence management: Annual survey report 2008, CIPD].
• The total cost to UK employers of mental ill health among their staff is over £25 billion, equivalent to £1,035 per employee in the workforce.
[Source: Mental Health at Work: Developing the Business Case, Sainsbury’s Centre for Mental Health, 2007].
• According to Mind (2006) it is estimated that stress related illness is costing the NHS between £300 and £400 million every year.
• The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) estimates that 30 times as many working days are lost due to mental ill health as from industrial disputes.
• Mental health problems account for the loss of over 91 million working days each year, costing the UK economy nearly £1bn annually.
• Poorly managed mental health in the workplace is costing the UK economy as much as £9bn in salaries.
• It has been estimated that nearly 10 per cent of the UK’s GNP is lost annually due to work related stress.
[Source: Britain Under Pressure Report, Friends Provident, November 2008].

What does it all mean?
Mental health is not something that happens to ‘other people’ – it affects us all. Around a quarter of British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any one year with mixed anxiety & depression being the most common mental disorder in Britain.

It may be helpful to view mental health as a continuum upon which we move back and forth at different stages in our life. We all have ‘mental health’ (which is not to be confused with ‘mental illness’) and the quality of this will be influenced by a range of factors such as relationships with friends and family, good health and community.

Mental health may be described as “a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.” (World Health Organisation)

Work-related stress is defined by the Health and Safety Executive as “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them. There is a clear distinction between pressure, which can be a motivating factor, and stress, which can occur when this pressure becomes excessive.”

Emotional resilience has been identified as being “a set of conditions that allow individual adaptation to different forms of adversity at different points in the life course”. (Emotional Resilience Steering Group, May 2009).
 
Why focus on wellbeing?
In recent years there has been a growing interest in the wellbeing agenda though the extent to which the public sector as a whole is addressing this is unclear. There are undoubtedly pockets of good practice in all sectors that we could learn from, and the current economic climate could perhaps be viewed as an opportunity to get our own house in order, so that we can better serve the wellbeing needs of our children and communities in the future.

Research undertaken by Friends Provident (2008) showed that almost two thirds of Britons felt more stressed, run down and prone to illness than they had in the preceding three years, and over 10% reported that the majority of stress they experienced was coming from work.

In a survey of employers undertaken by the CIPD and KPMG this year, 50% of respondents said that individual staff workloads have increased as a result of the credit crunch, along with a rise in employee stress levels.

According to Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind:
"Considering how much time we spend at work, it is hardly surprising that it can have a huge impact on our mental well-being. A bad work environment can be damaging and can trigger a wide range of problems from exhaustion to depression, while having a good working life is proven to be an asset for our overall mental health. Employers and employees have a responsibility to recognise that mental health is an issue in every workforce and make sure they are doing what they can to promote a healthy workplace."

Some practical solutions
As caring employers we want to provide healthy working environments where employees are encouraged to reach their full potential. Providing healthy workplaces is not just about minimising risk, it is also very good for business as we have already discussed. In terms of what we can do in our workplaces, there are a number of areas we can explore now.

Where possible, we should build upon whatever initiatives are already in place in order to minimise the organisation’s feeling of overload. Having a senior sponsor take a lead on wellbeing is a good way of encouraging organisational buy-in as is making explicit the links to other strategic agendas and integrating wellbeing within all aspects of the organisation’s work.

Management development
Line managers have a key role to play in ensuring positive mental health/wellbeing of employees in the workplace, and there is ample evidence to suggest a link between manager behaviour and employee wellbeing (e.g. HSE, 2007; Foresight Group, 2008; Dame Black’s review of the health of Britain’s working age population, 2008 etc.) Rather than creating an additional layer of management development, it should be possible to include responsibility for promoting employee wellbeing into existing processes such as managers’ job descriptions, competency frameworks, existing development programmes etc. Managers can also be held accountable for demonstrating their commitment to employee wellbeing through the organisation’s existing performance management frameworks.

Awareness raising
Raising awareness about the nature of mental wellbeing (rather than ‘mental illness’ or ‘stress’) is important both in terms of minimising the stigmatising effects of ‘mental illness’ and also in terms of providing individuals with information about where to go for help and support, should they need it. Again, awareness-raising can be incorporated into existing induction and training programmes and within competency and performance management processes. A focus upon mental health rather than illness will also encourage employees to see this as an issue affecting everyone, and not something to be ashamed of or feared.

Effective policies and support structures
Too few organisations have adequate mental health policies in place. Employers who wish to create a healthy work environment will understand the need to create effective mental health policies and procedures with clear and measurable targets that are monitored.

A number of organisations already have employee assistance programmes in place and this, coupled with HR staff trained to support and coach managers in wellbeing, will go some way to changing the culture in organisations. Working in partnership with trade unions and other staff representative/network groups will also impact upon organisational culture and contribute to changing working practices.

Healthy working environments
Employees spend a considerable amount of their lives at work so it is perhaps obvious that consideration should be given to creating healthy working environments. This is more than just an issue of work space and job redesign it also relates to actively promoting positive lifestyle choices amongst employees (e.g. healthy eating, smoking cessation, regular exercising etc.). The organisation’s leadership also has a key role to play in promoting wellbeing through positive role-modelling. This includes demonstrating their own personal commitment to work-life balance and looking after their own physical and mental health.

Creating a culture of openness, respect, teamwork and effective communication where personal contribution and performance is recognised and valued, is also important.

Wellbeing case studies in the public sector
There are currently a number of wellbeing initiatives being undertaken in the public sector with some good work being done to tackle poor employee attendance and, perhaps more critically, to introduce a culture of wellbeing into organisations. The following is an example of what is taking place and readers may wish to explore these case studies further to see if there are any learnings that can be captured for their own organisations.

Public Sector People Managers Association (PPMA)
The PPMA is a member-led organisation committed to sharing best practice within the public sector, and has created a number of lead officer roles to help achieve this aim, in a number of key policy areas including wellbeing.

The PPMA recognises that there are a number of excellent wellbeing initiatives taking place throughout the UK and seeks to publicise best practice, for example through the HR awards, and to build a network of HR professionals committed to promoting wellbeing.

To read the public sector wellbeing case studies, to join the PPMA’s virtual wellbeing network or to contact the PPMA’s Lead Officer for Wellbeing, visit their page at: http://www.ppma.org.uk/pages/leadProjectDetails.aspx?projectID=11

Local Wellbeing Partnership
Since 2006, the Young Foundation has been pioneering an innovative ‘Local Wellbeing Project’ which is a partnership between the Young Foundation, Professor Richard Layard at the LSE Centre for Economic Performance, IDeA, and three leading local authorities: Manchester City Council, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council.

The aim of the programme is to support local government in driving forward the wellbeing agenda, both through practical trials and also through the adaption of mainstream services. The programme is now having an impact on how wellbeing is integrated into key policy areas, such as:
• Promoting emotional resilience within school curriculums.
• Emphasising patient experience and wellbeing within healthcare.
• Emphasising parental wellbeing as well as children’s wellbeing through refocused parenting programmes.
• Promoting activities with strong connections to wellbeing, such as neighbourliness, volunteering, exercise and work in older age.
You can read more about this project at: http://www.youngfoundation.org/files/images/wellbeing_happiness_Final_webversion.pdf

So finally...
....back to Miranda and her insistence that individuals should develop the mindset and emotional resilience to control their own responses to life events. As someone who has journeyed the afore mentioned mental health ‘continuum’ with family, friends and at times on my own over the years, I understand how important it is to take personal responsibility for what happens to us. In my map of the world, life is not just a series of accidents that happens to us, but a series of rich challenges through which we can grow and develop. Like Miranda, I refuse to believe that I have no choice, and I do not believe that others have the power to make me feel something I choose not to feel.

In addition to transforming our workplaces into healthy, productive environments where people can work, develop and thrive, I believe that there is still substantial work that needs to be done at an individual level. Supporting individuals to develop their own effective wellbeing strategies and assisting them in taking personal responsibility is a good start.

Developing individual resilience and a positive mindset is something that needs to occur from an early age and I believe it is critical that we work with young people, now, to help equip them with the appropriate skills and personal resilience so that they can make their full contribution to healthy communities of the future.

But more on this later...!