Professor Dame Carol Black on the need for wellbeing interventions, measurement and inclusivity
Dame Carol Black is taking part in a panel session at this year’s Employee Wellbeing Congress.
Employee wellbeing has undergone a seismic shift since 2008 when Dame Carol published Working for a healthier tomorrow, her review of the health of the UK’s working population.
“Most organisations now understand that having a physically and mentally healthy workforce is linked to engagement and therefore productivity,” says Dame Carol. However, while REBA’s 2020 Employee Wellbeing research shows that the majority of workforces now have some form of wellbeing strategy, there are still challenges to overcome.
“Employers often lack understanding about their risk profile. They don’t know what percentage of their workforce suffers from anxiety because of financial problems, which employees may be affected by lack of sleep, or how many middle-aged female employees might be experiencing menopause symptoms, for example,” she explains.
Offering generic services, such as nutrition advice or employee assistance programmes, without, as Dame Carol says, “knowing the numbers” can limit the effectiveness of a wellbeing strategy.
Drawing up a health and wellbeing risk profile, she adds, “allows employers to put in targeted interventions that can then be measured.” This more scientific approach to employees’ health and wellbeing will help to raise it further up the corporate agenda. “Companies have a system for measuring financial capability, for example, but don’t apply the same rules to collecting baseline data around health and wellbeing.”
As well as enabling individual employers to develop more effective health and wellbeing strategies, Dame Carol believes that targeted strategies and detailed measurement will also benefit the wider workforce. “We could start to build up a database of evidence. Employers could share the action they have taken in response to certain problems and issues, and what the results were.”
She identifies changing work patterns and employment models, such as the shift towards gig working explored in Matthew Taylor’s 2017 report Good work: the Taylor review of modern working practices, as another challenge.
“There needs to be an inclusive approach. Organisations tend to think they don’t have responsibility for [non-permanent staff and gig workers] because they can go off and work for another employer. However, if businesses change that mindset and see it as beneficial to build up a pool of workers who are productive, fit, healthy and could therefore contribute more to their organisation, it would be a positive move for themselves and the individuals.”
Probably the biggest immediate challenge to wellbeing at work will be the long-term impact of the Covid-19 crisis, which could precipitate permanent change to workplaces and employment practices. However, Dame Carol is confident that health and wellbeing will continue to be a priority. “I feel positive that employers’ focus on wellbeing, particularly around mental health, won’t be lost. It also paves the way for more trusting and compassionate relationships, and even more positive working cultures.”
The author is Maggie Williams, content director at REBA.
This article was originally published in REBA's Employee Wellbeing research 2020.
Dame Carol Black is taking part in a panel session at this year’s Employee Wellbeing Congress. Speaking with Vish Buldawoo, VP, global benefits & wellbeing at Centrica; Paul Farmer, co-author of the 2017 Thriving at Work report and chief executive at mental health charity Mind; and Nicola Wells, global reward director at Unilever; the panel will discuss how to ensure the legacy of COVID-19 has a long-term positive change for working practices and benefits strategies.
Find out more about their session and the Employee Wellbeing Congress.
