REBA Award Winner: United Utilities - Mental – more than 5,000 employees

Size:5,500

Sector:Utilities

Initiative: Mental Health Strategy

WHAT IT DID
United Utilities knew it had to act fast on employees’ mental health. Its data analysis showed an increase in the number and complexity of mental ill health cases being reported by staff. But managers didn’t feel confident talking about mental health and didn’t feel that they knew where they could direct staff for more support. And anecdotal feedback showed that some employees felt ashamed to admit that they had experienced issues with their mental health. The water services provider decided to respond by creating an open, supportive environment for everyone’s mental health. It also wanted employees to be able to recognise when they were struggling with mental health issues and access appropriate support as early as possible. To do this, United Utilities created a four-way plan:

• Providing leadership
• Removing the stigma
• Raising awareness
• Creating a support network

Line manager training, better awareness of the Employee Assistance Programme, day-one reporting of mental-health related absence and signing up to the Time To Change pledge in January 2017 are just a few of the actions United Utilities has taken to meet its goals.
It has also joined forces with the “This is Me” North West steering group which brings together businesses in the region to collectively break down the stigma associated with mental ill health. Information campaigns, including presentations, workshops, roadshows and tool-box talks, have been an essential element of United Utilities’ mental health programme. In November 2018, it ran a month of ‘mental health selfies’ which encouraged employees to alter a photo of themselves to help describe their current mental health.

Following the introduction of Mental Health First Aid and Supporter training in March 2017, United Utilities found that first aiders needed their own support network. It set up a Yammer group to provide support, alongside bi-annual meetings with opportunities for future development, to share development and to collaborate on good practice.
The hard work is paying off. United Utilities has seen its average length of mental health-related absence fall from 18 to 13 days, and 51% of its psychological referrals to its occupational health have been while employees are at work. This is helping to reduce instances of sickness absence. However, the business isn’t resting on its laurels. It has plans in place to introduce an innovative stress risk assessment process and new ways of investigating work-related pressures, with the aim of improving job design and reducing stress across the business.

WHY IT WON
Judges were very impressed by United Utilities’ well-rounded approach to employee mental health. Having identified specific issues in its workforce, the business has set out a clear approach to building a supportive culture and has good data analytics in place to measure progress.

There is also plenty of innovation on display. Judges praised the ‘mental health selfies’, describing this as an excellent way of encouraging staff to engage with their own mental wellbeing, and were also impressed by the support network United Utilities has built for mental health first aiders. “United Utilities has everything in place to create a solid future strategy. It’s great to see leadership buy-in and the company really practices what it preaches,” concluded one of our judges.