1. Employee wellbeing and health
Adding value in challenging times

2. Agenda Context and challenges The project
Top tips for adding value/influencing senior managers
- Positioning and language
- Making the business case
- Showing financial return
- Focusing on health risks areas
- Developing a collaborative approach
- Aligning with the government agenda
Discussion

3. Context and challenges

4. Context Reduced funding
Major change (restructures, redundancies or growth/quality drive)
Increased fees/student expectations
Competitive global market

5. The challenge How can you create an environment where your team can:
stay healthy and remain in work
cope (and thrive) during change
perform to the best of their abilities
deliver excellent ‘customer’ service
remain motivated, engaged and committed to their work/the institution?

6. The project

7. The project (Oct 2008-11) HEFCE, HEFCW and SFC funded
Led by Universities of Leeds in partnership with Universities of Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Chester, Glasgow, Heriot Watt, Newcastle, Queen Mary and Winchester and Grimsby Institute
Key aims:
- Improve wellbeing and engagement practice
- Increase ‘buy in’ at senior levels
- Create opportunities for learning and sharing
- Begin to develop the evidence base

8. Key stands Wellbeing and performance mapping
Interventions (piloting and evaluation)
Communications, events, toolkits and case studies (

9. Getting involved
Website ( – guidance and case studies launched September - free until end of September
E-newsletter – back issues available online
Final conference (9th September) – only 50 places left
Final reports - to be launched at the conference
Join the Phase 3 consortium (October 2011 onwards)

10. Top tips for adding value and influencing senior managers

11. Positioning and language
Use language that appeals to senior managers (not necessarily focusing on the words health and wellbeing) – engagement, discretionary effort, performance, resilience
Align with strategic priorities to show a direct link to core business eg. student satisfaction, performance management (not a nice to have activity!)
Move away from the perception that health related activities are just staff benefits
Move away from being seen as initiative/campaign driven – to embed in core activity

12. Recruitment and retention
The average cost per person who leaves an employer is £7750 (CIPD, )
The average staff turn-over in HE is 8.4%
33% of organisations reported an average reduction in staff turn-over of 20-25% (Dame Carol Black Review, 2008)
Employer of choice/reputation

13. Sickness absence
It is estimated that ‘unhealthy’ employees take on average 9 days more sick leave (Medibank, 2005)
80% of organisations reported a 30-40% reduction in days lost through sickness absence (Dame Carol Black Report, 2008)

14. Sickness absence
Sickness absence costs approx. £692 per person, per year, therefore, £4,152,000 to a university such as Sheffield (CIPD, 2009) Centre for Mental Health, 2007)
Efforts to increase employee physical activity at the University of Bolton led to a reduction in absence from days per person, per year, to 8.38 days.
Grimsby Institute for Further and Higher Education – absence reduction from 3.6% per year in 2004/5 to 1.18% per year in 2007/8, and no. of staff with no sickness absence increase from 26% to 46%.

15. The student experience
70% of engaged employees indicated they have a good understanding of how to meet customer needs, while only 17% of non- engaged employees said the same (Civil Service, McLeod Review, )
78%of highly engaged workers said they can make an impact on public service delivery and customer sevice, versus only 29% of disengaged employees (Civil Service, McLeod Review, 2009).
NHS – Boorman Review – clear links to patient outcomes (Boorman, )
Project outcomes – see results September 2011.

16. Engagement and performance
Presenteeism costs approx. £600 per employee, per year, therefore, £2,400,000 per year to a university such as Aberdeen (Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, 2007)
If a 10% increase in performance is worth a minimum of 5% of salary (£1,606 per employee), the potential saving to a university such Portsmouth is £4,818,000 per year (Robertson Cooper Ltd, 2008).
Average cost of tribual cases, to an organisation, is £20,000 per year (CIPD, 2008).

17. Showing financial return
Evaluate all activities
Not just participation/ ‘happy sheets’
See from September for more guidance
Show alignment with what staff really want and the organisation really needs
Can you include a question in the (annual) staff survey?

18. Focusing on health risk areas
Musculoskeletal
Stress/mental health
- Potentially targeting areas going through major change
- Link to HSE compliance
Other high risk groups
Focus on the things that lead to long term sickness absence

19. A collaborative approach
Multi-disciplinary approach
- Avoid duplication
- Create a joined-up agenda
Prescription for exercise (Occupational Health)?
Linking in with catering services?
Involve academics and students
Learn from/work with other organisations (inside and outside the sector)
- Avoid reinventing the wheel
- Shared services

20. The government agenda
Public Health Responsibility Deal (Dame Carol Black, DWP)
- Sign up to the pledges
Sickness absence review (Dame Carol Black, DWP)
Engagement review (David MacLeod, BIS)
HSE – stress management
Key note speech and workshop on government health and wellbeing agenda at the conference

21. Useful resources
Improving performance through wellbeing website (
Good Work Commission (
Work Foundation (
Business in the Community (
Centre for Mental Health (
CIPD (
DWP (Dame Carol Black) (
Note a full list of resources is available at

22. Discussion

23. What can you do to enhance the health and wellbeing of staff on a tight budget?

24. Contact information…
Kim Shutler-Jones