And I'm available to help you think/talk through what you could do to promote, encourage and support health & wellbeing in your place of work.
Could you be a Wellbeing@Work Employer?
Do you want to be?
I'm looking for a few interested and enthusiastic employers from different sizes of organisation to be part of the leading group to trial, develop and champion becoming a Southampton City Council recognised Wellbeing@Work Employer. Making the commitment also means that you can be part of the new network of Wellbeing Champions.
Being a Wellbeing@Work Employer means committing to 1 action in each of the following 3 areas -
Culture - creating a safe, inclusive and healthy working environment where people flourish
Leadership - developing managers to support the health and wellbeing of their staff
Wellbeing - encouraging and supporting all staff to be fit and healthy
Would you like to be involved? - please email me for more details.
Save the dates...
Wellbeing@Work Tea Break - improving mental health at work
Thursday 21 November: Network Eagle Labs - the link to EventBrite tickets will be in September's newsletter
Managers' Workshop - 'How are you?' - feeling comfortable talking about wellbeing with your staff
A novel way to improve wellbeing - learning from staff who leave you
This Harvard Business Review article suggests ways that will probably be more useful to your future success than the traditional exit interview.
Cycle September is coming! You could win a mountain biking holiday in New Zealand
Similar sized organisations will be competing locally, nationally & globally to see which can get the most people to try riding a bike. Your employees don’t have to ride to work to take part; just 10 minutes – any time, any where - is enough to be in with a chance of winning. There’s a mountain bike holiday in New Zealand up for grabs and everyone who registers and joins their organisation BEFORE 15 AUGUST will get an extra entry into the draw. So, even if they aren’t ready to take to two wheels just yet, get them to take a look at the Love to Ride website and sign up so they can ride in September and help your company climb the leader board!
Portsmouth and Southampton have been selected as one of eight areas in England to tackle mental health stigma locally after winning a bid to become one of 2019’s Time to Change Hubs.
Looking after the mental health of your employees makes business sense: tackling stigma can make a real difference to sickness absence rates, presenteeism levels, staff wellbeing and productivity, and retention. Since signing the Employer Pledge, 95% of employers said it had a positive impact on their organisation.
Mental health is an issue your organisation can’t afford to ignore:It can be really hard to open up about mental health at work:
Mental ill-health is the leading cause of sickness absence in the UK, costing an average of £1,035 per employee per year
95% of people calling in sick with stress give a different reason
1 in 4 British workers are affected by conditions like anxiety, depression & stress every year
Health is everyone’s business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss - government consultation
This consultation seeks views on different ways in which government and employers can take action to reduce ill health-related job loss.
The proposals aim to support and encourage early action by employers for their employees with long-term health conditions, and improve access to quality, cost-effective occupational health.
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care want to understand the effect of these proposals on businesses, individuals and the occupational health profession
Closing date 7 October.
...and, if you have an employee on long-term sickness absence right now, the Well@Work service from Southampton City Council offers
free advice and guidance to help them back to work, helping you reduce the costs of cover and sick pay
expert advice, a space to talk through physical or mental health concerns and support to achieve a return to work
'Wherever there is a human being, there is opportunity for kindness' Seneca
Being kind creates ripples, and August's Action for Happiness Calendar focuses on small ways of showing kindness to ourselves and others. For example
4th - ask someone how they are and really listen to their reply
13th - notice when someone is down and try to brighten their day
23rd - pay sincere compliments to people you meet today
27th - look for the good side in everyone you meet today
Health & Wellbeing Noticeboard
Mental Health
Every Mind Matters is a new national campaign encouraging everyone to look after their mental health. It launches on World Mental Health Day on 10th October and will be very visible on TV, radio and social media.
If you want to take this as an opportunity to initiate conversations about mental health and how your working environment supports/inhibits positive mental health, the Every Mind Matters resources are available to support you running your own internal campaign promoting good mental health (available to order and download from late August).
