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– correct PPE, clean PPE, right attitude and culture, clean vehicle. We even swab the steering wheel to look for bacteria traces causing sickness and diarrhoea. "Any yellow cards result in a higher frequency of audit for that engineer or team. A red means: 'We've got an issue here, stop work, make changes and have a review of where things had gone wrong.' It can be challenging, but it's constructive. We always want people to learn and improve." The card scheme proved a success, but the other initiative to emerge from the meeting was perhaps more significant. "The only thing that answered the question of why the incident rate remained stubbornly high was that it must be cultural, it must be behavioural, it must be about mindset rather than the training," he says. "We realised that if we could measure feeling, emotion and attitude, we could do something about it. "That's the variable that changes minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour and day-by-day. You could have had an argument with your partner the night before. You might not be feeling well. You might have financial pressure. You could have mental health issues. All these things culminate into poor customer service, unsafe behaviours and ultimately incidents." The day aƒer the meeting, Brierley contacted Lanes' app development team and asked them, as a matter of urgency, to create an app that would ask workers to report on how they were feeling when they signed in each day, ranging from very happy to very unhappy. Two days later, a prototype of the app had been created. The day aƒer that, it was rolled out to 1,500 people. The implications were more significant than anticipated. "We opened a Pandora's box," Brierley says. LIFTING THE LID With staff able to flag their mood at the click of a button, Lanes was given an wwtonline.co.uk | MAY2019 WET NEWS 5 though, has also liƒed the lid on work-related unhappiness: by establishing which staff members are discontented, Lanes was able to find hotspots and then unravel problems. "While originally we were looking at managers dealing with the problem, we actually found that the way people were being managed was, in some cases, part of the problem," Brierley says. "We started to unearth issues that, as a management team, we never got to know about. That helped us put in place measures, including a programme of people skills training, to change mindsets and behaviours. Managers have embraced this approach. They now have better skills and insights to help support their teams." FURTHER PROGRESS Lanes reaped swiƒ benefits from the new initiatives. With the wellbeing app and card scheme having been brought into action shortly aƒer the board meeting in late 2016, the decline in the number of incidents is clear from the chart at the top of the page. The success has spurred Lanes to gain an even greater unprecedented insight into the emotions of its people. The initial plan had been for those who clicked 'very unhappy' to go to their regional managers but, with 80 per cent of those issues caused by factors unrelated to work, that proved a flawed strategy. "It was quickly apparent that our managers weren't trained in what came next so, two weeks aƒer launch, we hired Kelly Hansford, a wellbeing practitioner," Brierley says. "She's a qualified mental health support worker with a wealth of experience in challenging positions within the healthcare industry. "Now, the app asks anybody who clicks 'unhappy or very unhappy' if they would like to talk to their manager about what's making them unhappy. If they say no, Kelly will call them to introduce herself and offer to discuss how she might help." Staff may be unhappy for any number of reasons – they might be going through a divorce, struggling with debt or have medical issues. As a result of the app, Lanes has been able to find out about such issues and intervene, and there have been plenty of instances where that intervention has had a significant impact. "A GP I spoke to about a colleague's care plan for depression said he was amazed at the support Lanes gives its employees," Hansford said. "He said he had never come across anything like it before." Lanes has sought to drive this culture throughout the business: the company is in the process of training a team of 30 qualified mental health first aiders. Everyone who manages people is IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) accredited while everyone who manages a team is NEBOSH (National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health) accredited. The wellbeing app and practitioner programme, "The only thing that answered the question of why the incident rate remained stubbornly high was that it must be cultural, it must be behavioural, it must be about mindset rather than the training" Andy Brierley, Lanes Group technical director understanding of the workforce. In early 2018, it launched 'Golden Chair', which sees a frontline member of staff invited into the weekly board meeting and invited to share their views. The invitation is open to any of Lanes' 1,500 employees working for Thames Water, with the participants decided at random via a digital 'wheel of fortune'. "It's one of the best things we've ever done as a team," Brierley says. "When they come in, we tell them: 'There is nothing off the table in this room. Whatever you want to say, however you think we're running the business, we just want your feedback.' "The Golden Chair gives colleagues the chance to give us a view on whether they have the tools they need to do their job and how they're being treated. We as a leadership team know our people better than any other business on the planet – we know what they're feeling." Numerous reward and recognition initiatives have also been introduced. Some of those are designed to recognise good work. Pathway to Success is a programme that presents clear routes of progression within every role and shows employees how they can reach their desired position, with the company offering to Lanes technical director Andy Brierley has taken an innovative approach to health and safety

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