Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 17TH - 23RD JANUARY 2020 | 19 Operations & Assets being at Mace, picked up on Dame Carol's message for the need to capture data, say- ing: "Having the evidence-based approach in organisations is the only way we're going to get the board buy-in for this area." She said that Mace was halfway through a six-year research project looking at well- being, including the leading causes of poor wellbeing. By creating the evidence base, it would be possible to take the arguments and potential productivity gains of doing some- thing about it to boards, and to the industry, and say that "this is what we need to do to change." Cause and effect Another key theme that emerged was that companies could not necessarily choose to separate work-induced stress from other factors over which they had no control. "If you're trying to work out where the stress and anxiety starts, you're wasting your time. If it's affecting your productivity, then you should try to alleviate it," advised Dame Carol. "I think you've just got to ask, 'is this affecting this person's ability to do their job?' And trying to help probably relieves what's going on elsewhere." Andrew Grant, head of safety and quality, Northern Gas Networks, urged managers to be more vigilant. "We're all very well attuned to doing health surveillance for noise, vibra- tion syndrome, skin conditions, all that kind of traditional health stuff. But we don't do it particularly well for mental health. We wait until people are showing signs of falling down, and then we step in and do our local- ised intervention. "One thing I do with my team is whenever I have a one to one, for the first 15 minutes we don't mention work at all. We talk about their kids and their partner, and so on. And that level of trust and engagement helps you understand the bigger picture and what's going on outside work." Panellists said managers needed training to equip them with the confidence to talk to staff about sensitive issues, rather than leave this to Occupational Health or HR. It's not enough to say "you've gone on a one-day course, now you're an expert", said Grant. "You've got to have that human con- versation, and get your managers equipped to spot where the issues are, but also feel comfortable having a conversation with people. "You've got to show people how to be a manager. Good management breeds good management, so if they've been fortunate enough to have a good manager, they'll learn from that," he concluded. continued overleaf ☛ Dame Carol Black, expert adviser, NHS England & Public Health England Meet the experts Joe Murphy, head of health, safety, security and wellbeing, Southern Water Nicola Johnson, director of HSSE and engineering governance, Eon Judith Grant, director of health and wellbeing, Mace Britain's Healthiest Workplace survey: messages from 2018 cohort Analysis of 26,432 employees in 129 organisations Average days lost due to absence and presenteeism, per employee per year, 35.6 days Best-performing company in survey, Nomura 18 days 55 minutes of every lost productive hour is due to presenteeism More than one-third of productivity loss is related to work stress Average productivity loss per employee translates to £81bn annual cost to UK economy Risk factors for mental health are the most significant drivers of work impairment for UK employees One-third of total productivity loss of employees is attributable to mental health and wellbeing issues. Source: Dame Carol Black, from Britain's Healthiest Workplace Survey 2018 ( published January 2019) Attribution of productivity loss due to ill-health-related absence and presenteeism Mental health Chronic conditions Financial concerns Other Physical and lifestyle 33% 15% 13% 14% 25%

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