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June 1, 2017

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The changing emphasis of Wellbeing in the workplace

Health and safety has established itself as an essential part of any business. Companies now feel that there is an ethical (and financial) duty to make sure every one of their employees goes home in the same state they came in.

In recent years the scope of health and safety has increased to consider not just the physical safety of employees, but their health and wellbeing as well. Companies are becoming increasingly concerned with how their employees are eating, sleeping and exercising. For the purposes of this article, I will refer to health and wellbeing using the blanket term ‘Wellbeing’.

What are the benefits of focusing on good employee wellbeing?

Naturally, there are some that may be a tad sceptical about wellbeing programmes. Some may see them as an unneeded American influence. Others see only another way for their higher-ups to cripple their processes with yet more red tape.

Despite this underlying doubt, wellbeing programmes (when implemented properly) improve the lives of employees and have the coming to work in a good mood ready to work. We all know the old adage:

“A happy worker is a productive worker.”

There are also god evidence to support the benefits of wellbeing programmes.  In 2014/15, 1.2 million people in the UK suffered from work-related ill health. Statistics from the year before showed that this was costing the UK (and employers) over £14 billion. Mental health and the risk of stress affected 35% of that number and comparing the figures for the whole of the UK (not just on workers) indicates that by going to work each day, there is a 10% greater risk of an individual suffering from a stress-related illness.

These number really show the need for wellbeing programmes in the workplace. By instituting wellbeing programmes at their companies, businesses could improve lost time and cut down on sick day claims, reduce legal reduce spend on legal claims for injuries/disability discrimination, and avoid recruitment costs by retaining talent.

Employer’s legal duty to wellbeing

On top of an ethical and financial duty, employers also have a legal duty to consider their employee’s wellbeing.

Law commonly considered when looking at safety risks (in particular sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and regulations enabled by the Act) is also relevant to wellbeing disputes. Any business that has fallen below good standards of wellbeing could be considered negligent in a civil personal injury claim

The consideration of employee health and wellbeing also falls into the employment law arena. Protections under the Equality Act 2010 for disability protect a range of individuals against unlawful discrimination and consideration may need to be given as to whether work-related ill health could be classified in some scenarios as a disability under the Act. Regulations governing working hours including the Working Times Regulations 1998 will equally play a role when considering management of stress risks and mental health and wellbeing.

What does a ‘good’ wellbeing policy mean, legally?

Despite some of the more specific wellbeing guidelines (Hearing loss, eyesight risk etc.), legal standards around employee the subject are still quite broad and varied.

The employer has to take ‘all reasonably practicable steps’ to ensure health, but for criticism to be made against an employer, the first step for a regulatory authority or claimant in civil proceedings would have to be to demonstrate that the risk was foreseeable and in some way connected to the workplace or its activities.

Approved Code of Practice documents and other guidance (such as material published on the website of the charity “Mind” about how mental health risks can be identified and managed) will assist businesses to determine what ‘good looks like’ in the health and wellbeing arena. However, it is not a simple task.

For businesses to demonstrate compliance with the law:

  • there should be evidence that wellbeing risks have been considered and assessed (through written risk assessment and policy documentation required under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999)
  • steps should be taken to reduce and control risks to wellbeing
  • a clear process should be in place to keep risk under review and assess whether steps put in place are working
  • Action should be taken, where needed, to develop preventative measures.

Where is the law going?

The law already enables action to be taken by regulatory authorities or individual claimants in the event that a business fails to properly managewellbeing risks in the workplace. Whilst in some areas (such as stress risk) it is notoriously difficult for an individual claimant to bring a claim for personal injury because of the challenges in proving causation in negligence, the issue of wellbeing (and the cost to the UK) are firmly on the government agenda, and the Health and Safety Executive have identified the need to inspect businesses around how they are focusing on health risks in their 2016/17 business plan.

 

Resources:

For wellbeing CPD read From health and safety to employee wellbeing 

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Duncan Carmichael
Duncan Carmichael
6 years ago

Hello Mary, I agree, but there is still an atmosphere of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” This is especially true with respect to drug taking in the workplace, where there are very few whistle blowers, and no real mechanism to report to HR.
Many workers simply address the situation by leaving.

At Agriyork400 Ltd address this by sending out a Self Appraisal survey which for the first time allows employees to anonymously report on drug use in THEIR workplace.

http://www.workplacedrug.co.uk is the link, and I would welcome all feedback.

Regards,

Duncan

Nigel Dupree
Nigel Dupree
6 years ago

Just wondering how the French Legislation introduced on 1st Jan 2017 baring contact from employers outside working hours is affecting Wellbeing / work/life balance along with the Japanese firms turning their lights off at 7 p.m. ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39981997