Employee health and wellbeing

Employers have a fundamental duty of care for the health, safety and welfare of their workers. However, our research shows that despite more organisations stepping up their efforts, half still don’t have a formal wellbeing strategy.

A focus on employee health and wellbeing should be a core element of any HR strategy and central to the way an organisation operates. It should not simply consist of one-off initiatives but be based on employee need.

As well as benefiting employees, an integrated approach to wellbeing can increase employee engagement, fostering a joint commitment to organisational success.

In line with wider evidence, our research shows that the main risks to employee health are now psychological, with mental ill health and stress being two of the top three causes of long-term absences. Organisations should take a holistic approach and provide good work for people that helps to prevent ill health. We define ‘good work’ as work that is fairly rewarded, providing people with the means to securely make a living; it gives opportunities to develop skills and a career, and ideally provides a sense of fulfilment. Organisations also need to focus on the wider dimensions of wellbeing, including financial wellbeing, which is still a neglected area.

• Launch a major, ongoing and well-resourced publicity and education campaign, aligned with the Disability Confident scheme, to raise employers' awareness and understanding about managing people with a disability or health condition within a culture of inclusion.
  
  
• Establish a ‘one-stop-shop’ to make it easier for employers to navigate the many sources of information, advice and guidance already available on workplace health and wellbeing.
  
  
• Ensure that employers conduct risk assessments for work-related stress by providing the Health and Safety Executive with the resources to promote employer compliance with obligations under existing health and safety law.
  
  
• Reform statutory sick pay so it is financially adequate and flexible, and can support employees to make a more effective and sustainable phased return to work.
  
  
• Allow other allied healthcare professionals to sign fit notes, building on the review of how the fit note operates.
  
  
• Replace the former Fit for Work Service with the national implementation of a preventative and targeted occupational health service to support organisations with health advice and return to work.

• Ensure that senior leaders are aware of the importance of workplace health and wellbeing, and that they embed actions to ensure that it’s taken seriously across the organisation.
  
  
• Train line managers and supervisors to manage people well. Line managers are key to employee wellbeing and should ensure people’s workloads and deadlines are manageable. They should provide clear objectives and give constructive feedback, as part of a trust-based relationship with people. They should have the confidence to have sensitive conversations with people and offer support and flexibility if a team member needs adjustments to help manage their health and work.
  
  
• Provide early access to occupational health support and other specialist sources of help, such as counselling or physiotherapy.
  
  
• Develop an evidence-based understanding of the causes of absence and unhealthy practices in your organisation, such as ‘presenteeism’ and ‘leaveism’. Unless the underlying issues prompting people’s attendance and behaviours are addressed, efforts to improve health and wellbeing will be short-lived.
  
  
• Tailor policies and practices to organisational and employee needs. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to designing an effective employee wellbeing strategy – its content should be based on the organisation’s unique needs and characteristics, and of course those of its employees.
  
  
• Build a robust organisational framework to promote good mental wellbeing and foster a culture where people can talk about mental health and seek help where needed.
  
  
• Carry out a risk assessment or audit on work-related stress across the workforce, as part of a preventive approach to identify its main causes.

Reports

• Supporting working carers
• Health and wellbeing at work survey report
• CIPD Good Work Index
• Evidence review on employee resilience
• Evidence review on mental wellbeing and digital work
  

Guidance and factsheets

• Guidance for managing drug and alcohol misuse at work
• Compassionate bereavement support
  
• A guide to becoming a carer-friendly workplace
• Wellbeing at work
• Mental health in the workplace
• Recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition
• Line manager resources for supporting health and wellbeing
  
• Joint guidance for people managers with Mind: Supporting mental health at work
• Responding to suicide risk in the workplace
• Managing and supporting employees experiencing domestic abuse
  

Consultation responses

• Work, Health and Disability Green Paper: improving lives
• Health is Everyone's Business: Proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss
• Compassionate bereavement support
• Women’s health strategy: Call for evidence  
• Disability Employment Gap 
• Government Consultation on Violence against Women and Girls
• Manifesto for the Menopause at Work