Open HSME menu
Subscribe Login

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Press Release / Demystifying Wellbeing at Work

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil, and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips, and Falls
  • Wellbeing at work
  • Working at Height
  • Working rights

MORE

  • Press Release
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
Open HSME menu
Subscribe

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Press Release / Demystifying Wellbeing at Work

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil, and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips, and Falls
  • Wellbeing at work
  • Working at Height
  • Working rights

MORE

  • Press Release
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

CATEGORIES

  • Safety Signage
  • Heat and Flame
  • Article
  • Press Release
  • Air Pollution
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil, and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Offshore Platform Safety
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Regulations & Legislations
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips, and Falls
  • Wellbeing at work
  • Working at Height
  • Working rights

Press Release

Demystifying Wellbeing at Work

By British Safety Council

| Read Bio

Published: March 28th, 2019

Share this article

Wellbeing is fast becoming a key boardroom issue. However, research by the British Safety Council has identified a lot of uncertainty about wellbeing at work. Its report Not just free fruit: wellbeing at work, found that employee wellbeing is often ignored or misunderstood. Employers are unsure how to define it, how to improve it, what priority to assign to it and how to measure the success of wellbeing programmes and interventions.

To help organisations solve key wellbeing dilemmas, the British Safety Council, in association with Safety Management magazine, recently hosted a roundtable debate. Some of Britain’s most eminent wellbeing thought leaders and passionate campaigners took part in the session, chaired by Peter McGetrrick, Board Member of the British Safety Council. Attendees included: Professor Dame Carol Black, Professor Cary Cooper, Norman Lamb MP, Charles Alberts, Head of Health Management at Aon, Peter Brown, Deputy Director, of the Health and Work Programme at HSE, Dr Shaun Davis, Global Director of Safety, Health, Wellbeing and Sustainability at Royal Mail, Steve Hails, Director of Health, Safety and Wellbeing at Tideway, James Murray, Managing Director at Vitality and Hugh Robertson, Senior Policy Officer at TUC.

They reviewed and challenged concepts and common perceptions of wellbeing at work.

The nature of workplace wellbeing:

  • At its simplest, workplace wellbeing is a sense of contentment. It consists of physical and mental health and a feeling that you are in a good place when you’re at work. (Prof Carol Black).
  • Workplace wellbeing is a boardroom issue. It’s a reflection of how you run your business. (Norman Lamb).
  • It is an issue of culture, taking into consideration the whole of an organisation. (Prof Cary Cooper).
  • Wellbeing is when people have a sense of connection with their work. It combines usefulness, purpose and dignity. (Hugh Robertson)
  • It’s an issue of leadership. As well as talking about workplace accidents, the board should be discussing how happy the workforce is. (James Murray)

“wellbeing is fast becoming a key boardroom issue. However, research by the British Safety Council has identified a lot of uncertainty about wellbeing at work”

Managing workplace wellbeing:

  • Good line management is a cornerstone of workplace wellbeing. (Prof Carol Black).
  • Companies are failing their staff by granting managerial responsibility to people on the basis of their technical ability, with no training or support to allow them to succeed as leaders. (Steve Hails)
  • You need to engage your top team personally with wellbeing as they often do not understand the factors that affect peoples’ wellbeing. (Prof Cary Cooper)
  • Training often produces a layer of people who know what good management looks like but they have no power or authority to change anything. They feel frustrated because they know that they cannot make a difference. Line managers should be empowered to represent their staff and make a difference. (Lawrence Waterman)
  • Instead of telling employees to eat five pieces of fruit a day, you should find out what their needs are and give them the tools to look after their own health and make their own decisions. (Dr Shaun Davis)

Measuring workplace wellbeing:

  • Engagement rates are not the right measurement tool for wellbeing. People can be pushed into engagement, skewing the statistics. (Prof Carol Black)
  • Some matters relating to wellbeing are ‘soft’ issues which businesses do not measure well, i.e. poor productivity. If they don’t measure these factors, they don’t believe that there is a problem. (James Murray)
  • Engagement is often used by senior management as a sales tool for their workers to buy into. They are like customers who buy a product but they are not involved in any decisions concerning it. Proper engagement allows workers to participate in fundamental decisions instead of being the ‘happy recipients’ of them. (Lawrence Waterman).

Incentives and support for companies to adopt workplace wellbeing

  • Wellbeing Premiums, i.e. tax incentives for two years, that reward employers demonstrating their commitment to staff wellbeing, have been trialled in the West Midlands. This pilot scheme seeks to test the different levels of commitment. We believe, that if the companies using them see their benefits, we won’t need to continue subsidising them. (Norman Lamb)
  • There should be a kind of New Deal in public sector procurement. The companies which contract with the government and take money from the public purse should be expected to be good employers and behave in a sustainable way, unlike Carillion. (Norman Lamb)

Lawrence Waterman, Chairman of the British Safety Council, said: “We were delighted that some of Britain’s most authoritative voices on workplace wellbeing agreed to share their expertise and opinions at our wellbeing debate. Their views and advice helped us to take a fresh look at workplace wellbeing and challenge the accepted views on how it should be managed and measured.

“This debate will guide our future campaigning and lobbying activities. It is clear, that we should involve other organisations responsible for developing best practice in workplace wellbeing in this. We also intend to continue these roundtable debates. They will enable us to examine other aspects of wellbeing, such as incentives and support for wellbeing programmes, particularly in relation to SMEs. Engaging with organisations and authorities that have established schemes to encourage these developments will be key.”

The full report from the roundtable debate will be published in the May issue of Safety Management magazine.

Share this article

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

British Safety Council

The British Safety Council is dedicated to making sure no-one is injured or made ill at work.

Our role is to help you achieve the very highest Health and Safety standards required by law, to protect your bottom line and your staff alike.

We achieve this by teaching the right courses to the people who need them. We learn from our global network of health and safety professionals.

We ceaselessly campaign and influence in the cause of better Health and Safety, never in the cause of financial profit.

Connect with British Safety Council

Visit Website

POPULAR POSTS BY British Safety Council

British Safety Council Announces Winners of the International Safety Awards 2022

Press Release

British Safety Council Announces Winners of the International Safety Awards 2022

British Safety Council logo

Press Release

Delay to New Air pollution Targets Could Cost Lives

British Safety Council logo

Press Release

Employers must Protect Workers or Face the Consequences

British Safety Council Courses iStock Image

Press Release

Live Online Courses Launched

Press Release

Free Training Courses to Help you Stay Safe Working from Home During Coronavirus

British Safety Council logo

Press Release

British Safety Council Announce Winners of International Safety Awards

Get email updates

Sign up for the HSME newsletter

Keep up-to-date through the power of email with the region's only industrial health and safety magazine - delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSME on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/HSMEMagazine/

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSME on Twitter

hsmemagazine HSME Magazine @hsmemagazine ·
25 Jan

DFB is designed for use in high-end manufacturing environments, including food and pharmaceutical manufacturing but can also be applied in wider industry settings.

Read the latest exciting news from @airbench today!
https://www.hsmemagazine.com/press-release/new-downflow-booth-from-airbench-ltd/

#hsmemagazine #AirBench #DownFlowBooth

Reply on Twitter 1618277902268915719 Retweet on Twitter 1618277902268915719 Like on Twitter 1618277902268915719 Twitter 1618277902268915719

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE

Stay up to date with our newsletter

Keep up-to-date through the power of email with the region’s only industrial health and safety magazine – delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs.

 

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Subscribe

SUBSCRIBE TO HSME MAGAZINE

5 reasons to subscribe to our digital and print package

  • Stay up to date from anywhere in the world, with instant access to the latest issue straight from your phone, tablet or laptop.
  • Trust that you’re getting the best content from our range of internationally accredited authors.
  • Get full access to our archives and see how occupational safety has evolved with us over the years.
  • Enjoy our monthly newsletter curated with up-to-the-minute news and a selection of editor’s top picks.
  • Hot off the press and straight to your door – look forward to your own glossy copy of HSME, delivered five times a year
Subscribe View Subscription levels

STAY SAFE & INFORMED

Subscribe to the best health & safety articles, news, products and regulations

Find out more

Stay up to date with our newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

ABOUT

  • About HSME
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us

YOUR ACCOUNT

Sign In Register Account Subscribe to HSME

RESOURCES

Request Media Pack

CONNECT

ACCREDITATIONS

Copyright Bay Publishing 2023. All Rights reserved.

Designed & Built by:
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT