Speaking the Language of Wellbeing

Whilst stuck in the train station today I found myself wondering why isn’t wellbeing common across business. So like usual I’ve used my blog to rant and pour my own meandering thoughts out on the page. 

Many organisations proclaim that “our people are at the heart of everything we do and if it wasn’t for our people we wouldn’t have a business” Sounds great, doesn’t it? but I ask you when you hear these words, look closer. What you will likely find is one or two key strategies (usually linked to training, pay) that are heavily invested by the company that gives the business the confidence to make the statements. Of course, companies should train their people better and pay them more, yet for me these are the basics of being a ‘good business’ and unfortunately, we humans are much more complex than this. 

Human beings are creators and explorers, they aim to discover, build, innovate, and change the world around them. Therefore, the quality of work life, the single biggest part of our waking adult lives, must surely count heavily for the quality of life. Can we truly say that the more training we receive and the more money I earn will ultimately make me the best employee in the world and fulfil my personal, professional and spiritual needs? if only, however sadly not. It baffles me to think that most businesses seem to forget that their employees are human, which shows through weak wellbeing programmes of work.

Businesses need to remember that the internal processes of an employee interact with job characteristics and subsequently wellbeing at work, these can’t be approached separately. Wellbeing is impacted by genetics, mood and emotional state, these along with age are likely to play a part in workplace wellbeing. It’s amazing to think that job satisfaction is typically highest amongst the oldest and youngest employees, declining in the middle years, before rising again with age. That’s me screwed then, I’m well and truly in the middle years, great!

What about the employee’s personality? Each of the ‘big five’ dimensions of personality (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness) have been shown to correlate with job satisfaction, even research into the relationship between wellbeing and education has pointed to lower wellbeing among more educated workers!! Isn’t that amazing, the smarter you are, the more likely your wellbeing will suffer. That’s a great advertising campaign for university “STAY AWAY YOU’LL BE HAPPIER”

The work place factors that impact wellbeing and subsequently performance are not, unfortunately, a clear-cut list companies can chronologically follow and subsequently set policies against.  Nevertheless, this has not stopped many differing companies deploying wellbeing strategies (Google, John Lewis, Safeway, Network Rail and Royal Mail). These companies understand the many benefits of having a good level of wellbeing within the workforce. Individuals with higher wellbeing have healthier diets, are more likely to exercise and less likely to smoke, experience more positive social relationships and greater levels of collaboration and cooperation within the workplace, have better cognitive processes such as creativity, problem solving, process complex information more speedily and have a wider span of attention. This, along with research suggesting that employees with lower wellbeing are less likely still to be in the same job 15 months later, make wellbeing an attractive proposition for both employer and employees. A recent study of 8,000 business units in 36 companies found that higher levels of wellbeing were associated with higher productivity and profits. Likewise, after studying 42 manufacturing companies, overall job satisfaction was positively correlated with company productivity in the subsequent year.

So, I ask you, after reading my rant, when you come across “business speak” towards employees being at the heart of the business, look closer, you’ll likely see a couple of chinks in the paint work.

Work for those companies that genuinely care for their employees, how can you tell if they do? a good place to start is by seeing what their wellbeing programme looks like and how they resonate with the employees.

P.s I don’t know why the text is all over the place……

 

 

 

 

 

Nuclear is NOT the devil

Recently I watched a very interesting documentary called Pandora’s Promise:

I, like most, thought that nuclear power was the devil and that commissioning nuclear power stations was one step away from our destruction as a species. 

However, what I have now started to see is that nuclear power is the only viable solution to our energy needs and transitioning to a low carbon economy. Let me hit you with some quick facts about nuclear energy:

In the fission of uranium 235 nucleus, the amount of energy released is about 60,000,000 times as much as the nearest energy source. To put that into perspective, a piece of uranium the size of your finger nail can create the same amount of energy as 5,000 barrels of oil….!!!!

 Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions : Nuclear energy by far has the lowest impact on the environment since it does not release any gases like carbon dioxide and methane.

Powerful and Efficient : The other main advantage of using nuclear energy is that it is very powerful and more efficient than any other energy sources 

Reliable : Unlike traditional sources of energy like solar and wind which require sun or wind to produce electricity, nuclear energy can be produced from nuclear power plants even in the cases of rough weather conditions. They can produce power 24/7 and need to be shut down for maintenance purposes only.

Cheap Electricity : The cost of uranium which is used as a fuel in generating electricity is quite low. Also, set up costs of nuclear power plants is relatively high while running cost is low. The average life of a nuclear reactor range from 4.-60 years depending upon its usage. These factors when combined make the cost of producing electricity very low. Even if the cost of uranium rises, the increase in cost of electricity will be much lower.

Low Fuel Cost : The main reason behind the low fuel cost is that it requires little amount of uranium to produce energy. When a nuclear reaction happens, it releases million times more energy as compared to traditional sources of energy.

 Supply : There are certain economic advantages in setting up nuclear power plants and using nuclear energy in place of conventional energy. It is one of the major sources of electricity throughout the nation. The best part is that this energy has a continuous supply. It is widely available, has huge reserves and expected to last for another 100 years while coal, oil and natural gas are limited and are expected to vanish soon.

Easy Transportation : Production of nuclear energy needs less amount of raw material. This means that only about 28 gram of uranium releases as much energy as produced from 100 metric tons of coal. Since it’s required in small quantities, transportation of fuel is much easier than fossil fuels. Optimal utilization of natural resources in production of energy is a very thoughtful approach for any nation. It not only enhances the socio-economic condition but also sets example for the other countries

Seems like a no-brainer doesn’t it??? ah but of course you will get many people saying “but what about 3 mile island, chernobyl and fukushima”  Well, let me tell you something surprising  about the most well known site, chernobyl.

Those ignoring the best medical data on radiation risks who returned shortly after the blast: None of the people who came back to Chernobyl died of cancer or any other illness….. 

In fact, there is a beach in Brazil that has higher radiation than the towns nearest the chernobyl and fukushima sites!

 

Of course, we can’t forget nuclear bombs, but get this, for the past two decades, 10 percent of all the electricity consumed in the United States has come from Russian nuclear warheads. This is the Megatons To Megawatts project, where the USA is buying up the nukes from Russia and turn them into energy within their nuclear power stations. 

Furthermore, just look at the death tolls in terms of where your energy comes from, can you spot nuclear… wind and solar are more deadly than nuclear???? Go and have a look at what it takes to make a solar panel.

Energy Source               Mortality Rate (deaths/trillionkWhr)

Coal – global average         100,000    (50% global electricity)

Coal – China                         170,000   (75% China’s electricity)

Coal – U.S.                               10,000    (44% U.S. electricity)

Oil                                               36,000    (36% of energy, 8% of electricity)

Natural Gas                                4,000    (20% global electricity)

Biofuel/Biomass                    24,000    (21% global energy)

Solar (rooftop)                              440    (< 1% global electricity)

Wind                                                 150    (~ 1% global electricity)

Hydro – global average          1,400    (15% global electricity)

Hydro – U.S.                                   0.01    (7% U.S. electricity)

Nuclear – global average              90    (17%  global electricity w/Chern&Fukush)

Nuclear – U.S.                                0.01    (19% U.S. electricity)

 

Just take a look at who the main sponsors are in terms of lobbying against nuclear power stations, the fossil fuel industry….hmmmmm I wonder why???

The holy grail in terms of clean energy is renewables, or so I thought. The sun doesn’t shine 24/7 nor does the wind blow 24/7, which is why renewables need huge gas reserves to back them up. Go and have a look at what happens to the gas consumption of an area that has invested heavily in renewables, gone up hasn’t it…..

So I leave with this:

• France derives about 75% of its electricity from nuclear energy
• France is the world’s largest net exporter of electricity due to its very low cost of generation, and gains over €3 billion per year from this.
• France has been very active in developing nuclear technology. Reactors and fuel products and services are a major export.
• It is building its first Generation III reactor.
• About 17% of France’s electricity is from recycled nuclear fuel.

Very appealing isn’t it…..

 

 

 

 

Don’t worry, be happy: Chance to win £1m!!

Hi,

How does the song go…..

The landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don’t worry, be happy
Look at me, I’m happy

Oo, oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Don’t worry
Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Be happy
Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Don’t worry, be happy…….

Sorry I thought the title of the blog and song would entice you to read on……cheap trick I know….but now you’re here…..

Let me quickly get the boring formal stuff out of the way, this blog is for my personal leadership opportunity / ‘change challenge’ at Cambridge University.

However, don’t let that put you off as I’m really keen to explain why (in my personal / professional opinion) employee wellbeing is as crucial to an organisation as their products and services.

Why? well let me hit you with some hard (and alarming) facts by the CIPD

• The average cost of absence now stands at £554 per employee per year
• Fewer than one in ten (8%) of UK organisations currently have a standalone wellbeing strategy that supports the wider organisational strategy.
• The majority of employers are more reactive than proactive in their approach to wellbeing (61%).
• Almost two-fifths of employees (38%) are under excessive pressure at work at least once a week.
• 43% say that long hours working is the norm for their organisation (to a great or moderate extent).
• Wellbeing is taken into account in business decisions only to a little extent, or not at all, in the majority (57%) of cases.
• Less than two-fifths of organisations monitor the cost of employee absence

Let me say that again, “Less than two-fifths of organisations monitor the cost of employee absence“What?!?! how can that be the case……if that’s true then my organisation is wasting £ms and doesn’t know why. Can you imagine any other cost on your P&L making this level of impact and having no strategy for it……?

I’m really shocked by the above list, when explained in that way it seems very strange that most businesses don’t offer a standalone wellbeing strategy within the UK. Wellbeing is extremely subjective and resides within the total experience of the individual, just thinking about that makes me worry about the complexities of a wellbeing programme.

The best wellness programmes bring the built environment, company policies, and leadership messaging under a single mission of wellness. For example, Safeway redefined its core business from “a grocery company with a wellness program,” to “a wellness company that happens to sell groceries.

I also love Google’s wellness strap-line:

Benefits that are part of who we are as a business, designed to take care of the whole you and keep you healthy, whether physically, emotionally, financially or socially

Emotionally…….that’s odd, why would any organisation view their employees as anything other than an asset to exploit…………

Both of the above examples are US companies, this got me thinking why, why is ‘wellness known and actively embraced within arguably a similar country to the UK (in terms of consumerism and western culture).

Maybe US companies have to actively care for their employees wellbeing due to company health insurance premiums, intern employees themselves seek this out as a benefit in kind due to private health insurance costs within the USA.

Luckily (some would say) within the UK we have a National Health Service (NHS) paid for by the tax payer. The NHS is free at the point of access, meaning that no matter what your job, status or insurance is, everyone is entitled to health care.

Does this make UK employees less concerned about their wellbeing as a result? Probably not, however an overtly financial metric (health insurance cost / risk) to incentivise UK companies  to invest in wellbeing  is lost as a result of the NHS.

I’m not suggesting for a second that the UK health system goes private, watch this video and those of you familiar with the NHS will understand the value of it: Just watch the first three minutes…..insane!!!

Moving on, looking at ‘what good looks like’ within a wellbeing strategy drives me to explore an interesting list of companies:

• DHL
• fitbit
• Virgin
• Netflix
• Johnson & Johnson
• Network Rail
• Royal Mail

All very different organisations, however all have a very common thread running throughout their amazing wellbeing strategies:

• Effective communication strategies:

Employ strategies to communicate wellbeing programme information to employees, ranging from face-to-face interaction to mass dissemination. Review cited the importance of broad outreach and clear messaging from organisational leaders

• Opportunity for employees to engage:

Making wellbeing activities convenient and easily accessible for all employees are strategies to raise the level of employee engagement

• Leadership engaged at all levels:

Evidence from case studies suggests that for programmes to be a success, senior managers need to consider wellbeing an organisational priority to shift the company culture. Buy-in from direct supervisors is crucial to generate excitement and connect employees to available resources

• Use of existing resources and relationships:

All organisations leverage existing resources and build relationships, often with health plans, to expand offerings at little to no cost

• Continuous evaluation:

Approach wellbeing with a continuous quality improvement attitude

Wellbeing covers loads and loads of topics:

This only goes to confirm the subjective  nature of wellbeing, so where do I begin……..

There are plenty of models out there that suggest a simple step-by-step approach to wellbeing, two prominent models are Gallups five forces and the Health and Safety Executives Management Standards- Stress.

Gallups Five Elements to Wellbeing:

• Career
• Social
• Financial
• Physical
• Community

According to Gallup, if you have all five elements in place you’re one happy bunny…however while 66% of UK people are doing well in at least one area, just 7% are thriving in all five!!

The Health and Safety Executives Management Standards- Stress:

• Demands
• Control
• Support
• Relationships
• Role
• Change

The Health and Safety Executive argues that stress is a major issue drawing down on peoples wellbeing and that the total number of working days lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety  in the UK was 11.3 million in 2013/14.

I take issue with this ‘check list’ process to wellbeing. The Health and Safety Executives Management Standards- Stress  model is broad to encourage multi sector adoption, however it has been criticized for ignoring some important issues such as boredom and work overload that also contribute to stress. It also does not take into account the whole picture of wellbeing by focusing exclusively on work related stress, research would suggest that wellbeing is more complex.

Gallups Five Elements model is again broad to encourage multi sector adoption, however only 7% of the UK population has all five in balance, whilst 66% are thriving in just one area, making it difficult to sell into an organisation as a model for wellbeing. Also, the model seems to imply that wellbeing is only due to external factors, whereas mental health, which is arguably a key component of wellbeing, can also arise from internal factors such as chemical imbalances.

Nevertheless, an amalgamation of the two above models, taking into account your organisations culture and values, could yield interesting results to guide and build internal credibility for a wellbeing strategy. A bespoke wellbeing model could also become a piece of competitive advantage…..

To begin this, my thoughts are to build the business case for wellbeing, why do we need this (£) within my organisation. Aligning the hard financials (absence, turnover, retention, service delivery) to the vision and culture of the business seems a logical place to start.

This is my  personal leadership challenge, for me this is not just about implementing a strategy to reduce cost, it’s about making lives better for our direct / indirect employees.

I can’t do this alone, so please, any and all feedback is welcome.

 

Do We Really Need More Stuff? Sustainable Consumption and Behavioural Change

As Christmas roles round I start to go through the usual process, what should I buy my wife, child and family, what should I say if they ask “what would you like for Christmas Mark” and I wonder if it will snow and whether Indiana Jones will be on the TV……you know, the usual…..

For me, as soon as the calendar roles into October it sparks the best part of the year for me. The winter nights draw in, the heating goes on and the comfort food consumption goes through the roof. Within the UK, the best food and drink comes out at Christmas, the supermarket adverts seem to specialise in food porn and I simply can’t help myself.

But, with the end of Christmas comes something altogether more sobering. You’re likely to be a few pounds heavier, your credit card will have taken and absolute hammering and you’re now left with a load of ‘stuff’ people have bought you and you’ve bought others that you don’t really need. Likely, most of it will end up collecting dust on top of the wardrobe or in a charity shop.

However, everything I’ve mentioned above is not new information, we all know this yet we all still do it. I’m 33 now, back when I was in my early 20s I used to think I wanted a better car, house, clothes, watch, girlfriend…….yet on my 33rd birthday I had something of a revelation. My wife asked “what would you like for your birthday Mark” and I thought, mmmmmmmm maybe a nice watch, or some sort of gadget. However I replied with “an experience”. As you can imagine my wife looked at me in a strange way, “what the hell do you mean an experience” to which I replied “I want memories, not more stuff”

My birthday experience turned into a week of activities from skiing, quad biking, shooting, go ape and being a zookeeper for the day. At the end of the week I had nothing material to show for it, but what I did have was a load of memories. Memories that I can access whenever I want, wherever I want and let me tell you, these memories are priceless to me.

This got me thinking, what is sustainable consumption and does it really exist? The conclusion I got to was, yes it does. How can I say this, well when it comes to sustainable consumption its all about access rather than ownership……

Think about it in relation to my birthday week, did I spend significant capital building a ski slope for myself, buy a quad bike, a gun or build a zoo. No of course not, however by paying to access these resources they don’t need to be built multiple times for each person on an individual bases……..all that is needed is just enough quad bikes (for example) to be built to allow the masses to access them at a predetermined date and time. A predetermined date and time to buy things!!! how odd, and will people accept this? Difficult to sell to the masses yes, when we now live in a ‘want it now’ society within the West. As resource becomes an even bigger issue than it is today, consumers will either have to learn to adjust to a ‘collaborative’ model to consumption, or take the pain of being forced to change.

Have I just come up with a multi £m idea to save the planet, sadly not. However what I experienced over my birthday week is something that is quickly becoming the next generation of consumption, the sharing economy.

Sustainable consumption is not merely about purchasing goods that are less harmful to the environment but should also involve a reduction in consumption – ‘not more stuff but more satisfaction’

Literature highlights the extent to which consumption is linked with our identity as human beings. For example, Jackson (2009) suggests that the consumption of material goods has “become embedded in a wide variety of different personal, social and cultural narratives” (p.16). He goes on to claim that “we consume in order to identify ourselves with a social group, to position ourselves within that group, to distinguish ourselves with respect to other social groups, to communicate allegiance to certain ideals” (Jackson, 2009, p. 17)

In the face of this human desire to consume, business models that provide consumers access to goods through rental, lease or sharing as a substitute for ownership may present a means to reduce the burden of consumption on the environment on a scale that can ‘shift the dial’. The use of such models is variously called ‘collaborative consumption’ or the ‘sharing economy’.

So I leave you with this, the next time you’re in the market to make an impulse material purchase, make a change and try an experience purchase and I promise you that the memories you will make will last a hell of a lot longer than your new shoes.

How to love where you work

We spend most of our time at work, so to work somewhere you don’t love is a real challenge. If you don’t love where you work and see it as simply a paycheque, have the guts to prioritise your happiness and leave to find a job you really love, but how?

So, I attended an interesting talk this week where Kevin Roberts the Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi spoke at great length about how a brand goes from being ‘liked’ to loved.

Its all about family……….

Think about it, what are you like with your partner or children? you push them to do better, you want them to do better and you will do anything possible to ensure that they do better. However when they fall or fail, what do you do? you don’t ridicule them, or make them feel like failures, you bring them back into the fold, dust them off give them a pep talk and make them feel that anything is possible and that by getting back out there will make the impossible, possible.

Families are the most exclusive clubs going, they’re not easy to get into but once you’re in, you’re in! and what a feeling it is to feel truly supported no matter what happens.

Now ask yourself, is that truly what its like in your company? if it is, stay!!! you have found utopia, one where you can achieve your dream job because you’re part of a family with family values, this is how you will fall in ‘love’ with your company.

Now if you’re like most, and you don’t have this, don’t worry. Every organisation has the DNA to become loved, you simply have to find those moments of family magic and replicate it person-by-person, department-by-department. You might be thinking, yeah I’m only a receptionist or I won’t be listen to…..however don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t change the world, or in this case your organisation.

People think that to make change happen you need vast resources or a large IQ, that’s a load of bollocks. What really makes change happen is an idea, thats it, that’s all thats needed. An idea can bring down governments, make multi billion pound organisation and save lives.

A great man once said, culture eats strategy for breakfast. So if you’re business is going through change or growing aggressively, you need to make sure that you fight tooth and nail to ensure that your culture remains intact, those family values

So I challenge you, make your team members within your team feel part of a family and share this with others, just watch what happens…..

Quieten your cleverness

This little guy here is something we all suffer from. Read on and think about this in your world, we all do it.

Whilst in a meeting a concept, subject or comment is made and you ‘think’ you know all about it, your brain will automatically take over and say to you “hey, you know all about this, lets save energy and think about that room you want to decorate at home instead of listening to this”

I have struggled with this for years, I’ll be sat in a meeting and I see an agenda item and think great, i know this so I can switch off for an hour. However when I came across quieten your cleverness I had a real lightbulb moment. I disciplined my brain to slow down and give the person the benefit of the doubt before I subconsciously passed judgement….

And you know what, I learn something new every time i do this. So please, the next time you’re in a meeting and looking at the agenda and think ” oh great, an opportunity to switch off” slow your brain down, take time to listen and I guarantee you will learn something new.

Not my usual post however I want to rant….

As I sit on the train jugling my work along with uni assignments I find myself wondering, what is the right balance between work, family, progression and wanting to do better? how can I ensure that my son grows up knowing that hard work and the rewards that he will enjoy, don’t come easy.

Deep i know for a Tuesday afternoon……

My son recently turned one and the more I get into the detail of sustainability the more I worry about the sort of world he is growing up in and what the future looks like. Will he be able to heat his home, drive to work, feed his family or even be able to provide the basics? We like to think that we’re a civilised species, yet when resources start to go past the limit of return, lets see how civil we can be.

We are on the edge of what appears to be a cliff, and should we fall off our survival as a species is unlikely. The planet will be fine without the human race, however we can’t survive without the planet. I saw a simple statement the other day that summed it up “it’s madness to treat the planet as if it were a company that is going into liquidation” Just think about that for a second…….

However when I look into the eyes of my son I can’t help but feel a sense of wonder. Maybe his generation will be the ones to stop inequality, provide food for all, create companies that are truly connected to society, and ultimately stop what appears to be a never ending march for war!!

We have a responsibility as parents (and those who aren’t) to educate our children on the mistakes we’ve made and inspire them that there is a different model, one where we can have it all. In todays fast paced world it’s easy to keep going and not stop to think about all we’ve achieved as a species, along with what we could have done better.

I’m not righting my generation off, far from it. However take the time to look into your child’s eyes and think about the world we’re leaving for them…..

In centuries to come, will historians look back and think ” you guys had it all, yet you threw it all away for a profit”

Wellbeing, what are others doing?

Tracking absence is an issue for hospitality. However if the sector norm is to treat absence as a ‘necessary evil’ then would this imply that hospitality wellbeing strategies are untargeted in nature? the below depicts three hospitality companies along with the secondary information available to their wellbeing strategies

.

There are similarities between the strategies. Each offer an EAP, which is a benefit increasingly provided by employers that claims to reduce the effects of stress on individuals and provide confidential assessment, counseling, and therapeutic services for employees experiencing a wide range of personal, emotional and psychological problems (Liu 2006.) Through operating an EAP, arguably this could be a comprehensive way to tackle wellbeing. However, Liu (2006) goes on to argue that EAPs are reactive in nature, suggesting a team member is likely to contact the EAP once an issue is present, meaning it could be too late as the damage in terms of personal (physical / mental) along with financial (absence) could already have been done.

There are a number of areas outside of the EAP that could contribute to a wellbeing strategy, such as bike4work and gym membership, along with offering discounts on products and services. However reviewing wider sector wellbeing strategies shows that hospitality is somewhat behind. The below diagram reviews three well-known companies and their respective wellbeing strategies. Like hospitality each company offers an EAP, however that is where the similarities end. The best wellness programs bring the built environment, company policies, and leadership messaging under a single mission of wellness (HBR 2014.) For example, Safeway redefined its core business from “a grocery company with a wellness program,” to “a wellness company that happens to sell groceries (Schultz 2013).

As previously mentioned (Rath, 2011) argues that in recent decades, major change initiatives such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and employee engagement have taken hold in organizations. They’ve reduced costs and fueled growth. As a result, early adopters have gained a competitive edge. This leads to question of where the next seismic shift will occur? The next major workplace initiatives will focus on wellbeing. Does this mean that major sectors, other than hospitality, ‘get’ wellbeing and are reaping the benefits? Operating an employee ownership model such as John Lewis could be a strong reason why the business operates what appears to be a comprehensive wellbeing strategy. Likewise given the cost of private healthcare within the USA, organisations such as Google and Safeway are almost compelled to offer wellbeing programmes to reduce employee health insurance costs.

Wellbeing within Hospitality Isn’t Straight Forward………

Work stress is correlated to absenteeism, along with low reward, low control, low support and over-commitment that increase the frequency of sickness absence, while high effort and high demand increase the duration of absence (Magnavita and Garbarino, 2013.) Alarmingly c80% of the reason why employees are absent within the hospitality sector is unknown, which appears to be acceptable and growing……. This nonchalant response to absence rates and the lack of tracking is confirmed by (Martocchio, 1994) who argues that within the hospitality sector, it is a normative belief held by employees that turnover behaviour is quite appropriate. A culture of turnover can have an impact on the organisation in a negative way by acting as a counterculture to the organisation’s main objectives (Cooke & Rousseau, 1993.) Just think of what your organisations main objective is, and then worry about this…….!!

If you can’t tract absence, can you have a targeted wellbeing strategy?

If the sector trend is to treat absence as a ‘necessary evil’ then would this imply that the wellbeing strategies within hospitality are un-targeted in nature?

Watch this space for clarity

Sustainability Challenge: Wellbeing, the plot thickens

The Societal benefits to a Premier Inn wellbeing strategy can be looked at through the lens of the National Health Service (NHS). With work related mental illness increasing, those that are brave enough to seek support are finding that their local NHS is under immense pressure to cut services and reduce costs. With an ageing population, cost inflation and pressures on revenue, the NHS as a system needs to find ways to invest in prevention rather than wait until it has to treat conditions (Pretty et al., 2015.) Should all organisations at PLC and through to SME level operate a wellbeing strategy (relevant to their resources) it could help ‘fill the gap’ left by an NHS under ever increasing pressure

Vize (2011) comments that the Department of Health the NHS needs to find £20bn of productivity gains. Subsequently the NHS has to carryout drastic reforms to its services to avoid being overwhelmed by falls in real funding. Despite the enormous burden that mental ill-health imposes on individuals, their families, society, health systems and the economy, mental health care remains a neglected area of health policy in too many countries (OECD Publishing, 2014)

In the UK, the individualised annual health costs of the issues arising from modern lifestyles (for mental ill-health, dementia, obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, loneliness and cardiovascular disease) currently amount to £62 billion for the National Health Service, and £184 billion for the economy (Pretty et al 2015.)

We have a mountain to climb, however once we reach the top the climb will no doubt be worth it