Health & Wellbeing
Are we sick of working, or working ourselves sick? Stratfordupon-Avon brands announce support for local hospice Two leading Stratford-upon-Avon brands – full-service law firm Shakespeare Martineau and planning, design and development consultancy Marrons – have joined forces to support The Shakespeare Hospice for the next year. Since 1999, The Shakespeare Hospice has been caring for patients with life-limiting illnesses, their carers and loved ones across South Warwickshire, providing day services, Hospice at Home, adult counselling, transitional care, and children and family support. Shakespeare Martineau and Marrons will be raising money for The Shakespeare Hospice through various fundraising initiatives, including bake sales and raffles, and taking part in dragon boat races and inflatable 5ks. To support, the brands have implemented a responsible business committee and champions in its Stratford-upon-Avon hub, in Bridgeway House, who are committed to driving positive change in the community and providing opportunities for employees to support causes they are passionate about. Alison Stone, corporate and community fundraiser at The Shakespeare Hospice, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Shakespeare Martineau and Marrons teams for their forthcoming support. Our hospice relies on corporate partnerships like this to enable us to continue providing essential care and support to those in the local community affected by a life-limiting illness. We are really looking forward to hearing about all the exciting fundraising activities that the teams have planned over the next 12 months.” Andrew Smith, head of Shakespeare Martineau’s Stratford-upon-Avon hub, added: “We are delighted to be supporting The Shakespeare Hospice for the next year. The hospice gives people in our community who are affected by a life-limiting illness or bereavement access to compassionate care. We’re lucky to have such a fantastic charity on our doorstep that provides vital services to the region. “As certified B Corporations, we’re committed to using business as a force for good for our people, clients, planet and communities. It’s important for us to support local causes that make real differences to the lives our others, and we’re looking forward to holding various fundraising events over the course of the next 12 months to raise money to support The Shakespeare Hospice’s work.”
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According to research done by the CIPD, we are taking 2 extra sick days every year, the highest levels of sickness related absence in over a decade, costing the UK economy £28bn a year. Has Covid left us less resilient? Are we actually ‘less well’? Or, has Covid meant that we are all quicker to be kinder to ourselves when feeling under the weather? As always, the way we approach this challenge will shape our responses. The instinctive approach is to ask: “How do we get more people in work?” but we may get better outcomes if we ask: “What can we do to support people to be at their best?” According to the CIPD, the top reason for absence was minor illness (e.g., colds/flu, stomach upsets, headaches). It may be that the Covid years taught us to treat minor
illnesses with more caution, both in terms of our own health and contagion. Whatever the cause, are people are less likely to push through and turn up anyway? However, to add to the above, we need to look at how mental health interlinks with this area of presenteeism (begin at work when not being fit to) – 50% of staff are feeling stressed at work (YouGov, 2022). 60% of employees feel anxious, 56% of employees experience low moods, 19% of employees have a current mental health diagnosis, 66% of staff aged 25-35 experience symptoms of anxiety, over 80% of professionals experience fatigue at work – yet only 51% of staff “feel supported at work” (Champion Health, 2023). Whilst work has been done to support this area, we are certainly not there yet. So, how can we create a working environment that supports wellness?
The two greatest causes of stress reported in the CIPD study were ‘workload’ and ‘management style.’ How do we begin to reduce the impact these have on presenteeism? As with everything it begins with building our understanding of what the people in our teams are experiencing. If you’re interested in this, then join Lumien on Tuesday 5th December for a conversation about improving the employee experience in our businesses. The intent is to create a conversation and to explore the idea of bringing together a small group to meet throughout 2024 to continue to grow together and support each other. If you have responsibility for employee experience in an SME and would be interested in taking part in the event, contact chris@lumien.io or head to https://lumien.io/
St Francis Employability achieve the Thrive at Work Foundation Award The Thrive at Work health and wellbeing awards are the West Midlands County standard of good practice and a quality mark for health and wellbeing in the workplace. This fully funded, accredited programme within the Coventry area has been created to offer help and guidance, to implement changes, improving health and wellbeing in the workplace. Commenting on recently achieving the Thrive at Work Foundation Award, St Francis Employability said:
“We have achieved the Thrive at Work Foundation Award and we are truly delighted. We are improving our commitment to employee health and wellbeing and ensuring we have a positive workplace culture. The Thrive at Work program has, and will continue to, support us in the positive development and implementation of key initiatives to ensure we are an employer that really cares for every one of our employees. We are excited to move on to work towards achieving our bronze award and beyond.
We would like to say thank you to the Thrive at Work team, especially Elise Sandwell, for all their support’.” This fully funded, accredited programme within the Coventry area has been created to offer help and guidance, to implement changes, improving health and wellbeing in the workplace. For more information about Thrive at Work please contact thrive@coventry.gov.uk www.coventry.gov.uk/thrive
How can employers prepare for the Carer’s Leave Act? The Carer’s Leave Bill is due to be enacted as early as April 2024. It will give nearly 2.4 million workers in the UK who qualify as carers, a week’s unpaid leave per year - recognising the need for those workers with caring responsibilities for greater flexibility to provide care for family members or dependents. Here are 5 ways in which your business can start to prepare: 1. Ensure management training is sufficient –Train managers to ensure internal procedures are in place so requests for carers leave are responded to appropriately and managers are equipped with the necessary personable skills to deal with these requests professionally and humanly.
2. Communicate throughout the organisation – Ensure all employees know about the new legislation through internal channels such as handbooks and company announcements. Workshops or webinars could be held so employees know what they are entitled to and how the Act will affect them. 3. Review benefits and support – Make this an opportunity to review existing schemes and ensure benefits are still relevant for the current workforce including carers. Speak to your employees to see if other benefits schemes would be more suitable. Highlight all areas of support that carers may also find useful such as flexible working, other types of leave and if you have a health and wellbeing scheme or support groups that they might find helpful.
4. Update policies and procedures – Ensure employee handbooks are up to date and prepare to include Carers Leave, stating who qualifies and how to apply. Creating a self-certification form for employees could provide useful which states that they meet the legal definition of a carer and that they are using this particular type of leave. 5. Educate your workforce – Ensure employees are aware of the leave and if they qualify as a carer as many may not see themselves in this way. Make sure you deploy an open culture where carers leave can be openly discussed, and employees know who to approach if they have any questions. Support carers week to raise awareness throughout the organisation and ensure information on carers rights, is easily accessible.
If you need help updating your Employee Handbooks or need any other HR advice, please visit our website www.ahrconsultants.co.uk
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