Creating a healthy workplace has to be about much more than just buying in external services such as employee assistance programmes (EAPs), employers have been told.

A blog by Simon Dixon, head of policy and influencing at the Royal Society for Public Health, has argued that, while EAPs can be valuable, take-up is often low, often as few as 3% of eligible employees a year.

EAPs and health support

Expanding EAPs to smaller firms could save UK plc millions – RSPH

Two-thirds have no idea if employer offers an EAP

Take-up of EAPs as low as 3%

“Instead, healthy work is something which is created by an organisational culture – starting with the way in which work itself is designed,” said Dixon.

“The building blocks of good work – fair pay, autonomy, and control – all contribute to reducing stress and improving mental wellbeing, but they also create a culture where people are empowered to improve their physical health at the same time,” he added.

The importance of managers, and line managers, in creating healthy work could not be overstated, he emphasised. “For most people, their meaningful interaction with their employer is through their manager. HR departments and leadership – particularly in large organisations – can often be distant, with little impact on the day-to-day work environment,” said Dixon.

“Despite that, most managers get promoted to that role because of their functional skills – rather than because they are great managers.

“We know that having a supportive manager can be the difference between accessing support in a timely manner, and being forced out of work due to worsening health. There is training and support out there to support managers in this role, but take-up is often too low.

“Shifting this dial – so that every manager is actively supporting their staff’s health – is a vital first step in creating healthy work,” he added.

Too often, the current fit note system is seen as “binary”, Dixon argued, with people seen as well enough to work as normal until they meet a threshold beyond which no work is appropriate.

“Rather than encouraging a gradual movement between systems, people often end up facing a binary choice where they are labelled unfit for work, rather than supported to do what works for them,” Dixon said.

“Fixing this means encouraging employers to engage in meaningful case management, with supportive absence management procedures. Underpinning this, we need a closer relationship between occupational health and management, where both sides understand the demands and offer of the other,” he added.

With the Keep Britain Working review by Sir Charlie Mayfield ongoing, Dixon highlighted that, for many employers, health support is still seen as a cost, with insufficient return on investment to justify the capital that needs to be put in.

“While many employers have seen the benefits of a more supportive approach, this is often hard to quantify, and businesses are wary of sharing data on issues such as absence rates,” he pointed out.

“At the same time, where an offer does exist, awareness and uptake are often lower than we would want. Changing this comes back to ensuring that everyone with management responsibilities is fully aware of – and comfortable with – the support available, and staff are actively encouraged to access the services that they need.

“Businesses who go above and beyond see better outcomes, so we need to spread this good practice voluntarily – creating a situation where employers compete to offer the best health support, rather than treating it as a drag on their resources,” Dixon added.

 

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