Supporting mental health in the workplace is at the top of many employers’ agendas, with many recognising that they have a duty of care to look after their staff.  However, a company knowing it needs to offer support, and knowing how to offer support, are two quite different things.

Best practice mental health support

Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD is keen to help employers realise that they may already have excellent mental health support available under their group risk protection benefits (employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness benefits).

These products are best known for the financial support they provide for employees and their families on death, a life changing accident, illness or disability, or on a devastating diagnosis.  However, what is less well known is that these products actually offer some of the most valuable employee support available for mental health in the workplace.

Support can include:

• Critical Incident Support
• Wellbeing drop-in days
• Employee Assistance Programmes
• Face-to-face counselling
• Free access to online guides
• Bereavement counselling

Support for families and colleagues too

Group risk protection providers can arrange for Critical Incident Support to be offered in the workplace when people have been killed by violent acts such as terrorism or knife crime; and they can do the same when a colleague dies by suicide or any other sudden death.

World Suicide Prevention Day earlier this week highlighted the shocking rate of suicide in the UK – but for every one person that dies by suicide, many more are impacted.

While we may have a picture in our minds of what someone dealing with depression or who has suicidal thoughts may look like, in fact there are often no outward signs. So when someone dies by suicide it can be a shock to all those around.

Support offered by specialists immediately following the aftermath of a sudden death can be a saviour for people dealing with the shock and emotional toll.

It is estimated that for every suicide a further 135 people will experience intense grief or be otherwise affected.

For this reason, group risk protection benefits usually extend support for colleagues and families.

Training for Mental Health Support and Suicide Prevention

There are often no outside signs to the layman that a person is struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts, however trained managers may be able to offer assistance and signpost the benefits available, such as counselling or a helpline provided by your group risk policy.

In the workplace, consider offering mental health first aid training for line managers and interactive mood meters where employees can monitor their own mood levels.

Communicate

There are two elements that are equally important in terms of mental health support: offer it and communicate it.

There is no point providing mental health support if employees don’t know it exists.   Group risk providers and advisers are on hand to help employers communicate in the most effective way.

As highlighted in the Stevenson Farmer review, we all have mental health and we all fluctuate between thriving, struggling or being ill. Employees may not need support all the time, but it’s important they always know it’s there so they can access it when they do need to.

Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD said:

“It is often really difficult to get timely help for mental ill health, as anyone knows that has experienced poor mental health themselves or lived or worked with anyone that has. Group risk protection benefits are some of the most advanced in terms of their mental health support. Truly holistic in nature, support is there for the individual dealing with depression or suicidal thoughts, for colleagues and for families. We would urge all employers to look at group risk protection benefits if they are serious about supporting the mental health of their workforce.”

AI is often a continuing source of stress and hope at the same time – but in some sectors it could offer huge safety benefits.

Artificial Intelligence has gradually become more and more prominent in the construction sector with some real advantages, but it could create job losses.

In a sector where skills shortages are so prominent, is this the way forward, or should we preserve traditional methods and jobs?

PowerTools2U have produced an interesting infographic which they are kindly allowing us to share below:

Shifting the mindsets and skills of employees so they can engage with and confidently deploy digital technologies and practices in the workplace should be L&D’s top priority, according to a new paper from learning specialist Hemsley Fraser.

Called ‘Bridging the digital talent gap’, the paper highlights that progressive traditional businesses are investing not just in digital technologies but also in digital learning programmes to avoid being outmanoeuvred by digitally-adept competitors. It claims that nurturing, engaging and retaining digitally-skilled employees presents a significant opportunity for L&D teams to secure their organisation’s future.

“As well as being proficient with technology, digital working is the ability to quickly realign priorities and alter work practices,” said Lynsey Whitmarsh, Director of Innovation at Hemsley Fraser. “Today’s employees need to manage information, share knowledge, interact with others and solve problems in a modern, digital environment. To do this, they’ll need key competencies such as a willingness to learn, an openness to change, agility, flexibility, curiosity and resilience. This paper explains how L&D teams can develop employees at all levels to meet and master the challenge of digital change.” 

The paper warns that a global shortage of digital talent will prevent organisations from simply recruiting-in the required expertise.

“The pace of technology is changing so fast that schools and universities are struggling to equip young people with the digital skills that are needed in the workplace,” said Lynsey Whitmarsh. “Only the most renowned employers – or the highest payers – will be able to attract the top digital talent. For everyone else, the most cost effective strategy is to develop the digital capabilities of your existing employees.” 

According to the paper, a necessary preliminary step is to excite and engage senior executives and to communicate to the business the value of a digitally-enabled culture.

David Knight, Chairman of DEfactoED, a digital education services company working alongside Hemsley Fraser, said:

“Digital education needs to be made available 24/7, delivered in digestible form and provided to the entire workforce, not just to leadership or the IT teams. This should not be optional. Everyone needs an understanding of the fundamentals and to be kept abreast of developments. Few, if any, business transformation programmes will deliver on their potential unless the workforce embraces digital. It is crucially important for L&D functions to step up and deliver.”

Lynsey Whitmarsh added:

“Formal and informal learning opportunities can be created and digital learning resources can be used to up-skill employees quickly and effectively, and support them at the point of need. Providing robust digital development will not only help you to retain your talent, it will also enhance your employer brand and position your organisation as a more attractive environment for skilled digital workers.” 

The paper claims that companies which ignore the digital revolution – and rely on the ‘proven’ methods of the past – will rapidly fall behind, because they won’t be able to respond quickly or appropriately enough to compete.

“Developing the digital skills of your employees can bring significant improvements in productivity, engagement and customer satisfaction,” said Lynsey Whitmarsh. “This is particularly important if you want to unleash innovation and free up people to think differently, so they can respond more effectively to customer needs.”

The new ‘Bridging the digital talent gap’ white paper can be freely downloaded from www.hemsleyfraser.co.uk/resources

Punter Southall Aspire, a leading investment, savings and workplace pensions company, has appointed Peter Selby as its new Managing Director of Retail Advice to manage its fast-growing financial planning business.

Peter joins from Scottish Widows, where he was Strategic Relationship Manager and enjoyed a successful 25-year career.

As Managing Director of Retail Advice, Peter will lead and develop the financial planning business and shape the design and implementation of the Punter Southall Aspire retail service proposition.

Peter brings over 30 years’ experience of working in intermediated Life, Pension and Investment sales. Over the years, he built an extensive network of personal, profitable and enduring relationships with leading Employee Benefits Consultants and Independent Financial Advisers across the UK – relationships he will leverage in his new role.

Punter Southall Aspire offers a fully integrated financial advice service and investment administration platform for both employers and individuals with access to a SIPP, master trust, ISA and general investment account, as well as wealth management solutions.

The company is fast growing. In June, the company acquired Oxford IFA firm – Focus Oxford – and it plans to acquire other IFA firms in the future and become a national personal financial planning business.

Steve Butler, CEO, Punter Southall Aspire said,

“Peter has deep knowledge and experience of the intermediated life, pensions and investment industry. He will be a real asset. He has  strong leadership skills and industry expertise and great connections with leading IFAs and Employee Benefits Consultants which will be hugely valuable as we continue our strategic growth plans.”

Commenting on his appointment, Peter Selby said,

“I am excited about driving forward Punter Southall Aspire’s financial planning business and shaping its retail service proposition. This new role perfectly combines my experience at Scottish Widows and my work with leading IFAs and Employee Benefits Consultants.”

“I have admired Punter Southall Aspire for some time. It is a truly innovative business, with a clear vision to change the financial planning and workplace pensions industry for the better. The business is supported by leading-edge technology and a wonderful team who are totally committed to making a real difference to people’s lives.”

 Retail and restaurant closures continue to sweep across UK high streets with John Lewis, Debenhams and House of Fraser among the latest well-known brands to suffer.

With more and more businesses facing closures, Jo Stubbs, XpertHR Head of Product Content Strategy highlights the five mistakes employers commonly make when handling redundancies and gives her guidance on how to get it right:

1. Starting collective redundancy consultation too late

All too often, employers start collective consultation far too late in the day, typically because those at the top retain hope that business will improve or do not see informing staff that the business is in trouble as a priority.

Employers’ collective redundancy consultation obligations are triggered once they are proposing to make 20 or more redundancies at one “establishment”, which might be a single store or restaurant, within a period of 90 days or less.

Consultation must begin “in good time” and in any event at least:

• 45 days before the first dismissal is to take effect, if 100 or more employees are affected at the same establishment; or
• 30 days before the first dismissal is to take effect, if 20 to 99 employees are affected at the same establishment.

The collective consultation should be completed before the employer provides employees with notices of termination of employment.

2. Not conducting a meaningful redundancy consultation

Employers frequently see the process of consulting with staff over redundancies as a box-ticking exercise and fail to understand that there should be a genuine dialogue about the proposals.

Union representatives must be consulted about ways of avoiding redundancies, reducing the number of redundancies, and mitigating the consequences of redundancy.

Overall, employers must approach the consultation with an open mind and be prepared to consider employees’ views. If ways of avoiding or reducing the number of redundancies are put forward, these should be properly considered and not dismissed out of hand.

3. Not informing and consulting on an individual basis

Individual consultation with employees remains essential, even where the employer’s obligation to consult collectively has been triggered.

Individual consultation involves the employer explaining to each employee the basis on which he or she has been provisionally selected for redundancy, and giving the employee the opportunity express his or her views, raise any questions, and discuss any alternatives to redundancy.

As with the collective consultation process, a meaningful individual consultation process must be concluded before an employee is provided with notice of termination of employment. An employer that serves notice prior to completing an individual consultation puts itself at risk of an unfair dismissal finding in any subsequent employment tribunal claim, on the grounds that the process was a sham and the redundancy predetermined.

4. Not looking out for alternative employment for redundant employees

One of the most significant things that an employer can do to minimise the inevitable unfairness for a redundant employee is to determine if there are any vacancies that would be suitable for him or her.

For a large retailer that is closing stores to cut costs, this could include moving the employee to another nearby store, if there are vacancies at that location. Employers should be open minded about alternative positions and not assume that employees would not be willing to relocate, if the only alternative is redundancy. The safest course of action is to provide employees with details of all vacant positions.

While employers are not obliged to create new jobs for redundant employees, making an employee redundant without considering alternative employment increases the risk of a tribunal subsequently making a finding of unfair dismissal.

5. Forgetting employees who are left behind following redundancies

Employers should never underestimate the impact that redundancies have on staff who remain behind. A failure to support redundancy survivors, who often face a change in their job, an increase in work and changes to the organisational structure, can be fatal to the success of a reorganisation.

It is vital that employees affected by redundancies are involved in the redundancy consultation exercise, even if those individuals are not themselves at risk of losing their jobs. The earlier redundancy survivors are involved in discussions about a reorganisation, the more likely it is that it will be a success once the dust settles.

Once the redundancies have been made, survivors should be provided with support, including guidance and training, to help them to cope with any changes to their role.

For advice on line manager briefings on collective and individual redundancy consultation, see https://www.xperthr.co.uk/line-manager-briefings/collective-redundancies/76117/ and https://www.xperthr.co.uk/line-manager-briefings/individual-redundancies/75710/

For good practice guides to assistant redundant employees and supporting redundancy survivors, see https://www.xperthr.co.uk/good-practice-manual/assisting-redundant-employees/97257/ and https://www.xperthr.co.uk/good-practice-manual/supporting-redundancy-survivors/90109/

Young people in Britain are facing mounting debts and unaffordable living expenses, new research from Neyber has found, yet employers believe employees are borrowing less this year.

The study, carried out among 10,000 UK employees, found that an alarming 70% of people under-34 need to regularly borrow either to pay their monthly bills or deal with day-to-day living expenses. However, 77% of employers, down from 97% last year, feel that employees are borrowing. In fact, the DNA of Financial Wellbeing – Our borrowing needs, shows that employees borrowing for everyday living expenses has increased from 48% to 50% (2017/2018 respectively).

More worrying is that young people are turning to more dangerous forms of lending just to get by. Thirty-three percent of 25-34 year olds are using credit cards for day-to-day borrowing – higher than any other age group. The survey showed that the younger you are, the more likely you are to use a payday lender. Eight percent of 18-24 year olds said they had used one, compared to four percent of 25-44 year olds and zero percent of those who were over 65.

The combination of regular borrowing and uncertain incomes has led to many young people feeling stressed. Sixteen percent of 18-24 year olds said that their finances were out of control, while 20% of 25-34 year olds said they were only just coping.

Employer impacts

For HR, the impact of money worries can be significant. The findings in the survey show that six in ten employees said their behaviour changes when they are under financial pressure. This increased to more than 7 in 10 for those aged under-34. They said that money worries change their internal mindset and attitudes, and their ability to maintain focus at work.

Forty-five percent said that money worries affect their job performance and 40% said they affect their relationships at work. Employers are aware of financial worries causing changes in their employees. Sixty-eight percent agreed that this affects individuals’ behaviour, 69% their performance and 67% relationships at work.

Heidi Allan, head of employee wellbeing at Neyber, said,

“The survey show shows a real disconnect from what employers are thinking and what’s reality, particularly for younger employees. One of the reasons for this regular borrowing may be that more young people have jobs with fluctuating income. Sixty-eight percent of 18-24 year olds said their income changes each month. Over a quarter (27%) said their income varies by more than 30%”.

Neyber’s study shows there is evidence that debts are spiralling. The average unsecured debt among 25-44 year olds has risen to £14,794.35 in 2018.

Those in the £20,000 – £29,999 earnings bracket – which includes those on an average salary – are spending an average of 37% of their income on debt repayments, including mortgage or rent, per month. Excluding mortgages and rent, the average amount of unsecured debt employees pay each month is £325.

Allan added:

“Financial worries can lead to sleeplessness, stress and even depression. Clearly our research demonstrates that young people in Britain are not coping and are having to borrow just to get by. More needs to be done to support people, whether that’s providing better financial education in schools, working with employers to offer their young staff financial education or even providing debt support and guidance. If we don’t act now, we will see young people in Britain spiralling into debt they’re unable to repay. However, when we asked employees if they would welcome support and information to help them improve their financial, situation, over half (55%) said that they would.”

Phil Andrew, CEO of StepChange, said:

“There are nine million people who have to use credit to pay for essential expenditure. This includes over one million people using high cost credit to make ends meet. When borrowing becomes a safety net for meeting basic needs the outcomes are often bad. Not financial wellbeing, but the corrosive hardship and harm of problem debt.

“Employers have a strong interest in improving the financial wellbeing of their employees and can be well placed to sell the benefits of seeking advice before problems get out of control. This timely report from Neyber gives a call to action to ensure working life is a source of support rather than worry for young people struggling with their finances.”

Neyber’s full report can be found here.

Aon, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions (NYSE:AON), has developed the first app for employees to access and manage all their benefits from a smartphone – from total reward statements to full benefits enrolment, no matter where they are based. The Aon App enables employers to create engaging campaigns directly with their employees and to address employees’ increasing expectation of having consumer-style easy access to benefits. More than half of the world’s web traffic comes from mobile phones and 61% of all digital minutes are now on a mobile, with 80% of those being on apps.

Employees can fully interact and manage their benefits in an app for the first time. With the app located on an employee’s smartphone, they don’t need to remember a website and can use fingerprint or facial recognition to log in, so there are no username or passwords to remember. Single-sign-on means employees gain access to third party benefits such as personalised pension information. Employees download the Aon App through the App Store and Google.

For employers, the app supports engagement campaigns. Push notifications encourage employees to interact with benefits at specific times, such as announcing a flexible benefits election window, launching a wellness awareness week or promoting total reward before a pay review.

The Aon App is tailored for each client with customised content, language, currencies and branding. It can also be used as an entry point into online benefits as it does not need another platform to function.

Jon Bryant, director – online and communications at Aon, said:

“The difference between the Aon App and anything else is that it is fully functional, meaning employees don’t just access information, they can fully interact with their benefits too.

“This is an increasingly vital part of an engagement campaign. Our workplaces are changing so rapidly plus we have light-speed changes in what we experience as consumers. The upshot is that employee expectations are growing – they want to access and interact with benefits just as they do if they’re buying something from an online retailer.

Jon Bryant continued:

“In a world where one too many clicks are a barrier, employee benefits have to be as simple as possible to help employers engage employees in a far better way. This is a game-changer to help employers to instantly and relevantly communicate and interact with employees – no matter their location, age or digital experience.”

Nine out of ten UK employees (92%) have gone into work despite being sick this year and the top reason for presenteeism is the fear of not getting paid, according to new research[i] from insurer, Holloway.co.uk.

Other reasons cited include being scared to get into trouble (22%), not wanting to fall behind on work (11%), thinking they could just get through their illness (9%) and having called in sick too many times (6%).

In May, the CIPD reported[ii] that over 86% of organisations had observed presenteeism in their organisation over the last 12 months, compared with 72% in 2018 and just 26% in 2010. They attribute this in part to a rise in work-related stress, anxiety and depression.

Adrian Lewis, Director of absence management software specialist Activ Absence cautions:

“Rising presenteeism in UK offices is a growing issue. This new report highlights people are worried about not being paid and they don’t want to fall behind with their work, so they are coming into the office despite being ill.”

“With the state of the UK economy uncertain with Brexit on the horizon, employees are scared to take sick days – but if they don’t get chance to recover from illnesses there will be bigger problems down the line.”

The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS)[iii] also show the number of working days lost due to absence illness has fallen to the lowest rate on record, with employees taking on average 4.1 days sick in 2017, compared to 7.2 days in 1993.

Adrian Lewis says,

“The ONS figures suggest that far from becoming a healthier nation, UK employees are simply going into work sick. It is a big issue and employers need to understand the root causes of both presenteeism and absenteeism to offer the best support.”

 “Having technology and processes in place to record and monitor absence will help companies understand what is actually happening amongst their workforce. With this data, along with back to work interviews that give people a chance to speak about any issues can be carried out which may enable companies to nip problems in the bud and provide better support.”

One in five (19%) employees resigned from their job in 2017, up from 15.5% in 2016, according to the latest data from XpertHR. Labour turnover statistics from 398 organisations show the resignation rate has increased steadily since 2012, when it stood at 10.6%.

The biggest change in turnover rates was in manufacturing and production. The average voluntary resignation rate increased from 11.7% in 2016 to 18.9%, and the median from 10.5% to 14.3%. Looking at total labour turnover – which includes retirements and dismissals – across all sectors, the figures have moved from an average of 17.4% to 21.5%, and a median of 15% to 19.2%.

With the employment rate at its highest since comparable records began in 1971 – standing at 75.7% according to the Government’s Labour Force Survey – employers are going to feel the squeeze of a tight labour market. This provides challenges for employers to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of their recruitment procedures, while also ensuring they focus on retention and productivity.

In its report, XpertHR also included data on voluntary resignation rates and total labour turnover rates for employees with less than 12 months’ service. The data showed that an average of more than one in 10 (10.9%) new starters resigned before completing 12 months’ service, while an average of 12.7% left either voluntarily or due to dismissal.

XpertHR senior HR practice editor Noelle Murphy said:

“Employers should pay special attention to labour turnover for new starters with less than 12 months’ service as consistently high levels of turnover can be a strong indication of issues in the recruitment and selection processes as well as the onboarding exercises in place.

“There is also a higher cost implication for employers with ongoing churn among new starters, more so than for those with longer service. Alongside resources, consistent levels of turnover among new starters will have a negative ripple effect on employee engagement among all employees.”

For more information visit: http://www.xperthr.co.uk

Considered one of the best players of his generation, Jamie Peacock MBE has won every honour in the domestic game of rugby league and now Jamie has announced he will be working with hero to tackle the issue of corporate health and wellness.

hero, the corporate wellbeing, technology and service company has agreed a partnership with Jamie Peacock to implement his own ‘no white flag’ mentoring programme into hero’s own ‘mindset’ offering, which is the programme of ongoing education and support delivered to partners and clients.  The education and seminar programme offered by hero is designed to support businesses with all aspects of wellbeing including mental resilience, sleep and nutrition.

Joe Gaunt, hero’s CEO and founder said about the partnership:

“Jamie’s achievements in captaining our GB and national team as well as the honours he’s achieved off the pitch are incredible.  We are delighted to be working with Jamie to expand our mindset offering to our clients. Mindset is central to creating a positive change in behaviour and Jamie can offer a unique view on this based on his successful career and many achievements.  If we can inspire and create simple yet effective mindset changes we can help, and support individuals and businesses achieve great results.”

Jamie will also be working with hero to deliver face to face sessions with companies and senior leadership teams who need to create shift change in their culture and mindset.

Jamie said:

“I am really excited about working with hero.  The product that’s been developed is remarkable and is a complete game changer for the world of corporate wellness and wellbeing.  Investing in the health and wellbeing of your employees makes sense both morally and financially.  The hero platform enables individuals to personalise their preferences and focus on what matters to them.”

hero was has recently announced an acquisition of Colour-Fit, the professional sports nutrition business which works with more than 50 national and international teams from the world of professional sport including five national governing bodies, eight Premier League football teams, professional rugby teams, cricket teams, golfers and speedway stars as well as securing national and international partners and clients including Les Mills and Myzone.