NEWS BRIEF 60
University’s groundbreaking scheme hailed a wellbeing benchmark
A
health and safety body is urging other organisations to realise the cost benefits of keeping staff healthy and happy, after Leeds
Metropolitan University saved £75,000 a year, by tackling workplace stress issues. John Hamilton, head of safety, health and
wellbeing at the University and an Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) member put in place the pioneering scheme over two years ago, in reaction to bullying and harassment issues that had surfaced. Based around an innovative self-help
and safety strategies in place. “Leeds Metropolitan University’s wellbe-
ing programme is already proving to be a benchmark for other organisations. It has gone through a culture change, cutting lost-time and absenteeism, while making a saving that, for other businesses, could be the difference between survival and failure – crucial in the current economic climate.” Mr Hamilton, together with the health,
safety and wellbeing team at the Univer- sity, began a website,
www.mywellbeing.org, which tackled over 75 topics including stress, fit- ness and coping with money worries or grief. It now covers more than 200 areas of ad- vice, support and guidance. He said: “The most important
thing about the programme is that staff feel that the Univer- sity cares about them and their wellbeing. It’s a great atmo- sphere to work in, and be- cause of that, motivation and productivity have improved and absence levels are down – proving that a happy work-
website for staff and students, which at- tracted 6,000 hits in its first three months, the scheme now saves £75,000 a year in wages. Stress-related absence is down by 16 per cent, and the accident incident rate is now at just 64.7 per 100,000 employees, compared to the sector average of 325. IOSH Yorkshire Branch chair Michelle
Muxworthy said: “Any British business that doesn’t take good health and safety seri- ously is missing a trick, whether it is part of the public, private or third sector. Potentially, they are losing out on hun- dreds of thousands of pounds, just be- cause they haven’t got the right health
force is a successful one.” The University’s Staff Development Fes-
tival, in 2009, supported the initiative, with over 60 events, including exercise classes, health checks, stress management tech- niques and self-help sessions. An occupa- tional health referral scheme was also set up for staff and students, with treatments for a number of health problems. Mr Hamilton added: “We’ve had a lot of
interest from other public sector organisa- tions, so much so that Wellbeing Excellence is now reaching over 200,000 people across nine organisations, including an NHS trust, universities and local authorities.”
Cambridge tops the
2011 National Student Survey Students in England are the happiest in the UK, according to the National Student Sur- vey (NSS), which was published in August. Topping the 2011 NSS table is the Uni-
versity of Cambridge, which registered a student satisfaction rate of 94 per cent, displacing last year’s highest-scoring institution, the privately-run University of Buckingham, by one per cent. The University of Buckingham also
shares second place with the University of Oxford, University of St Andrews, St Mary’s University College, Belfast and the Open University, which for the purpose of the survey is listed as an English institu- tion. All scored 93 per cent. On average student satisfaction
within Russell Group universities was four per cent higher that the sector average of 83 per cent. This sector figure had in- creased by one per cent from 82 per cent compared to last year’s NSS. For more on this story and deeper analysis log onto
www.universitybusiness.co.uk
Europe backs University’s plan for jobs
Teesside University is to generate over 420 graduate jobs in the next three years, after a £2.3m cash injection from the European Union.
To read more on this story log on to
www.universitybusiness.co.uk
New Innovation Centre at University of Chester The University of Chester’s £6 million Riverside Innovation Centre will use social media to support Cheshire’s inexperienced companies. Full story on
www.universitybusiness.co.uk
Temporary workers given greater benefits T
emporary workers are eligible for the same basic working and em- ployment conditions as permanent staff, according to new regulations
that will come into force on 1 October 2011. After 12 weeks of working on an assign- ment, temporary workers will be subject to
those terms and conditions that govern the organisation’s HR policies, including those relating to pay, working hours, overtime, hol- idays, rest periods and access to vacancies. The new rules do not apply to areas such
as company pension schemes, company sick pay or redundancy.
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