86 DEBATE
David Dunwell, chief executive, Lancashire Mind
When you look at the 71,000 people mentioned by Ian, there are different kinds of reasons why they might be out of work. In almost all cases there is mental health, confidence or a wellbeing link, because even if it’s a physical related issue, often that leads to low mood or a form of anxiety.
Almost all people that are out of work need some kind of support around their health and wellbeing. We partner up with some councils and our coaches support people to look at their own wellbeing, what they can do to support themselves. That’s the first step to getting them work ready.
There are a number of challenges for employers. There’s the absenteeism challenge and we know that there are 16.4million days lost in the UK as a result of people being absent from work. Then there is presentism and having people in work who are not well enough to be in work and need additional support. The cost of that to the workplace is also astronomical. Figures from accountancy group Deloitte reckon it has quadrupled in the last 10 years, so that’s another challenge.
Recognising the signs and early interventions are critical because when people go out of the
workplace, the longer they are away the harder it is to come back
Dr Abdul Razaq, director of public health, Blackburn with Darwen Council
The essence of our work is to create a healthier society and community.
We’re the ninth most challenged area in England but that should not stop us from our high aspirations to create good health and wellbeing.
At the heart of public health is prevention and early intervention, that is really what we want to do. Businesses and employers together with anchor institutions such as public services, the local authority, the NHS, colleges, really need to work together on this.
The biggest assets we have are our workforces and by looking after them we know that the productivity equation can be addressed. We need to provide the creative support that my colleagues have talked about.
We want every single community and individual to actually be the best they can be, by contributing towards society. That is the role employers and businesses have, to actually make sure that we provide support as a preventative mechanism.
Anthony Duerden, chief executive, Calico
Values are very important to us. We have all the strategies and policies but
it’s the values that drive things and linked to that is leadership.
So we focus a lot on the examples that we set and leadership behaviours. We look for employees who care and are committed and that’s how we employ people, so to do that we’ve got to care and be committed to them.
We have wellbeing programmes as an employer and we see those as an investment and as a good business practice. The culture of our organisation is ‘Give people a chance’.
We also have had a supported internship programme called ‘Project Search’ for young people with neuro-diverse challenges.
We have over 100 people who have come through our drug and alcohol services and people work alongside them. That has changed mindsets.”
Vanda DeFreitas, head of work and health programmes, Blackpool Council
We’re at the sharp end. We have a team at the council that’s been around for 20 years called Positive Steps into Work and we have delivered a range of employment support programmes over a number of years.
We’re really excited about Connect to Work. We already deliver one of the models Connect to Work is using which is around individual placement and support. It’s really well researched and it’s an international model so in a way that should give people confidence. We know it works as we get to spend a lot of time with people to find out what they are interested in, what kind of jobs they like to do. It’s really person-centred and it’s looking at the individual.
We know work is good for people and I think it’s an economic imperative that we get more people back to work. We’ve got too many people who could be doing something but just haven’t had access to the right support. Employers have productivity and skills gaps so we need more people back to work and Connect to Work is the cornerstone programme of Get Britain Working. It’s about trying to get another five per cent of those people, people with disabilities, back to work.
Emma Christian, HR consultant team lead, AfterAthena
I work for a legal firm and I’m a HR professional, so we’re very much the boots on the ground
and seeing the impacts of mental health. I deal with different employee relations matters on behalf of clients. There’s a big increase in absenteeism, we’re seeing lots of queries coming through around challenges of handling mental health issues in the workplace.
I deal with quite a lot of smaller businesses and see the burden placed upon them. We have an opportunity to push them towards the WorkWell scheme and say, ‘This is all government funded, they will come into the business, really understand what’s going on and work closer with the individual and get them in a place where they’re functioning in a way we want them to function - productive and contributing’.
We’re good at signposting and try to encourage businesses to reach out to various charities. From a business perspective what needs to happen is education and training. It has to come from the bosses and leaders. You need to understand that the demographic of employees is changing as are the obligations around supporting them.
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